Mortal Kombat - PS3 - Demo - Review

[Ohio Joe]

I love fighting games even though my suckage at them is legendary. This is the demo for the new Mortal Kombat coming out in a month or so, I guess they are doing a complete re-boot of the series. The game comes in at a reasonable 572meg download, so not too bad. This game is also a 3D game but I do not have a 3D tv so I'm just going to ignore that part.

There are not a lot of options enabled in the demo, controller config and CPU difficulty is about it. There are four fighters to choose from, though there look like there will be 26 in the final game (assuming the character page is correct) and 2 more via DLC. The four you can choose in the demo are Scorpion, Johnny Cage, Mileena and Sub-Zero.

I go with Scorpion and my first battle is against myself. I'm going on easy so I pretty much just stand there while I beat myself senseless. I keep doing this cool jump thing where I grab him up off the ground and then slam him down. I have no idea how I'm doing it.

Next up Mileena. Mileena does a little bit of offense and my button mashing has discovered two new moves. One throws out a chain that grabs her by the neck and then slams her to the ground, very bloody. The other has me dash off screen and come in on the other side, hitting her from behind. I have no idea how I did either of them. I did not notice in my first fight but in this one, I notice the blood a lot more, also that the characters get wounded and the wounds stay. Still being on easy, I did not get wounded so I'm not sure if it is just show or if they have any impact but Mileena got very bloody from the chain thing.

Next up is Sub-Zero and he almost kills me, it was a close battle. I won the first round and into round two, I had him on the ropes when he pulls out this bizarre freeze move that lets him reach into my gut and crush my frozen stomach, then head butt me which breaks most of the bones in my face and neck. All of this was shown in this cool zoom in move that shows the gruesome details up close, pretty impressive. I did make a comeback and win the second round though. I also found out that wounds are just for show and do not seem to have any impact on your fighting. I also found a move list in the pause menu, I tried to do a fatality but accidentally punched him instead.

Next up is Johnny Cage... I hate this fucking guy... and yes, he still has the move where he punches you in the nuts, douchebag. Johnny makes short work of me as by the fourth fight the game AI has gone from punching bag to every other move being a special of some type. If I had the energy to go on, they demo even has a goro fight but honestly, at my age all this button mashing hurts. I'll leave it installed though and probably go back and try again another time.

Graphics - The characters are animated just beautifully, very detailed and gory. The back grounds are kind of strange... I think it might be because of the 3D... They are animated, things are going on but at the same time they look a little flat, it's kind of weird but it does not detract from the fighting.

Controls - It's a fighting game. There are all manner of strange things you have to memorize for each character to be able to use it well. I no longer have the memory or the dexterity to do it, so I button mash. This can on occasion be effective but will more often then not get your ass kicked.

Fun Factor - I really wish I could still do these types of games because I do enjoy them, alas age has caught up with me and made them difficult... Well, more difficult :D

Bottom Line - I think fighting games have seen their day come and go but if you remember and still enjoy them this is a fine example. Lots of different moves, beautiful look, lots of gore, everything you are nostalgic for in a MK game. If I could play it, I would buy it, since I can't, I'll just mess around with the demo a bit.