Mortal Kombat X is Shaping Up to be An impressive Fighter Post 1 of 10 of Preview-A-Palooza!

All images found on Google Image.      

    This week ends the Beta for Mortal Kombat X, which is the next installment in the mortal Mombst Universe. The game will be set twenty-five years in the "future" of the game's series, and I'm. It too sure if that means twenty-five years after the first tournament, or after Mortal Kombat 9, which left us playing the entire series over again in one game. 

    To me, the story for MKX looks to have more questions than answers, but Ed Boon company are turning this game into a serious competitor for the fighting game to lead us into the next-generation of consoles. As you all know, Mortal Kombat is as near and dear to my heart as Mario, Sonic, Crash Bandicoot, and even Pac-Man, it is a game that defines video games. I love Mortal Kombat, but I'm unbiased because I am a harsh critic, and can admit there is no such thing as a perfect game. Even MK 9, the highest selling game in the series, even outselling my personal favorite: Mortal Kombat II, has allowed for mortal Kombat X to go above the average sequel, or so it seems at the present. 

    Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance, or Mortal Kombat 6, although I'm not sure which game counts as 5.....is it technically MK 4 that is actually the fifth game? Is it like that whole argument that Super Mario 3 is actually 4? Either way, Deadly Alliance was a great reimagination of the series, and brought to the helm a game franchise that has been a staple of my childhood to a much broader audience. Mortal Kombat 9, not but two games after, had made the game mainstream, and although many could say the game just upgraded what we already knew and loved, adding X-Ray moves, and new perspectives on old characters, like playing as Sektor and Cyrax pre-cyborg. 

   In-truth, the game had a great deal of add-ons, it even added a long-time fan request in Skarlett, who was suggested to be a hidden character in the earlier games, although it was just an alternative costume of Mileena. 

     Yet, many claim the game had a great deal of push because of a playable Kratos, and DLC like Freddy Kreuger, which is plausible, I've heard of people buying games for less, but I truly believe it was the immersive story, and a decent gap between games so the taste of Armageddon could be washed from one's mouth. If Armageddon wasn't made, and Deception was the last game, I'm sure MK X would be a completely different animal. Still,  Armageddon is its own blessing in disguise, because 9 was so much better, and I think that train wreck is the reason 9 was a better game.....although, is MK vs DCU seen as cannon? If so, that game was fun, but didn't add too much to the storyline. So instead of making that a blanketed statement, let me elaborate: Mortal Kombat 9 was supposed to be a wash from the end of Armageddon, but this game seems to be the outcome from Armageddon, and 9, so expect a few new faces, and say sayonara to some famous characters, which to me, is perfectly fine, and a step in the right direction. 

      MK X is going to be interesting because it'll add quite a few new characters that even I'm impressed by so-far. My only concern is that 2 player is going to be dropped, because is am old-fashioned, and want the choice to play my friend on the couch, so I can dance and wiggle in front of their face when I rip out their spine. The newest characters are a breath of fresh air: Netherrealm is doing it right, and they've added two (three if you count the Terra-Fer character) new female players so far. To me, the female side of the roster has always been more balanced than most fighters, excluding such titles as Dead or Alove, but that was more against the grain, but if you look at the current MK titles, they've all added female character that are universally respected, if not loved. 

    First off, Sonya Blade is perhaps the most iconic female character in games since Lara Croft, and she's perhaps more the bad ass for it. She was a bit of a joke for a while, but in the past few games has been one of the better characters. The same could be said for Kitana, and my personal favorite: Jade. The point is over ten games, the female characters have been nearly balanced in every game, and each one has been more, and more detailed, their stories more interesting as the game expands. 

    Despite my not caring what the sex is of the character I play, the female characters in Mortal Kombat always seem  to be immersed in the game, not just there for political correctness. Also, they could all make Chun-Li weep.  The new characters are Cassie Cage;    Sonya Blade, and Johnny Cage's child, and although this makes sense story wise, and there have been non cannon characters like Kira, I think that a child between Sonya and Jax would've been more interesting. This character has a mixture of Special a Forces stile moves, and some of the campy that makes Johnny Cage a hate him 'til you love him kind of guy. Her fatality was pretty funny, which I was pleasantly surprised to see, even though the clown one all Joker last game was pretty funny as well. The nex character to be introduced so far is D'horah,   looks like a kind of bee/insectoid creature, perhaps a new race in the Netherealm, or some other realm....we don't know if all the realms are open and reacting with each other currently, still she looks to be a bit overpowered, but this game isn't fully balanced yet....and Koto Khan    is probably the most unbalanced character of the game....that blood sacrifice move is going to cause more nerd rage than Jar-Jar Binks announced in the new Star Wars film (just kidding, but Disney is the place where nightmares come true.) still, the new characters look like they both fit into the Mortal Kombat Universe, and although they aesthetically look similar, they still look completely new, and shadow remnants of the past MK games, but still house a design that makes me say, MK is ready for a new generation. Sure,,some people are complaining because there's new characters....but, I hate to sound like a smart ass, and say every single game after the very first Mortal Kombat, even Armageddon, included new playable characters. If people complained about "new characters" back when MK II was made, then my favorite character, Jade, would never have been crafted for the series! So yes, I too am worried we won't see enough favorite characters, and even the Sub-Zero is most likely going to be an offspring of the brother of the original Sub-Zero, but I get it! I hate when my favorite character dies, but I also know that life must go on, especially with a sequel. I'm not saying the concern isn't  understandable, but I will also say that every game has had both the good, and the bad. Yes, even MK 4 had both good and bad parts to it.....although I think nothing can be salvaged from Special Forces, even Tremor was a flawed design, and I'd  say a flawed concept altogether. 

