Mortal Kombat - Game of The Year Edition (PS3)

A five ***** rating for this game, in spite of my elderly gaming persona grumbles....Interesting - Midway, the developers who brought us Mortal Kombat in the first place, recently went bust and their properties were acquired by Warner Brothers (the folks who own DC Comics amongst other things) hence Mortal Kombat vs. DC Comics.So no Mortal Kombat vs Marvel. Bah. Anyway, MK 2011 - the best next Gen mortal Kombat game so far if like me, you discount the PS2 Mortal Kombat games; Deadly Alliance and MK Deception? I'm a little leary of the imminent MK game, MK X, as it, like the PS2 versions, features a multitude of naff looking additions to the roster. Do we really need MORE silly looking Tekken and Virtua Fighter knockoffs in Mortal Kombat games? The whole comic book appeal of MK for me was the Earth being invaded scenario and only a plucky bunch of human fighters - arrogant action movie star, female Special Forces agent and asiatic martial arts trained monks fending off the invading humanoid fighters in mortal combat being able to avert disaster for humanity, etc. Luckily for me, this version is a return to the game's roots and plays like a pumped up remaster of Mortal Kombat 3.My favourites are all here; Rayden, Nightwolf, Stryker, Lui Kang, ALL of the Ninjas - Rain, Noob Saibot, sub-Zero, Reptile and of course, SKORPION! Surely one of gaming's greatest ever characters. The lady fighters are all present and correct - my favourite is Jade ;-) And all of the allies, traitors, rogue agents, turncoats, quislings and murdering scumbags are included, from Cyrax to Kano.My main problems are purely subjective. The basic fighting moves look awful. Gone is the digitised video footage of old where martial arts dudes would string their best looking offensive high kicks and punches together to make something far fetched look believable and exciting, now you get these odd looking 3D models of your favourite fighters that look like bad imitations of the digital doubles you see in current super hero movies that have taken the place of stuntmen/women in costumes against green screens. I'm also unimpressed by the poor costume designs WB/Netherealm have foisted on almost all of these characters - hopelessly over-elaborate, fussy looking and impractical outfits that may make the most of the console's processing power but when you come to the Kharakter Select screen, you're faced with an indistinguishable blob of indecipherable 'thumbnail' images of each character who in the past were identifiable in the blink of an eye thanks to the solid single colours their costumes were - blue for Sub Zero, green for Reptile and so on.Thankfully, the classic special moves are all here. Not keen on Stryker's Uzi being replaced with a pistol but I suppose I can live with that...As this is the Komplete Edition I'm reviewing, it states in the front of the box, "Includes 4 additional characters and fifteen skins" so my favourite Jade and various Sub Zero costumes are on the disc (in the Krypt section of course. You have to earn them now instead of just pressing Select at the character screen. Huh). I've missed out on this whole DLC (downloadable content) scam being a latecomer so waiting nine months or so for cash-ins/rip offs like Ultimate Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 is the thing to do now. Not sure how admirable a child murderer like Freddy Kreuger is but he fits in well with the likes of Kano as a guest star.All in all, and before Mortal Kombat 10 comes out soon, Mortal Kombat Komplete Edition is excellent. It's pretty deep gameplay-wise and a lot more accessible than Soul Calibur IV or Tekken 97, etc, in my estimation.Recommended by me, the Grandpa Simpson of gaming!

Didn't play this when it first came out. Played this now and really enjoyed it. Obviously online doesn't work anymore, but that should be apparent. Excellent single player and against a friend or with couch co-op in tag mode. One of my favorite fighting games is Tekken Tag Tournament as that allows you and a buddy to team up against the AI, and it's good to see a similar mode here.In gameplay the game is very like the 2D Mortal Kombat games, sort of a return to the series roots after MKDA, Deception, and Armageddon, however unlike the 2D Mortal Kombat originals, the AI is actually reasonable and doesn't cheat like those arcade classics. The fighting system is quite simple but still feels like an advance on those original games, as you can string almost any combo into a special move, including the X-ray attacks. Also, given the tag mode, you can string attacks into a co-op attack that switches your team mate in. Pretty solid all around. It's not got a fighting system that competes with the Tekken games, but you don't expect that from MK. The aesthetics are classic MK style, and the X-rays and fatality moves are various combinations of amusing and gruesome.Besides the game being great, my order came on time and was in good condition, so that was good.

This is a very good fighting game. There are lots of characters to choose from (each with their very own fighting styles and finishing moves) allowing you to create endless enjoyable / various fights.The skills / unique attacks of each fighter can be mastered fairly quickly but there are one or two combination moves which are quite difficult to perform as you have to time them perfectly.It has multiple game modes such as story mode and challenge tower (which gives you 300 various challenges to complete). It presents extreme violence and gore, as well as showing you the internal damage of your opponents (when using the x-ray vision special / unique attack).The only problem I have with this game is that, like all fighting games, it can become quite repetitive if played for too long (just my personal preference though).