Mortal Kombat 3

"A good game, and fun to play, but in my opinion actually a step BACK from the high standards set by Mortal Kombat II =./"

FOREWORD

With the raging successes that they had enjoyed with both Mortal Kombat and Mortal Kombat II, the release of a third Mortal Kombat title was something even I would have predicted (and I'm usually amazed when TOAST pops up). I, like so many others, enjoyed playing it (although I must say LESS so that MK II) in the arcades, and so I rushed out with glee and bought myself a copy of the Super NES version upon its release.

Was it worth it ? Or is it a pile of old tosh ?? Read on ...

OVERVIEW AND OBJECTIVE OF THE GAME

Mortal Kombat 3 is a 1-on-1 beat-em'up title where you select your warrior from the fourteen selectable warriors (fifteen if you include the hidden warrior Cyber Smoke), and proceed to do battle with other Kombatants from Earthrealm and Outworld in a bid to stop Shao Kahn from completing his latest scheme, and saving Earthrealm from falling under his dominion YET again.

GRAPHICS - 8/10

Graphically-speaking I have to say I actually think this game is very impressive, but NOT quite up to the very high standards set during the arcade-to-home port of Mortal Kombat II.

The sprites once shrunk and ported across to the Super NES have lost (in some places quite a bit of their) clarity - Sindel for example actually looks cross-eyed when she wins which is quite amusing - and whilst they are BEAUTIFULLY animated and I really cannot fault them in ANY way on that, the general feeling I get when playing it is that they really ought to have tried to do something to smooth out the edges on the characters, and try (however HARD that might have been) to prevent the characters looking somewhat brain dead at times ...

The background stages are all well-ported, with sufficient levels of animation to make them watchable (although, again, there are a couple of levels where there are areas which I really feel ought to be animated, but which have been left static - like the vortex-style portals to Outworld ... but hey-ho).

The special moves are all very nicely reproduced, and the combos are fluid and well-executed throughout the title, so it's really comparatively minor gripes that I have against the graphics - I just expected a little bit better =./

SOUND - 8/10

The quality of the sound reproduction is good in pretty much every area. The music is deep and booming and makes its presence WELL felt during kombat, and the punches and kicks make some very satisfying sounds when they land on your opponent during the matches.

The grunts, squeals and screams of pain from your injured, wounded and ultimately slain enemies are VERY satisfying, and make the fight all the more worthwhile.

There are a large variety of sound-effects used throughout the game, and these are all decently ported from the arcade original, so it definitely isn't lacking in the sound-department.

The voice-sampling has been done to a reasonably high standard, and you will have no difficulty in understanding what the commentator (Shao Kahn) is saying throughout the matches.

CONTROLS - 9/10

The game handles very well it must be said - there are a number of features which are new to Mortal Kombat 3 and, rather satisfyingly, all of them have been lovingly and acceptable ported to the control method as used by the Super NES. The run function works well in the game, and the multi-hit combos are easily pulled-off with the Super NES controller, which is great and makes the game much more fun to play.

It is sometimes a little bit awkward pulling off some of the finishing moves (of which there are a lot more in the game than in previous titles), but this is as a result of the combination of buttons the game calls for you to hammer, and NOT as a result of the controller of the port of the control method to the Super NES, so we can gloss over that for now.

PLOT - 1/10

Ok ... I have been known to say that, whilst in general one-on-one beat-em'up plots are a bit on the thin side to say the least, the plots to Mortal Kombat and Mortal Kombat II have done wonders to instill a sense of confidence in the genre. HOWEVER. What the HELL did they think they were doing with this game ??

HONESTLY, this is one of the single WORST-devised plots I have ever come across.

Frustrated at continuing failure to win dominion over Earthrealm at the hands of Earth's finest warriors, Shao Kahn decides to enact a plan he set in motion TEN THOUSAND YEARS AGO ... which, for some reason, he's not considered doing since (??), being to send Shang Tsung and Shao Kahn's Shadow Priests to Earthrealm to resurrect Sindel - Kahn's wife who died that long ago (obviously they were VERY close for him to have waited so long to bring her back ... mind you, she does have quite a gob on her).

Kahn's plan is that he will then be able to stride through into the Earthrealm and reclaim his bride as his own, which will create a partial merger of Earthrealm and Outworld.

So far not so bad ... however, in doing so, BILLIONS of humans in Earthrealm are slain immediately, and Kahn despatches Extermination Squads to mop up the remaining humans, and destroy Earthrealm's finest warriors so that no further obstacles remain to his conquest and enslavement of Earthrealm.

Raiden is powerless to intervene, as the merger has already taken place by the time he learns of it.

Now, first and foremost, why the hell hasn't Kahn decided to implement this plan sooner ? Secondly, why would he want to slay BILLIONS of humans - he wants to have dominion over Earthrealm - what good is it to him if it's just a pile of barren rock ?? *sigh*.

I was BITTERLY disappointed with this plot, as it is WAY too contrived when placed alongside its predecessors in my book, and this really lets down the setting for the game.

GAMEPLAY - 7/10

Whilst the game is fun to play, there are a number of reasons why I for one feel that it is actually a step BACK from the gameplay of Mortal Kombat II, rather than a step forward.

First and foremost, the plot BADLY lets the game down. It does little to create an atmosphere where people feel gripped and want to play the game, and so you find yourself throwing yourself into the action and shrugging off the plot at the same time which was, I'm sure, never the game designer's intention.

