"An above-average MK sequel, not much more not much less."

Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, one of the MK games that has ever been in the arcade. (And one of the if not the only MK game you can find in a arcade anymore. My local arcade had it until recently and the strange thing about it is that it costed 1 token a play instead of the 2 token payment on Soul Caliber II, Marvel Vs. Capcom 2, Capcom Vs. Snk II and Tekken 4.) Well I'll tell you know this is obviously not going to give great fighters like Soul Caliber II & the like any big competition when it comes to great fighting games. But its not a bad fighting game at all. (Its actually a bit better than the rather overrated & average-at-best ''Capcom Vs. SNK II''.)

What makes this good you may ask? Well for starters it goes great on a visual scale in live-action 2D gameplay. And while it may seem outdated now it was probably one of the best looking fighting games on the arcade. (Heck even in today's standards its still looking good the graphics are sharply styled and don't look the least bit choppy and messed up.) The backgrounds are very well styled without much flaw and while the character designs can look a little cheesy and goofy at times but none of them are truly awful. The variety of characters in this game are nicely vast. And what truly gives this game a bit more quality (and one of the main reasons why its not getting a 6 or something like that) is the storyline which truly gives the characters a bit more diversity. If you judged the cast of characters here just by looks alone than the variety is not all that much but the storyline does a pretty good job in making the variety a bit more existential here. And the fact that it has challenge modes from begginer to expert is a very nice touch as well.

Any flaws to be careful for? Yes, there most definitely there is flaws to be considered. Now which flaws that should be considered? Well for starters its the gameplay. Now mind you its not utterly atrocious but its awfully hard to utilize any special moves. (Aside from Sub-Zero's freezing Ice blasts which applies to both versions. There is the original SZ in his ninja wear and the other ninja in some rather unorthodox ninja wear as well who goes by the same name. Some say they are the same but it has been proven that they are actually two different people with the same name and quite similar Ice abilities. But thats a different story.) While the regular fighting gameplay is uneven the ''Block button'' is not all that effective at all. And yet even if the gameplay was a lot better, the game is STILL awfully hard even in its lower challenge mode. (ESPECIALLY when you fight Jade, the black ninja girl in green ninja gear with a big red stick. She is nearly invincible when she is the CPU-controlled oppoenent and yet she isn't all that great when you actually fight as her. Isn't that lovely? *sigh*) Sure not all opponents in this game are hard at all to fight but still... However despite all of this, the game still has a good amount of replay value. Its kinda weird but despite on how awfully hard it is its still playable.

So overall its just simply quite the competent little above-average fighting game. Its not a truly great game but its a decent little game thats kinda recommendable. (Especially for all you MK fans out there.)

+ Quite fine graphics & backgrounds
+ Great selection of characters
+ Its storyline is used rather well
+ Nice selection of ''challenge'' modes
+ It's gameplay may not be great but it suprisingly has a good amount of replay value in it.
- Rather uneven but not terrible gameplay
- Weak blocking system
- Awfully hard to succeed for the most part (even in ''beginner'' mode)

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 07/25/03, Updated 02/02/04