MORTAL KOMBAT - Review

Retro Games Reviewer #10; Mortal Kombat Review

Scorpion Wins! Oh yes, yes, if I had an euro for every time I heard that, in my TV, I would not be rich, but I would certainly have drank better beer, throughout my life. Seriously, does this game need any presentation? I never really liked fighting games before I played Mortal Kombat. Street Fighter was never my thing, but this was different. Digitalized graphics, and voices, real fighters, real sounds, real scenarios, real fucking everything. The attacks, the movements, - including the legendary and too creative fatalities. The programmers must have had troubled childhoods, and lots of repressed anger. Great! - and the blood. Well, depending on the system. The Super Nintendo version - the one I have - does not have blood. Although it has the better graphics and sounds, if compared with her nemesis, Sega Genesis. - The rhyme was not intentional. The controls are also smoother, because of the great SNES control pad. 6 entire buttons to do all the stuff you need, to rip your best friend's apart, in a nice 2 player game. I'm not a vegetarian, and I miss the blood on the SNES version. Specially because it's so damn' stupid the fact that it isn't there. What the fuck Nintendo wanted to state? "Hey, we are allowing an extremely violent game, called Mortal Kombat. But there's no blood!" If you're going to do it, just DO it. Also, some fatalities - finishing moves - lost some of their aggressiveness. Scorpion still burns their victims to the ground, but Sub Zero doesn't do the Spine Rip. Instead, he freezes the adversary, and breaks him/her in a thousand pieces. Also, Johnny Cage doesn't do a Decapitation Upper-cut. Instead he kicks the adversary to...death. In a single kick. Ok, it's lame.

However, the fun is there, and the game play is great. It's way better than the Arcade version. The one that I played, anyway. Regarding the Genesis/Mega Drive version, it doesn't have the digitalized voices in the end. Shang Tsung announcing the winner. That's a big add to the game, and it's quite frustrating to finish off your opponent, and just listen to...fucking nothing! I have played the Mortal Kombat 2 on the Sega Saturn, and it also did not have the voice announcing the fighter's winner. Which is weird, because the SNES' MK2 does. Isn't Saturn 32 bit? What's with the voices in Mortal Kombat, and Sega? Do they want us to take some deep thoughts about the horrendous violence that just happened? I don't know.

Back to MK, the First. Not too many fighters. I prefer the Ninjas, Scorpion and Sub-Zero. Scorpion is actually a dead guy, a spectrum, or a demon, who came back to life to have his revenge. And, of course, Sub-Zero is the one to take down. Then we have Johnny Cage. I loved this guy on the movie. Remember the movie? He was damn funny. Cage is an actor, who is constantly acused of being a fake. So, he takes part in the Mortal Kombat Tournament to prove himself. When he wins, he puts back his sun glasses, in a supposed "cool" pose. I don't know where the fuck he keeps his glasses during the combats, and how they never get broken. They are definitely good and expensive shit. Kano is a murderer, Sonja is an agent who is trying to get Kano, Raiden is the thunder God, Liu Kang is a former shaolin monk, - these last two are trying to take Shang Tsung down. Shang Tsung is the final boss. If he wins, the Outworld forces will invade the Earth and turn it into a demonic real, full of darkness and destruction - as if humans needed any help... - and, let me think, I think that's about it. Each one has its special attacks and all that good stuff. Oh yeah, Shang Tsung's body guard, Goro, is a dragon-man, with four arms, ugly as shit, and a very bad temper. You have to beat him before reach Tsung, in the final battle. I'm sure you know all about it, I'm not willing to write a bible about the game. The scenarios are pretty cool. The bridge is probably the most popular, because you can throw your opponent to the floor, where a lot of nails are expecting. Again, the SNES version is...dead, regarding the killings. If you're really a psycho, who's just doing this for the blood, you will prefer the Genesis. I still think the SNES version is more entertaining.

Pretty fun to play with a friend, or with an enemy, or both. There's a lot of versions, besides the 16 bit. PC, Sega CD, etc. So, pick your bloody poison, and give a chance to the first born.

Categories: Mortal Kombat Review