Mortal Kombat's true rebirth

Truth be damned, Mortal Kombat is not going to become a realistic aberration and, alas, we’ll not get to see Reptile as a head-refrigerating, skin-diseased, human psychopath. Wonderful as it was, MK is anything but realistic. With this new trailer displaying that a game exists and actual gameplay, it appears the stagnant MK formula is going back to what made it awesome. 

It’s important to note that I was fully supporting the apparent “new” direction the series appeared to be taking. Nothing seemed fresher, yet eerily awesome to see human forms of my favorite fighting game characters mutilating themselves and taking what they said very seriously. The direction was so awry from what anyone would expect it was simply impossible not to like it. But of course, it just turned out to be some kind of super-pitch to Warner Bros. in regards to creating a new MK movie. Sure, I’d love to see something that deals with a legendary franchise in a way that doesn’t relate to the games at all (see Super Mario Bros. movie), but the games are what really matters. 

Shortly after the video short’s release on YouTube, a very real, very excellent looking MK game was surprisingly unveiled. After watching the teaser, I cannot sate my hunger for more ruthless and nonsensical killing. Putting my lust for blood aside, I was able to determine the most important thing about the trailer which is MK’s departure from the 3D fighting style and its reemergence into the 2D realm it practically shaped. This news alone should get every MK fan to jump out of their seat in belligerent shouts of joy. Obviously classic characters will be returning, along with classic stages and stage-specific fatalities, unique character fatalities, and hopefully brutalities. 

Though it was short, the trailer confirmed MK is definitely going through the change it so desperately needed to stay relevant. The 3D realm certainly works for fighters like Tekken and Soul Calibur, but Mortal Kombat never felt right when it made the transition. Animations felt slow and stiff and worst of all, absolutely terrible characters began to stuff themselves into an already bursting line-up. Bo Rai Cho, Kobra, Kira, Havok, Frost, the list is massive. About the only new addition I truly cared for was the inclusion of blind-psychic Kenshi. Something about punching and kicking your opponent mentally was unprecedented. Clearly, NetherRealm Studios also dislikes at least some of the newer characters as the trailer shows Kira in the background chained to the ground. Hopefully we’ll get to see much, much more of this.

Dumpage of Armageddon’s atrocious create-a-fatality seems apparent and that’s already one of the top highlights. As far as I’m concerned, each fighter should receive at least two unique fatalities since that’s how it always was. Bringing back brutalities would be nice and by the showcase of Kung Lao’s fatality in the video, I think we’ll be seeing some suitably violent and hilariously horrific stuff. This, of course, is what MK has always done best and as long as they don’t take any cues from Deadly Alliance’s set of awful fatalities they’ll be in good shape.

I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that there has never been a good fighting game “story.” MK quite literally feels like it’s making things up as the games progress in number, much like every other game. If you need an example, here’s an excerpt of Noob-Smoke’s ending in Deception: "With Smoke as his template, Noob Saibot planned to return to the Netherrealm and use Smoke's nanotechnology to create an army of cyborg demons.” Between the conception of cyborg demons and fighters being tossed into “Soulnadoes” it’s difficult to think that people actually work hard on delivering this laughable script. I highly doubt it’ll be any different with the new game, but if they’re smart and really truly reboot the series, a touch of actual storytelling would be nice even if it is unnecessary. Oh, and the whole Liu Kang being a zombie thing… enough is enough.

It’ll be nice to take the fight online, but what’s even better is the inclusion of a tag-team mode. You and a friend can now definitely fight two other dudes in what appears to be something like Marvel vs Capcom 2’s style. Juggling also appears to be a pretty large part of advanced gameplay, but that’s always been something extra for the series. I just hope we don’t have to force ourselves through another Konquest/Krypt mess in order to enjoy any of this. 


There’s a large wish list and for a game like Mortal Kombat, anything is possible. Certainly much more will be revealed very soon, but NetherRealm has already done a tremendous job in locating the things fans have abhorred. Perhaps, like Street Fighter IV, we’ll see the successful return of a franchise too long removed from gaming society.
 
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