Secondly, the character selection is somehow rather questionable. There are a number of new warriors that have been brought into the game, and that's all GREAT - characters like Sheeva are welcome additions ... however, all the regular ninja-style characters have been axed and replaced with either robotic-equivalents (Cyrax, Sektor, Cyber Smoke), or the renegade-style Ninja (Sub-Zero without his mask and only partially-clad). It was a dangerous decision on the designers' part to step-away from this tried-and-tested "we love Ninjas" idea, and it backfired on them to some degree.

Thirdly, the fatalities in this game are sometimes LUDICROUSLY inappropriate. In Mortal Kombat and Mortal Kombat II the entire point of a fatality was that, after an oftentimes gruelling fight, you would be rewarded by being allowed to slay your enemy - just like in the gladiatorial games of old.

However in Mortal Kombat 3 the designers for some reason took on a rather different slant to the fatalities ... SOME of them are really good, like Sektor's chest-crusher, Liu-Kang's teleporting flame burst, and Sindel's Scream. I would say about HALF of them, however, are utter pish. Liu-Kang's Teleporting Mortal Kombat Arcade Cabinet Splat is RUBBISH, Jax' gigantic foot-step is poor, and Cyber Smoke's destroying the entire planet is just ludicrous. Quite why they had to go so outlandish is quite beyond me, but for whatever reason, they did, and it doesn't work. Sorry.

The other methods of finishing your enemy are sometimes great and sometimes poor - the animalities, for example, are generally acceptable but sometimes, again, REALLY far-fetched and, in fact, borderline stupid.

The introduction of the Mercy (which you must perform in order to be able to do your animality) is a nice idea in contrast, but can sometimes fluff up your victory if you're not careful, and the friendship and babalities are all present, as are the Brutalities ... which are rather satisfying I must say.

Unfortunately it's the fact that you've now got no less than ... ooh ... SIX ? Different ways of finishing your enemy ? Fatality, Friendship, Babality, Animality, Mercy, Brutality, which can make it a very daunting prospect learning the moves for more than a couple of characters, which is also a bit of a pain, as in Mortal Kombat II it was an easy enough to learn all the finishing moves for all the characters.

Therefore I would say that in MK3 the game tries to do SO much but ultimately fails to hit the same standards are were achieved in MK II, and that's saddening.

The stage fatalities are good, and there are a fair few of them - however in areas where spikes are used, the developers have gone for a rather boring "let's put the character half-in, half-out so that they look like some spikes are in front of them and some behind them" (thereby creating a 2d/3d illusion), which makes the game look rushed and unprofessional, and this is not really good enough.

The game IS still good fun to play, and the introduction of a really robust combo (sorry, kombo) system really adds to the speed and enjoyment of play. The run button is arguably wasted in my opinion, but the special moves are all good fun, and there are plenty of new characters to get to grips with, even though it is a great shame that so many of the old ones have been let slip for this title.

With regard to it as an arcade-to-home conversion ? Generally-speaking, it's great ! All the kombos and other moves that would have worked well for you at the arcade can be done on the home version, and the game flows along at a very respectable pace. The Super NES controller works well, and you have in this a title that is an enjoyable game to play - it just doesn't live up to the standards set by its predecessors.

REPLAY VALUE - 7/10

The short- to mid-term replay value of Mortal Kombat 3 on the Supes NES is on the high side, given the comparatively HUGE array of finishing moves you have at your disposal, and the large number of hidden menus which have been included in the Super NES release for your playing pleasure.

The longer-term replay value takes a large knock owing to the fact that there are Mortal Kombat titles before and after this one (and both the earlier and the later ones are better in my opinion), but it will take you quite a while to master this game, so we are talking a longer-term drop off here.

VALUE FOR MONEY - 5/10

Unfortunately given that the game is largely overshadowed by titles like Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 (which features practically all the warriors from Mortal Kombat 3 with a whole load more besides), there isn't really a whole lot of reason to buy this particular title, if you can get your hands on later ones. Therefore the title does not represent very good value for money unless you can get it quickly, easily, and on the cheap ...

OVERALL - 7/10 (This is NOT an average)

I am saddened to say that this title ALMOST flatters to deceive, insofar as it has TONNES of potential, LOADS of finishing moves, HEAPS of new characters, new arenas to fight in and so on and so forth, but there are areas of the game which feel decidedly rushed, and lacking in the high quality finishing touches that its predecessors have set for us.

The game is fun to play, but it is not as good as Mortal Kombat II in my humble opinion.

MAIN GOOD POINTS

* LOADS and LOADS of finishing moves to master - even if half of them are stoopid
* Lots of new characters to play about with

MAIN BAD POINTS

* The worst plot of any of the Mortal Kombat games so far, BY far
* The loss of all the regular ninjas, and many of the older faces from MK and MK II
* If anything, TOO MANY finishing moves to master, which makes the game seem like an uphill struggle at times
* The squishing effect on the sprites makes some of them look deformed (Sindel in particular).

SO SHOULD YOU GET IT ?

If you're a die-hard fan of the Mortal Kombat Series then yes, of course you should get it, but then again you'll already HAVE it won't you ... ?

If you're NOT a die-hard fan of the series, I would advise you to stay away from this title, and pick up either Mortal Kombat II (if you don't already have it), or one of the later titles instead.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 09/05/07

Game Release: Mortal Kombat 3 (EU, 1995)