Mortal Kombat- Not for children over 40

If parents thought the arcade game, Street Fighter II was bad for their kids, they just got a small taste of what violent video games were capable of. Mortal Kombat, a game created by Ed Boon and John Tobias took players like you and I to a whole other level. It opened up new genres that before Game Creators wouldn’t touch with a 20 foot pole. Ok, some of you may not keep up to date with every or all types of games, so you’re most likely a bit lost as to what I’m talking about. Let me sum it up quite easily. Mortal Kombat had blood, lots of violence, dismemberment of every sort, and a gruesome assortment of deadly finishing moves. This resulted in some quite disturbed parents who didn’t take kindly to the fact that young children were being exposed to this kind of realism.

Now, what are we doing in this game?

In Mortal Kombat you play 1 of 7 fighters. Rayden, Liu Kang, Johnny Cage, Scorpion, Sub-Zero, Sonya, and Kano. Each character has a purpose for being in this Kombat Tournament. Whichever one of these 7 you choose, you will fight the other 6. What you’ll notice when you begin the first fight is that it doesn’t resemble any of Street Fighters type of art, for the creators decided to incorporate real people to capture the fighting moves. That could be at least one reason (Among the blood) why this game was so popular. This approach had not been used that much, at least in those days. Nowadays, it’s everywhere!! In-between a few fights, you’ll be given a chance to “Test your Might”. You’ll either have to chop through wood, metal, etc. You’re given points if you strike with the right amount of power.

Oooh, almost forgot to mention the best part of all.

Fatalities!! Even though there weren’t a lot of fighting games that gave you the chance to destroy your opponent in the most kick ass grotesque fashion, Mortal Kombat lets you do just that. Once your opponent can’t stands no more, when he…or she is on their last leg, You’ll see “Finish Him/Her”. This is your chance to perform a “Fatality”. It is a combination of certain button presses and controller directions. Don’t ask me for them, cause I don’t know that many. But I will give an example. The character, Scorpion. One of his fatalities is removing his mask, and his skull appears, and he blows fire on you, and you become nothing but a skeleton. Groovy!! So, do you think this game, which also made a pretty good movie with Christopher Lambert in it made a great review? Are you kidding? Of course it did!!!

It’s an honor to play a game capable of warping a childs mind and annoy the parents who don’t have time for the child anyway…

Ooops…did I get off track there? A little? Well, it is true that this game stirred up trouble between the parents and the games creators. But now look what the parents have to contend with now on their children’s console systems. Resident Evil, Devil May Cry, and now Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance. If your kids are able to distinguish between a fantasy video game and reality, and they haven’t killed anybody at the tender age of 9, then you don’t have to take the battle to protect your children all the way to court.

That said, let’s review the game at hand. Mortal Kombat made excellent use of motion capture to bring these great characters to life. It found an audience with many of our young adults, and yes, even kids, as I have seen. You’ll become engrossed in it too, with its brilliant visuals, marvelous backdrops, and true life-like characters.

The sound doesn’t get more real than this. Well, it did years later, but I’m talking about 1992, when the game was released. Not many games had realistic Sound FX, and voice samples. The music can be best described as “having an ancient feel to it”. “Ancient Chinese Secret”? Well, call it what you want. I call it, Fantastic!! It can be trying at times to execute the fatalities precisely, but that put aside, Control will cause you no grief. Whether you just want to punch and kick, or use special abilities, like Sub-Zeros Ice Blast, or Liu Kangs Fireballs, it isn’t difficult to make those things happen. After fighting all 6 fighters, you’ll have to fight two at a time in an Endurance match. That beefs up the challenge right there.

Afterwards, you’ll take on the Monster known as Goro, who is at times, insanely tough to beat. Finally, there’s the master of them all, Shang Tsung, who can morph into all of the fighters you’ve just previously beaten. Those last 2 enemies make Mortal Kombat all the more challenging. It’s going to keep you wrapped around its little joystick for a long, long time. I hope you have saved up that money from mowing lawns, cause you’re going to need all the quarters you can find to play this puppy…unless you have an arcade emulator, then forget what I just said and play Mortal Kombat already. Just keep the blood off the carpet!