     Still, these new characters, and they may be the only new characters ( Raiden and Kano are coming back, so is Quan Chi, but seeing how the last game ended, that doesn't surprise me.) are  aesthetically pleasing in design, and during gameplay, they move with a grace that made the last game almost artistic in it's juggling, and the combat system has become very updated, so-much-so that even when you combo, or use an environmental piece, it doesn't skip a beat. If this is just a test, I'd be enticed to see just what a finished product looks like, and although the bugs to come might be a sad, sad shame, I have faith this game will be one of the few games that's actually completed on the shipping date...I know! I may be asking too much, but you know what?  If the game isn't without it's flaws, I'm sure it'll be playable at the very least. 

     Also, Master-Blaster (Ferra/Torr)    made it into the game, and if that doesn't put a smile on your face, (yes, I now it's not literally Master-Blaster) then you, good person, have no sense of humor. Still, the game is looking better than most could expect for a franchise that's over twenty years old, and I'd say this game could survive for several more generations, because it seems to be under great management, and that's what keeps a series alive....and if the game is being mismanaged, hopefully it will have a moment of zen, and get someone who will put it back on top. Like Hideo Kojima is assuring us that the legacy of Silent Hill will stay alive, Ed Boon is showing us that Mortal Kombat will survive, at least one more cycle. This is looking to be my first official preorder for the Playstation 4, and you can expect my review to follow. Still, if this game turns out to be utter garbage, I promise you will know immediately. Sure, I gave Armageddon some slack, it wasn't the best, but certainly not the worst, and I think that is why people were disappointed: it wasn't like a grand finale, but a rather clumsy curtain drop. 

       However, I'm excited, as should most MK fans, and although we've heard practically nothing yet, especially for a game that is expected to release in the next eleven months, I expect decent online multiplayer, a more immersed storyline, and I hope the towers come back, but if that gets an upgrade as well, I won't be completely disappointed. Love challenge towers, and it reminds me of classic MK. I also hope they bring back the Shokans. I know they are either universally loved, or universally hated, but I don't mean bring back Goro, or Shiva, or even that pussy cat Kintaro, I'm just saying give me a new Shokan....not sure I'd want a Motaro centaur, but please not that satyr version. Also, I think people want to play as a full-blooded female Tarkartan, not Mileena, but still, I'd love to see some kind of sleek female Baraka that jumps around like a spider, and can hack and gash like a spliced ala Bioshock. To me, that would be an added experience, which wouldn't upset the status quo, and pays homage to the larger world of Outworld. As an avid fan, and a strong critic, I'm quite certain that Ed Boon will do right by the fans, and simply make a fun game....something that's classic, but brand-new, and focused on fun, rather than anticlimactic gameplay, which tries to evoke an emotion, rather than upper cutting someone into a vat of acid, and having a cartoonish skeleton pop right back up. Mortal Kombat X is expected to release sometime in 2015, but I'd believe it to be sometime in late Spring, early Summer, but don't be surprised a game of this magnitude ( that is, as a task for the developers) may be pushed back as far as holiday season of winter 2015. 

Update: as I just finished writing this post, I discovered that three new characters have been leaked. Kung Lao, Kitana, and for pre-order: Goro. The game was also give  a date of release: April 14th, 2015. 

     

Thank you for reading the Malacast Editorial! Your continued support is always appreciative to the highest extent! 

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E-mail: mcasteditorial@yahoo.com. 

