“This is exactly like being a little kid,” a playing companion observes with a smile on her face. This companion played “Mortal Kombat” (1992) back in the day because her brother made her; she feels this way about “Mortal Kombat” (2011) because of a minorly astounding fact: “Mortal Kombat” is back.
The surprise isn’t that they rebooted the franchise and called it by its original name – that happens all the time, and with little success (paging “Sonic the Hedgehog” from 2006). The surprise is that the reboot is actually good.
As the self-appointed representative of those who were left in awe at the first sight of “Mortal Kombat” in arcades (Diversions, San Antonio, Texas, baby), and will never forget “Mortal Monday,” when home versions were released for the Sega Genesis and (sigh) Super Nintendo, I made up a hypothetical litmus test: If “Mortal Kombat” (1992) were included on the disc for “Mortal Kombat” (2011), would purchasers spend more time playing the original or the reboot? The result is … drum roll please … half and half. That’s how good this new game is.
| ‘Mortal Kombat’ |
| » System: PS3, Xbox 360 |
| » Price: $59.99 |
| » Rating: 4 out of 5 stars |
Though a thousand little things were done wrong – who the hell chose this generic orchestral music over the original tunes? – “Mortal Kombat” fixes the thousand other things that have crept into the series since its last great entry, “Mortal Kombat 3.”
Most importantly, and mercifully, the fighting has returned to a strictly 2-D plane. A game where you can rip out people’s spines was never meant to have sidesteps and parries – this is “Mortal Kombat,” not “Tekken” – and the game’s creators have finally realized what’s been forehead-smackingly obvious to the rest of us.
Outside the realm of fixes, and inside the realm of actual improvements, are X-Ray Moves, which show your opponent’s bones breaking as they’re attacked. Not only are the X-Ray Moves easy to pull off, they do lots of damage and require you to charge a meter to access them, so their execution add a nice layer of strategy to the usual combos and special moves. They’re also crafted for each character with care and imagination.
I wish the same could be said for Fatalities. Practically all of them slice your opponent in half or decapitate them, regardless of who’s doing the fatalizing, and none is as affecting as the screen turning gray and Kano simply pulling out your heart. Babalities are back, which is nice, but where are Friendships?
At least the setting moves back to the time of the original trilogy. In turn, the character list, totaling 26, pays respect to the original game, with folks like Sonya Blade, looking strikingly like Linda Hamilton, Johnny Cage, ready for the lowrider show with his big script tattoo, and Liu Kang, lame as ever; the overrated “Mortal Kombat II,” with metal-armed favorites Baraka and Jax; and “Mortal Kombat 3,” with rad robots Sektor and Cyrax, cult – er, kult – favorite Kabal, and Stryker, like Liu Kang, lame as ever. Oh, and, you know, Scorpion and Shang Tsung and Raiden and all them. Sub-Zero, too, so your 4-year-old niece can play. Not that she should.
