Anyone else here seriously amped for this game?

I played the hell out of the original and MKII when they first came out for Genesis (didn't have many local arcades around, sadly). When I saw the first trailer for this remake last year, I was stoked. Then I played the demo, and went into fanboy overdrive. I don't buy too many modern games, much less get excited over them, but c'mon. Its Mortal f'n Kombat.

I have it pre-ordered on Amazon so I can get the classic Reptile costume. Reptile was my childhood favorite, and they made him look seriously stupid in some of the later games. It'll be good to play as him and not cringe every time I make the mistake of staring at his MC Hammer purple pants.

I'm also a huge MK fan! My favourite was Trilogy for the N64, not only because it was the first one I ever got good at but also because the variety of characters was undeniably the best! Deadly Alliance and Deception were pretty good games but my biggest qualm was the fact that every character played so differently that you had to study to get good at just one fighter... I'm really hoping that they bring back the concept from the old games where all of the default moves are the same for each character (i.e. uppercutting, sweeping, roundhousing).

Then again, I hope they don't make any characters complete clones of each other like they did in Armageddon. That game was just awful.

My favourite character is Ermac. I'm glad he wasn't *too* obscure to be included in the new game. Too bad Rain was too obscure to make the cut!

I liked Mortal Kombay 2. MK3 was all right too, but it seemed like it was where things really began to ger gimmicky.

I still cannot fathom how anybody over the age of 13 finds this mediocre fighting game series appealing. The mechanics were obviously rushed and mediocre, one third of the original cast were recolours, and all it really had going for it was the blood.
But eh, whatever floats your boat i guess..

Reason for popularity highlighted.

I was 9 when MK came out in arcades, and 10 when it came out for Genesis. I really didn't give much of a shit about in-depth mechanics or storytelling or graphics. The game was simply fun to play with your friends. The game was basically a race to the "FINISH HIM!" scenario.

MK '11 has a much more in-depth fighting system (largely inspired by another favorite of mine, Tekken). If you want to pull off ridiculous Soul Caliber-type combos, well now you can.

Of course, it still appeals to the more simple-minded folk that liked MK simply because of the gore. The level of brutality and gore has reached new heights, including X-ray moves that show damage being done (I saw one move where Sub-Zero reaches into a guy's belly, freezes his liver, and then punches him in the face). Damage done to a character actually shows up on their character model as the fight progresses, so by the end of an evenly contested match both fighters look totally fucked up.

At its core, despite the total revamp of the gameplay mechanics, MK '11 appeals to its original kind of audience by playing the gore card and making it fun.

On another note, the characters of MK need to see a doctor about their blood pressure. I don't know if it's supposed to gush like that. :P

It's a game like this that makes me wish to own a PS3 (or a 360... But, come on. The PS3 version of the game has freaking Kratos as a guest character. That alone is worth it... Well, not just that alone, you know)

BTW, Rich. You kinda goofed on the description of Sub-Zero's X-Ray. It's not a punch to the face, it's a headbutt. Scorpion starts his with a punch to the face (And then finishes with a stomping).

Oh, if there is any info you guys want on this game, I am the man to ask about it. Trust me, I've learned things that people don't want to know. ^.^

When I first picked up this game...well, I was playing it wrong. I was playing like I was 6 again and uppercuts and special moves were all there was to it.

Then I picked Johnny Cage...and I haven't stopped smashing fools by hitting buttons ever since.

It's a weird game. There's keepaway characters, but I feel like even those characters are better on the offense. And some of them have better offense than some of the up-close characters! Kabal comes to mind when compared to say...Sheeva, as a character with better keepaway than most and still great in close, and Sheeva as a character with worse offense than Kabal.

Side note: when you fight Sheeva, Goro, and Kintaro in story/arcade mode, just repeatedly jump over their heads and jump punch or jump kick them.

