Mortal Kombat

"Brilliant. Absolutley brilliant."

How to describe the original Mortal Kombat? Try combining Enter The Dragon with Predator, and throw some supernatural ninjas, a thunder god, and a half human dragon into the mix and this is what you get. Midway wanted to create a project like what Capcom did with Street Fighter II. Same concept: Drain the opponents health before they drain yours. They also featured a mini-game similar to Street Fighter 1s board breaker called Test Your Might. The object is to tap the low attack buttons fill a strength bar until it pasts a red line. Press block to break the object. However, digitized actors for character animations and was probably the most successful game to use this method. Mortal Kombat 1 spawned off a series of fighting games for both arcades and home consoles, and then converted exclusively for home consoles. The saga continues to this day.

Graphics: 8/10

The graphics are superb, but not perfect. The character models look very real, and the backgrounds look fit for an asian martial arts tournament. So where does it fall? Background props. The masked guards look pretty fake, and the monks at the courtyard look plain, and dead. Although when applaud the victor, it 's a nice touch to the opening match.

Sound: 7/10

The music is excellent. Dan Forden did a great job with giving every background a proper feel, especially the fight with Goro. However, the speech is a real mess. When it says fight, you have to listen closely just to understand it., although 'finish him' and 'finish her' are alot clearer. The sound affects and grunts are great. When you uppercut, you hear a great impact sound affect. Same with all attacks. The impact affects are near perfect.

Gameplay: 10/10

This is what really stands out in Mortal Kombat. The gameplay is very simple and easy to catch on even for a kid. (Believe me, I began playing Mortal Kombat when I was 3) 4 Attack buttons, and a block button with an 8 way joystick. The special moves are as simple as Down, Forward, Low Punch (Sub-Zeros Ice Blast), and Forward, Forward, High punch . (Liu Kangs Fireball) Fatalities are easy to perform when learned.

Story: 10/10

A Shaolin tournament is fought to save earth. What's not to like?

Overall: 9/10

Despite the little problems with the look of the game, and the blurry speech, this game is very enjoyable. Many problems have been fixed later in the series as you see if you've played MK II. If you're a fan of realistic fighting games, this isn't the game for you. I Suggest the Tekken series or the Virtua Figther series to those who enjoy those kinds of fighting games. If you like fighting games that are simple, real and unreal at the same time and have a twist to them, this is the game for you.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 07/31/08

Game Release: Mortal Kombat (US, 10/08/92)