Mortal Kombat Trilogy

"My fav MK game of all time."

INTRODUCTION


Mortal Kombat is one of my favorite series ever in video game history. Ever since I picked up the controller and turned on my SNES with Mortal Kombat in it for the first time, I've loved everything about it. Everything from the superb engine the game uses to the MK famous fatalities, I loved it all. So the first chance I got to play Mortal Kombat Trilogy, there was no bet I'd take it. And guess what? I wasn't disapointed in the very least.



GAMEPLAY

Mortal Kombat Trilogy has relevantly the same storyline as all the other three Mortal Kombats rolled into one. So there really is no definitive story. You know that Classic Sub-zero and Scorpion aren't best friends, and that Cyrax, Sektor, and the machine Smoke were built to exterminate the MK 3 Sub-zero, but other than these well known Mortal Kombat storylines, there's not much else to be concerned with story: I was a bit disapointed, as Mortal Kombat has always impressed me with its storylines, and some of the MKII and MK 3 endings would've been really cool to watch in that cenamatic endings featured in Mortal Kombat 4. It slightly detracts from the gameplay, but it doesn't effect it too much.

Mortal Kombat Trilogy features every single character that was ever imaginable from the first three Mortal Kombats. You can fight with any Mortal Kombat 1, 2, or 3 character. The thing of it is, however, is there are no characters, save code entered characters, that originate from Mortal Kombat 1 except for Goro. For instance, Sonya was featured both Mortal Kombat and Mortal Kombat 3. Her Mortal Kombat 3 character is portrayed. The same holds true for Jax, Kano, Rayden, and Kung Lao. Each of these have their Mortal Kombat 3, or in Rayden's case, Mortal Kombat II, appearance. However, these four characters can originate to their original characters from the previous Mortal Kombats, IE Kano can become the Mortal Kombat 3 Kano and Jax can become the Mortal Kombat II Jax. The selection of characters in Mortal Kombat Trilogy is extraordinary, with aproximately thirty five playable characters in all. The four main bosses that have existed throughout the first three Mortal Kombats: Goro, Kintaro, Motaro, and Shao Kahn are featured, and many great characters like the Mortal Kombat II Sub-zero and the mysterious Ermac are playable.

Mortal Kombat Trilogy, unlike most other Mortal Kombats, has a few different innovative modes. You can play a Vs. mode which is the standard one player vs. another player for supremecy, a best two out of three rounds war. You can also play a two on two kombat. In this mode each player selects two characters and it's like a wizard's duel. When the first of a team is killed, the second comes into take his place. You can also play an eight player tournament mode, which are single elimination, one round fights that work just like a three round tournament.

Mortal Kombat Trilogy's tower mode is the exact same as Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. You select a character and select the number of characters that you will have to fight on your quest to Shao Kahn. You start by fighting normal regular characters that aren't too difficult. Then you will begin to encounter endurances. These endurances are very challenging, as they play the same way as two on two kombat, but you do not have a second character to back you up. It's a two vs. one fight. After you get passed those you will start to face the three Semibosses from each Mortal Kombat, depending on which tower you decided to take. There is Goro, a 4-armed Shokan from Mortal Kombat, Kintaro, a bigger and meaner Goro from Mortal Kombat II, and Motaro, the Centaurian half man half horse creature from Mortal Kombat 3. After you battle your way through these three, who are unusually easier than expected, you face Shao Kahn himself. Kahn is rather difficult, and I myself can only defeat him with a selected few characters.

Mortal Kombat Trilogy plays close to Mortal Kombat 3 and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. You will fight a best two out of three rounds in most circumstances, although in tournament mode you only fight one round each fight. You have many kinds of special moves at your disposal. These include moves such as high-powered throws and such, to projectiles like magic such as freezble your opponent temporarily or hitting them with lightning bolts. There is a wide variety of moves, and of course, the thing that made Mortal Kombat famous. The fatalities. There is a huge selection of fatalities at your fingertips in Mortal Kombat Trilogy, as most of the characters each have two gory finishers, five or so stage fatalities, which they take advantage of their environment to finish off their opponent such as knocking them onto train tracks in the background, a babality, a friendship finisher, and an animality. For the most part, these fatalities are cool and some of the classic favorites from the first two Mortal Kombats are back and some of the good ones from Mortal Kombat 3 as well like Kano's Skeleton Rip. The fatalities, as always, are bloody and very gory, so don't play Mortal Kombats of any kind if you get sick easily. All of those parts of the game were featured in all of the Mortal Kombats. However, the rest of the game strays far from Mortal Kombats I and II and leans towards the lesser liked gameplay of Mortal Kombat 3. The much dispised by hardcore fighting game fans auto combos are back in Mortal Kombat Trilogy: Instead of complex combos, a series of punches and kicks are the forms of combos in Mortal Kombat. Something as simple as triangle, triangle, X could be a basic combo, and they only get slightly harder. For beginners this is good, and I liked the idea perhaps at first, but after a while any veteran fighter at any game will immediately become fed up with the auto combo system and simply resort to tactics that do not require combos. The run button is also featured in Mortal Kombat Trilogy, a feature that debuted in Mortal Kombat 3. This feature allows you to run at your opponent at a quick pace to meet him. This is effective when you have an opponent frozen, as you can run up and begin your move to follow it up immediately without worrying about the opponent unfreezing when you finally approach him by walking. The control is fantastic in Mortal Kombat Trilogy, as everything reacts quickly and responsively, a trait that every good game should have. Overall, Mortal Kombat Trilogy plays great, but I would've liked to see more of a Mortal Kombat II style engine with a few Mortal Kombat 3 elements thrown in, IE the run button.