Getting in and hitting buttons is strong. There's lots of combo strings that are +frames on block and/or hit, and allow you to keep hitting buttons to your heart's content. Sadly, it makes it so that the only time you're really thinking is when your thinking about how your going to stop him from hitting buttons, so you can stop blocking and start hitting your own blockstrings on him.

Surprisingly, as a primarily defensive player, this works quite well for me engine-wise. I'm good at thinking with defense and bad at thinking with offense. This game takes out most of the guess-work.

Oh, and there's some great character guides in most of the character's subsections here for anyone wanting to learn more about a character's characteristics: http://testyourmight.com/forum/forum.php

I didn't know Smoke was a fan of the Three Stooges...

http://youtu.be/E7XRf7WQVQw

Ya knucklehead!

Last MK game was MK vs DC.


Is this new game any good? Worth the play?

After a few days of solid time with this game, I can safely say that if you're even a casual MK fan, then this is definitely worth checking out. Its probably the best MK in...forever. Perhaps even more than MKII.

The balance between the characters is pretty even. Most everyone's feel has changed, even though they all retain their special moves. Kung Lao, a guy I never really cared for in MKII, is now one of my favorites due to his Shaolin style. On the contrary, Mileena, a fast character I played with often, is considerably slower without her special moves. Keep in mind that I don't use special moves very often in this game, and instead I rely on a patchwork of very quick combos to wear opponents down.

I beat Story Mode, and its pretty interesting. They bounce you around different characters as the story progresses, and you play them for about 3-4 fights. The story very roughly follows the events of the first 3 MK games (including UMKIII), but is changed considerably since Raiden now has a rough idea as to what future events may bring, as well as the inclusion of newer characters in older settings (Quan Chi, and pre-cyborg Cyrax and Sektor during the first game, for example). As a matter of fact, there's really nobody from a post-UMKIII game present, save for Quan Chi (though others get mentioned). I wasn't fond of many of the MK4 and later games' characters, so I was more than happy to get back to basics.

I was also happy to see them ditch the fighting style and selectable weapons gimmicks in favor of old school mechanics. The game feels much cleaner and less cluttered than the previous games without getting too retro. The effect is similar to what Capcom achieved with Street Fighter 4 when they scaled back a bit on gimmicks to make it more like, well, Street Fighter 2. Instead, actual game play became the focal point for both games. MK '11, is, however, a much more in-depth and solid fighting game than any previous MK game.

My few complaints go against some glitches I've encountered. I've experienced some voice over skipping at times, or missing audio. Sometimes, there's a very noticeable delay between rounds. I'm not sure if its the game itself or my PS3 acting up, though.

While the graphics are very good, there's some weird stuff. Mostly, some of the character models look pretty strange. Take a look at Liu Kang's shoulders to see what I mean. They're super wide, but also very flat. Most of the male characters have this going, but some are worse than others. Johnny Cage looks ridiculous in his suit.

On the plus side, the new graphics make all of that blood and gore phenomenally nauseating. The Fatalities are all pretty clever and some pay homage to the early games, only in far more over the top, gruesome fashion. Kano's heart rip has been changed to having Kano approach his victim from behind, punch his hand through their chest, showing them their own heart as he clutches it in his hand, and then he pushes them away. Its like they cranked up the B-movie slasher film factor up to eleven. Furthermore, characters get savagely ripped up in normal gameplay alone. I've noticed some guys end up looking like Two-Face by the time they're done, with lips, ears, cheeks, and eyelids missing. If you ever played MK simply for the shock and gore factor, then this game is for you.

The last complaint goes against that miserably cheap Shao Khan. Anyone who's played against him in MKII and III will likely tell you that he was ridiculously cheap to the point of approaching SNK boss syndrome. Well, MK '11 returns him to his fabulously cheap roots by having him break many of the rules players are subject to, such as being able to string together insanely powerful combos without delay between several special moves. If he gets you into a corner on the more steep difficulty levels, you're dead in seconds. He also has way too much defense going on. Curiously, though, Goro and Kintaro are no where as hard as they were in their original games, even if you avoid Liquid Snake's strategy. The difference now is that you can combo the shit out of them, and even sweep them.

