Mortal Kombat 3

"Very fair and honest review inside."

I am going to try to review this game as though this was written the year this particular game released. 1995 is memory serves me. If you judge it by today's standards, you'll think of the flashier, more advanced things and you'll become biased. That being said, you may have also heard that this game was absolutely horrible, and that it was the turning point of the MK success. The last part is true, but I don't understand why everyone HATES this game. Everything that I'm about to write is very true.

Graphics: 6 (Out of 10 points)
I've often heard that the graphics beteen this and MK2 are exactly the same, despite the enhancements in video game creating technology. This holds true to a certain extent. Between M1 and 2, the graphics were quite noticably different. Everything was less blurry, sleeker, and faster in MK2. Well, in MK3, the animations are smoother and more crisp. They're not leaps and bounds over MK2, but you can immediately tell the difference. They're not exactly the same. I will say they could have done much better if they tried. Also, they can duplicate characters from the same gaming sprites, that is how they created Scorpion from Sub-Zero (or the other way around). It's fine as long as you have something fun to play, but in this game, their stances and everything is the same. Only the color is different. And they have 3 ninjas in this game (4 if you count Smoke). That's just plain lazy once you have better advanced equipment.

Music and Sound FX: 7
I wasn't quite sure what to rate this. because the music is spectacular, each stage has quite a catchy beat. But the sounds, well, they're a bit lacking. I didn't really find much of an advancement in sounds from MK2. Then again, I really can't complain in a fighting game. I mean, there isn't much more than punching, kicking, and the special moves and such. Something just seemed missing. I gave it a little bit extra score because the sound comes through very well, the voices are clear and distinct, and not grainy in the least.

Gameplay: 6(Single player) 9(Multiplayer)
Mortal Kombat never has provided quite satisfying single player gameplay. The computers are always either way too hard, or ridiculously easy. it's the same way here. Although slightly more balanced than MK2, the computer seems to take full, and unfair advantage of the run/combo system. But, since they've seemed to have actually made an effort here, I boosted it a point from the original score of 5. Now, on MULTIPLAYER, you can have some REAL fun. They do actually have a very working combo system, and unlike on MK2, they've balanced out the damage amounts. So Liu Kang's bicyle kick can't bring you to the danger sound in 3 shots like it did in MK2 (seriously). Not to mention you can press one of the top buttons for a "running" command, so you can set off a good offensive. I don't care what anyone says, they're trying to focus on every little bad thing of this game just because the makers couldn't pull something revolutionary right out of their ass, like they did in the previous MKs. this is a very strong part of the game.

Story: 4
They'e found another reason to keep Shang Tsung, and to keep Shao Kahn around. I realize that it's hard to make up a plausible story for a sequel without making it sound stupid, but I think they kind of went lazy on this part. Shao Kahn and Shang Tsung have rallied an army together to invade Earth realm and destroy everything, and you hold another tournament to fight a handful of guys and kill Shao Kahn again. Not exactly as good as MK1 OR 2. If anyone tells you that the story on this one isn't so good, you can most certainly believe them there.

Conclusion: Judging the game on these 5 levels, the final score is 7. It's as good as Mortal Kombat 1, if not better, but the fact that some areas they didn't even try on turns me off to this game. Also, it seems that the game is sort of underdeveloped. Like the story is ridiculous and the sounds are very half-assed. Maybe it's just me there though.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 07/29/04