GAMEPLAY SCORE: 8.8/10



GRAPHICS

Mortal Kombat Trilogy has average graphics. First the character designs. These characters are designed not too well, and they look more like 16 bit graphics than 32 bit graphics. Midway really took it to the extreme with the palate swapped ninjas, as there are about seven different colored ninjas that are the same except for color of costume, story, and moves. They even have the same weaknesses and strengths, IE they all are knocked out ofs air easily. However, since real actors were used to design the characters, the animation is rather smooth, and the moves look excellent when watched on Mortal Kombat Trilogy. A pity they had to make the screen go black on one of the best fatalities of all time.

The backgrounds in Mortal Kombat Trilogy aren't anything great either. They are rather bland and colorless, although this somewhat helps the feeling of the game in some ways. There is little animation in the background, but what is there is decent. The backgrounds are nothing to brag about, but they are average and I can live with them. Overall, Mortal Kombat Trilogy's graphics have major flaws, but they aren't terrible graphics either.

GRAPHICS SCORE: 6.8/10



MUSIC/SOUND EFFECTS

Mortal Kombat Trilogy features good music. The songs, which are remixed versions of great classics from Mortal Kombat II and Mortal Kombat 3, set the mood greatly for a battle to the death in Mortal Kombat. Not much else to say on music here, other than Midway did a really nice job converting the good songs from the SNES days to great songs in the PSX days.

The sound effects in Mortal Kombat Trilogy is really what sets it apart. Shao Kahn does a great job with Mortal Kombat's version of commentary. He says the rounds, who you select, taunts, laughs, and who wins the fight. He also has that classic line, ''FINISH HIM!'' The voices of the characters as they fight is great, and they grunt, scream, and yell during battle. There are about ten different voices, but all seven ninjas use the same voice, and Motaro, Sheeva, and Goro/Kintaro take up three voice in themselves. One thing that bugged me is the machines, while having mechanical noises when they're hit, have human screams when they get fatalities done to them. I thought maybe a terrible sound of metal crunching metal or an anguished mechanical noise would be more appropreate, but ah well. The screams of pain as fatalities are executed are long, loud, and great to listen to. Yes, I am heartless. The sounds of battle aside from voices is also spectacular. Midway does something they do very well, and that's put the correct sounds with the correct moves. The blood doesn't sound too real though, and I was a bit disapointed that it didn't sound more ''sloshy'' if you will. Overallaside from a few flaws, Mortal Kombat Trilogy has excellent sounds.

MUSIC/SOUND EFFECTS SCORE: 9.4/10



DIFFICULTY: MEDIUM

Mortal Kombat Trilogy is a relevantly challenging game. Some of the characters will occasionally use ripoff strategies and become one move wonder, or continue to use an unblockable move such as throws or leg sweeps. The bosses' life bars also decrease less for moves than a normal character's, thus making the difficulty on Motaro, Goro, Kintaro, and Shao Kahn more challenging. And although these guys are good to use, the normal characters can be just as good on many occasion. The bosses are easier than I expected, however, and with strategy can be defeated on the first try more often than not after a few tries.



REPLAY VALUE: HIGH

Mortal Kombat Trilogy lasts for a long time. The game's overall fun is what does this, as there are no specific modes that are good for long term gameplay. Instead, just the greatness of MK Trilogy has you coming back for more. My friends and I stay up late into the night sometimes playing this game, and one of its great qualities is its ability to stay alive after a long time in the closet. I was bored, and I decided to pop this game in just once. I played it straight without playing another game for a week. Once you revive this game, it comes back with the charm it had originally.



OTHER GAME INFORMATION

RENT/buy?: Definite BUY

NUMBER OF PLAYERS: 2

GENRE: FIGHTING



OVERALL SCORE: 9.0/10
Mortal Kombat Trilogy is an excellent game. It captures that same great Mortal Kombat feeling. It's a true pity that this will probably be the last great game the Mortal Kombat series will ever see, as it has gone downhill since with Mortal Kombat 4, Mortal Kombat Mythologies, and Mortal Kombat Special Forces. We can only hope that a game like this will come along again, and that Midway will wake up soon. You definitely need to buy this game if you have any liking whatsoever to Mortal Kombat or the fighting game genre. A must buy for sure.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 08/02/00, Updated 08/02/00