I haven't even touched Challenge Tower yet, and I'm exactly halfway done with Arcade mode, so there's still a lot to do for single players.

Its a good game, and I'm glad I picked it up. I know I'll have lots of fun with my chums when we get a chance to play against each other.

One of the things that caught my attention is that Sub-Zero (II) was turned into a cyborg instead of Smoke this time round. How did that come around? If you don't mind my asking.

During the MKII portion of story mode, both Smoke and Sub-Zero appear in Outworld at the beginning, and Smoke off handedly says that since they left the Lin Kuei due to the lack of information on the death of Sub-Zero's brother, they'd be eventually hunted. They split up to find their answers.

Smoke ends up surrounded by nameless Lin Kuei cyborgs, and Raiden happens to be near by. He experiences a flashback of the normal timeline when Smoke is automated and intervenes to assist Smoke, saving him. Smoke officially joins the rest of the good guys when he pledges his loyalty to Raiden.

Later on, Sub-Zero demands a match with Scorpion from Shao Kahn, and eventually is surrounded by the same nameless cyborgs. Cyrax and Sektor appear before the emperor and offer the Lin Kuei's service if they're allowed to take Sub-Zero with them. Kahn agrees, and for some reason Raiden and the gang are helpless to stop it, despite being only feet away.

Cyber Sub-Zero shows up in the MKIII portion of the story at first as a bad guy, but he eventually regains his humanity to join the good guys, filling the same role as he did in the normal MKIII timeline.

On a side note, Cyber Sub-Zero is pretty awesome to play as.

OK, time to shoot this to Rich.

-What did you think of the characters this go around? Which is your favorite? Least favorite (And just to ask, which is favorite Fatality in the game and which one is the worst?)

-Also to note, since you did get the game via Amazon.com, not only do you get the Klassic Reptile Costume (and Klassic Ermac as well since that was in all of the preorders, I believe), you also get access to Reptile's Klassic Fatality, which is the Head Snack Fatality from MK2.

The other places that had bonus content were:
Gamestop (Scorpion costume and 'Toasty!' Fatality)
Best Buy (Sub-Zero costume and Spine Rip Fatality)
Wal-Mart (Mileena costume)
Toys 'R Us (Kitana costume)

Also, Jade's klassic costume was availible via the Blu-Ray discs of the MK movies.

Lesse...Smoke and Kung Lao are probably my most effective to use, but I usually end up playing as Sub-Zero or Reptile out of habit. I also wound up playing Johnny Cage much more than ever before, probably because they actually made him likable this time, and also because he's a combo machine. I also like Stryker, probably because when all else fails I can just shoot my foe.

I don't like Kratos. I just don't like the way he plays, since it feels imprecise and out of sync compared to everyone else. As far as usual MK characters, I've never been a fan of Sindel or Sonya, and this game didn't change that. I didn't like how Mileena played this time, which kinda sucked because I used to use her pretty often back in the day. Oh, and Quan Chi seems really out of place in this game, being he only post-MKIII guy on the roster, and with no real use to the story other than to tie together plot points established in the past games. I didn't like him being present during the events of the first games' story lines since it made no sense. That, and he looks like Billy Corgan, and I don't like the Smashing Pumpkins.

The best Fatality? Oh, so many to choose from. For some reason, I'm inclined to go with Noob's Make A Wish. The ridiculous sight of two ninjas rip a person in half to the point where their head is still screaming for a split second before that too is split apart perfectly captures the essence of Mortal Kombat's over the top character. Also, Shao Kahn's finisher where he plunges his hands into his victim's chest and pulls them apart so he can walk through their body is totally badass. Fits him perfectly.

Worst Fatality? That's harder to nail down, since they were all pretty clever. If pressed, I'd probably go with Sektor's missile Fatality, mostly because the victim dies instantly, and blowing up their body parts is mere flash at that point. That was probably the most underwhelming finisher that I can think of. His Scarecrow Fatality wasn't all that cool, either. Sektor kinda got screwed.

