Mortal Kombat 3

"This game completely defeats the purpose of playing fighting games; it's just ani't fun!"

I've been playing this series a few times a week or more for most of my life, however, as Midway's games begin to decay, I can do little but quit their MK series altogether. Perhaps this is one of the times when I have to test my resolve to remain an avid MK fan. But this is one of the last straws.

It all started with MK1, which most regarded as a masterpiece. MK2 came out and it was also a hit. Then the company started making ports of the game, and began producing MK3. When MK3 came out, I was so eager to get it that I spent all the money I had at the time- almost $60.00. I could anticipate how good the game might be. I was hoping to be able to stay on this game for at least a year. I was wrong. I couldn’t even bear it for a few hours.

I began by using Sub-zero, one of my favorite characters. I played for a while, and the computer wasn’t even 1/2 as well done as the ones in Killer Instinct, one of my favorite fighting games. I played it with my brother, and from that start, I was massive disappointed by the game. It has some intangible thing mission, and that thing made me play this game for about 20 minutes, and I just didn’t know why I went forward and turned the machine off. Up until that time, I had never experienced a game in which I couldn’t enjoy the first few minutes of playing, but whatever the reason, this game sucked until the end. The next day I turned the machine back on, and I wished that I could at least get $20 back if I could burn the game. I felt terrible about wasting $60, especially if I had been wishing years to get the game.

Gameplay:1/10
This game isn’t a fighting game; it’s a waiting game, seeing who can possibly stand longer without doing nothing but defend. I played quite a few people, and in each case, all that happened was that we attacked with fireballs; for Tsung, I did the 3 consecutive fireball attack over and over. Most friend, who plays Sub-zero, just perform the freezing attack, then did the almighty uppercut. If I actually try melee combat, this is what usually happens: I attack, trying to perform a 3 or 4 hit combo. The enemy breaks the combo, destroying 20% of my health. I attack with 3 fireballs, they block 3 or 2 of them, and use their fireball attack.
From here, both people jump whenever they can, using the projectile attack over and over. The 2 characters that are arguably the best are sub-zero and Cyrax, because both have moves that freeze up the opponent. Once the opponent is frozen, both just do an uppercut.
Anyways, as I have described, this game mainly consists of simple attacks. Most of the “fun” games occur when new players or intermediate fight each other. They don’t know the repelling moves yet and they do the combo moves. When it comes to better players, its more of a waiting game.

Graphics:9/10
The background is very good, and the editors of the game spent a long time making everything look as scary, stimulating, and alien as possible. In one memorable map, Shao kahn (the biggest enemy if you play single player) sits in the background while spirits swirl around him. In another one, the train is in the background.
Fatalities and brutalities are difficult to do, and depict uncanny scenes. All this violence brings the sting out of the game.

Sound:5/10
The sound got boring fast, and the sounds of the characters were very limited. The only aspect that was appreciable was the fatalities. The sound effects of the gory fatalities were disgusting.

Value:2/10
Judging on the poor gameplay, the value is low. However, multiplayer exists and alloys you to play this game for a lot longer without getting bored. For multiplayer, only 2 people can play, 1 on 1.

Tilt:1/10
I hated this game. I have never met a game in which I stopped playing so soon. It WAS plain boring. I can say nothing more.

Overall:1/10
Please rent this game if you want to play. Please don’t make the mistake I made and buy this game. I’ve calculated that I spent about $6 for ever hour I spent on this game, because the game cost me $60. I feel very bad, and spent many sleepless nights in tears thinking that there are millions starving in this world yet I can waste $60 like this.

Reviewer's Score: 1/10, Originally Posted: 11/26/02, Updated 05/01/04