Mortal Kombat 3

"Third Time´s The Harm..."

Mortal Kombat 3... The worst game in the Mortal Kombat series. There are many problems with this game, starting with the lack of iconic characters, the unoriginal design of the new characters, and a horrible new theme to the game. But enough complaints, time for the review.

Story: n/a

As with all of the early Mortal Kombat games, there is honestly no story until the end of the game. You have to stop Shao Kahn from taking over the world which he has just merged with Outworld, you fight a ladder of opponents to gain a shot at fighting Shao Kahn. Beat Shao Kahn and you win, simple enough right? I personally believe that after 2 strictly fighting games, at least the third could have a more integrated story.

Graphics: 9/10

The graphics are very nice in Mortal Kombat 3, they are almost as good as the arcade version. The blood is a lot less than in Mortal Kombat II, and the Fatalities are a lot more tame, most of them involve your opponent exploding into a shower of bones. The animations are much more fluid in Mortal Kombat 3, and for that I commend Midway, at least they improved something.

Sound: 8/10

The sounds in Mortal Kombat 3 are also the best of the 3 Mortal Kombat games so far. They are very clear, the voices actually resemble noises that humans are capable of making, and characters really don´t share voices like in Mortal Kombat II. All of the hits are done very nicely, and the announcer´s voice is very clear. There is also a splattering sound effect as the blood hits the ground, which adds another touch of realism.

Gameplay: 5/10

This is where the game gets hit hard. They added 7 new characters, Cyrax, Smoke, and Sektor, all of which are pallette swaps of what looks like the robot from Predator, Sheeva, a female Shokan (same race as Goro), Kabal, a Darth Vader like character with hookswords and a life support system, an eerily familiar breathing apparatus, and a Boba Fett backpack. Nightwolf, a Native American Shaman, who is probably the only original character, Sindel, the resurrected Queen of Edenia, and Stryker, a riot control officer. What strikes me as odd is that Raiden, Johnny Cage, Scorpion, and Reptile, 3 very iconic characters are not in this game. Also, Sub-Zero is unmasked, I feel that that took away from his ninja-like feel. The fighting system is essentially the same, nothing new. There is a hit counter that tells you how many hits your combo was and how much damage it did, but other than that nothing new was really added. Uppercuts are also dramatically less powerful, and the AI is either really cheap and throws punches until you die or incredibly stupid, and allows you to kill them with incredible ease. Mortal Kombat 3 introduced Animalities, fatalities in which you turn into an animal and kill your opponent, for example, Sub-Zero becomes a polar bear and pounces on his opponent. There are also Brutalities, a 10 hit combo that if performed correctly will cause you to enter a cinematic in which you throw a flurry of punches causing you opponent to explode and bones to shower from the sky. The environments in this game are also much worse, for some reason they thought that it would be beneficial to add Urban environments. For example, the subway, the street, in the city, all nonsensical in a series that was supposed to take place in an oriental fantasy universe.

Replay Value: 6/10

Well, there are a lot of characters, but that does not always equate to replay value. If you still have Mortal Kombat II, dust it off and play it instead, it is much better than this disgrace to the series.

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 08/18/08

Game Release: Mortal Kombat 3 (US, 1995)