Oh hell, may as well name my favorite X-Ray combos, since those are pretty cool too. Baraka's is retardedly brutal, so much so that the guy he doe sthat too definitely shouldn't be alive afterwards, let alone fighting. It could have been a Fatality all its own. I liked Liu Kang's as well, since it paid homage to MK1.

Least favorite X-Ray is probably Cyrax's. It just looks awkward during the last part, with his foot sticking way out as if to cushion his fall. If he were doing a Tombstone Piledriver or something, then it wouldn't have been quite so weird looking, and more devastating to look at. Its even weirder when he's in his human form.

I wish Klassic Ermac had his MK3 Fatality...

I completed Arcade Ladder with everybody, and unlocked everything in the Krypt, incidentally. I now have to work through Challenge Tower and maybe give Arcade Tag Ladder a shot.

Holy crap... Someone who didn't like The Scarecrow? That's a first. I thought that was kick ass (The same with Stryker's Time Served and Sheeva's Lend A Hand. Those two kick equal amounts of ass).

Oh, and good luck on the Challenge Tower. There will be lots and lots of weird challenges in that puppy.

Thanks. I'm 25 deep into it, so I know its only gonna get crazier.

I've been playing Mortal Kombat 9 off and on the last few weeks, and I have to say I'm liking it so far. The characters do feel different... mostly, and frankly the game's got a fairly good real challenge to it. (ignoring Shao Kahn of course) The story in a fighting game being good is still a bit of a jaw dropper to me, and really I can't wait to see what Kenshi is like.

Speaking of that, has anybody seen the leaked videos of Skarlet's gameplay, she actually seems even more unhinged than Mileena, due in part to her love of blood and her stunning beta fatality. Hidden in black text below.
Skarlet stabs her opponent through the neck, then peels their head back. She happily shakes her head in the blood stream, allowing the victim to slump to the ground.

Oh, I've seen it. If it wasn't for the mask over her mouth, it would look like she was drinking the blood.

Trust me, I lurk around the most well known of the MK fansites (Mortal Kombat Online) and I see all sorts of things in terms of rumors and reactions to the game.

Also, I for one want to see what they have for Kenshi largely since they may have to ditch the telekenesis because of Ermac's new (and more badass) evil attitude (BTW: Ermac ripping of Jax's arms in Story Mode was priceless to watch).

I think Ermac was a bad-guy turned good-guy in the later games (mainly due to Kenshi's influence). Hopefully Kenshi will still be a blind, psychic swordsman. It'd be weird if he didn't have a similar moveset.

Oh, and hopefully they add Reiko as well, because if they release Shao Kahn as DLC then I think we'll be seeing a lot of this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwhb5zKIUQU

Yeah, Khan's a total asshole in this game. Like, even worse than his previous games. He may be approaching Geese Howard or the other SNK bosses in terms of cheapness.

I beat Challenge Tower, but holy shit did it get retarded in the end. There's one that really gave me an ulcer, where you play as Stryker and have to beat 3 Khans one after another with one life bar and no between round health boost. Took me forever until I got lucky. That's what it took- luck.

Just a possible thought for an impending sequel to this iteration of MK. Do you think they'll use characters and elements from MK4 and beyond? The ending seems to imply something to that effect.

What? You didn't have problems with End Game, Rich? (Although I will agree with you in that Stryker vs. 3 Shao Kahn's is just plain brutal... just like Ermac vs. 3 Goro's)

Now, as to what Liquid said: What you said is true... What you forgot that this is an alternate timeline. The events that lead to Kenshi and Ermac meeting in the original timeline may not happen in this timeline. Therefore, the guys at NRS would need to find a way to explain how Kenshi has the ability of telekenesis along with his swordsmanship. As for Reiko... Well, I've heard that rumored DLC characters were Rain, Motaro, Frost and Mavado (to name a few).

Oh, End Game certainly took some skills, but the 3x Shao Khan is what ended up giving me the most trouble. Compared to that, 3x Goro wasn't very hard, since I've flawlessed him quite a few times in Arcade mode, and he never gave me much trouble once I figured him out. Fuckin' Khan and his shoulder ram of death is what always got me, though. Cheap bastard.

I doubt they will ever add Motaro. Mocap would be a pain in the ass and that's also not taking into account just how hard it would be to get everyone's X-Ray to work on him. It's too hard to imagine Kabal's or Kano's working right.

Unless they turn him into a Minotaur again. But that would just be stupid.

And since Kenshi isn't part of the story (aside from a small cameo) there's no need to have his gameplay be based off storyline, unless they make a story-continuation to go along with the DLC. And even then, they can explain him getting psychic powers during that. Either that or just retcon him learning them from Ermac.

Wait...

People pay attention to Mortal Kombat's story? I thought everyone just played because they liked the color red. A lot.

Huh.

You'd be surprised, Rich. I know a ton of people were pissed over Story Mode, largely because of two things:

-Raiden being such a total dumbass
-Sindel's one woman massacre of the heroes during the events of MK3 (Which, BTW, I found amusing as all hell when I watched it on YouTube... Sindel, of all people, took out almost all of the heroes! I guess we all know now who wears the pants in that relationship. ^_^ )

I've always found the story of MK to be laughable at its best, and downright embarrassing at worst. Its like watching a bad Asian flick, which is usually pretty entertaining, but that's a different story on its own.

But yeah, Raiden being completely inept and worthless despite being a goddamned GOD perfectly highlights this. It was almost shocking how stupid he was during story mode.

I never said I liked, or condoned liking, the MK story. It's cheesy, but it's there...I played them all so I know it sorta ok...as much as anyone who played the game with all their favorite characters would.

Also, according to Tom Brady...Kenshi isn't going to play like himself from the former games.

I finnaly got to play my copy of this game on the PS3. Lemme tell you.

I love it. I do like story mode, though. I recently finished it and now I am working on challenge tower.

New things to note now...

-Skarlet is released today to the masses. Story wise, she is a lot like Ermac (the main exception is that instead of souls, she is made of the blood spilt by other kombantants and Shao Kahn's sorcery) with the mission of keeping an eye on Quan Chi in case he tries any backstabbing.

-After Skarlet will come Kenshi... After Kenshi is going to be Rain (which will make SpinningDemon happy to hear this). After Rain is a unknown character. No one knows who this is yet... I've heard many rumors ranging from characters from the series like Jarek, Tanya and Fujin to... I shit you not, guests like Jason Voorhees and Freddy Kreuger (don't blame me... Blame the damn fansites for those rumors).

-If you have a 360, you can get what is called a 'Season Pass'. What this is about is that for the price of 1200 MS Points, you can have all four characters for the price of three. This also gets you the heads up on the DLC.

-Each DLC will come with a Compatability Pack to let people see the DLC character weather if they have or have not bought the DLC along with some Klassic Skins... For the release of Skarlet, the MK3 costumes of Cyrax and Sektor are part of the package.

UPDATE:

-Kenshi and Rain have been released as of late. Kenshi's story is pretty much the same as his story in Deadly Alliance. Rain's story has him being abandoned thanks to Shao Kahn's invasion of Edenia, then getting adopted by the Resistance force. He become powerful, but very arrogant. He wanted to control some part of the army, but the Resistance refused. So, Rain betrays the Resistance to join Shao Kahn's forces.

-Kenshi's movelist takes full advantage of the sword (now named Sento) and mental projections. He also has a reflection move that can send projectiles back.

-Rain's movelist is mostly the same from his last 2D styled appearance in Trilogy, which means the Water Bubble and the Super Roundhouse are back. There is a new teleport and a water blast move added as well.

-1 character remains, and that character is to be revealed at Comic-Con tomorrow.