Mortal Kombat 9: Review

Late reviews are one of the things I hate do post, because I feel I've neglected my readers valuable time. So for the sake of those who read my blog, and were expecting this review sooner, I appologize. I actually have some things I want to say in this post that may seem controversital,but really it comes down to ethics on-part of the designer.
Mortal Kombat 9, the lastest in the Mortal Kombat series, released earlier this year for the Xbox 360, and the Playstation 3 is a retro take on the old fighting franchise. How do you keep an old dog with old tricks releveant in this age? With a new engine. Although the graphics engine for Mortal Kombat 9 is the same one used for Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, it is actually much smoother this time around. The characters are all the same from past games, no real new characters are found here, excluding DLC, but we'll get to that later. The game consists of almost every fighter from the first three games, and includes Quan Chi as an added bonus. The game itself is a rip-roaring smorgasbord of violence, carnage, and everything fans have grown to love from this franchise.
Mortal Kombat 9 brings back famous characters who are on a first-name basis with fans,with the likes of: Scorpion, Sub-Zero, Sonya Blade, Johnny Cage, Reptile, Liu Kang, Raiden, Kano, and loads more. Not the most amount of fighters seen in the game's history, but a close second. Playable characters are enough to keep hours, if not days of gameplay enthralling, even without the downloadable content. The game is consistent, realistic, the new fighting engine, including the surprisingly fun X-Ray moves, are not as stale as I expected them to be.
Fatalities are back, and can be unlocked in the returning krypt, or they can be found out in the pratice fatality mode, which allows you to pratice all different combinations to discover seceret fatalities. All characters have a stage fatality, which is similar to what could be done in MKII, considered the best game by an engrossing amount of fans, and babalities have also returned for certain characters.
The fatality system has not changed much since its inception, to no one's real surprise, it still takes a buttong combination to pull off the stage ending video, where your opponent is split and sliced into itty bitty gore parts. Considering Warner Bros. said they wanted a 90s style game back on the market to sell, it's no surprise that Boon and company pulled out all the bloody stops to make this game a no-go for parents. The times have changed though, as much less outraged can be seen over this game, and although this game is far less graphic in content to say the Grand Theft Auto series, and even horror juggernaut Dead Space 2, there is a surprising amount of gross moments, and many comical ones as well.
When you look at the overall game, there was a lot of love placed into it, and the game shines, and has some droughts, but overall, it is a classic game in a new engine. Fans should not be disappointed, and newcomers to this series will find they have a world of history to explore if this sparks their interests in the older games. I'm sure HD remakes will be hitting the PSN and XBLA soon enough, but this game in-itself is a fresh start to the franchise. I would actually be excited for MK-X if and when it comes out in the future.
Levels from the first three games return in their HD glory, some famous ones being the Living Forest, which I was not too impressed with, but compared to its predecessor, there is no rival. Then there's the Subway station, which looks better than the first one, and its stage fatality is a fun one to use. The Rooftop stages are the best known from MKIII, and are some of the most detalied in MK9. Level design was done so well, that it makes you forget that this game is really an amazingly detailed hock of the first three, but does that mean the storyline pales in comparison from the first time around? Eh...you decide.

The story is that Raiden, after losing to Shao Khan in Armageddon, with all the Earthrealm fighters dead at their feet, uses some mystical telepathic power to reach his predcessor, the full God Raiden, back at the first tournament. Raiden warns himself that there is going to be a horrible future if he does not change the past, and if Armageddon happens, all of the realms will come under attack by Shao Khan. Seeing as Shao Khan is the tyrannical emperor of Outworld, a big guy with a Napolean complex, it does not shine the best light on Earth's future.
Using a broken medallion as a smybol to "mend" the past, the past Raiden uses images sent by the future Raiden to change the course of history. This turns out to take place over the first three original tournaments, as Shang Tsung, the great socceror to Shao Khan, loses both the first and second tournaments to Liu Kang and his Shaolin brother Kung Lao. These change the storyline so much, in-that it becomes a whole new timeline, and we are left to wonder what great changes will happen. Turns out, a lot of things change. One thing that changes is that Sub-Zero becomes a cybernetic ninja instead of the Lin Kuei member Smoke, and although Jax still loses his arms, and Kabal is still fried chicken, it seems like many of the Earthrealm warriors gain status where there was none before. Stryker becomes a more important character, while Liu Kang becomes on par with Kun Lao. Scorpion learns more about Quan Chi, the sourcerer that brought him back from hell, and though the original Sub-Zero does become Noob Saibot, and Cyber Sub-Zero teams with Shao Khan for a while, much of the change comes from the outcome of Shao Khan's death. The fourth game seems it may be skipped altogether, but that will be shown in MK X if it is developed in the future.

Besides the Quantum Leap storyline, the old-style of 2-D vs. 3-D, the game itself is a testament of all that is lvoed about Mortal Kombat, and all the petpeeves we as fans have had about the game. I can't say much has changed in the almost two-decade long era, but I do hope to see great things come from the series. I am not just finished though with this review, because if I were to rate the game as it stands now, I'd give it about an 8.5 out of 10. Yet, we still have some DLC to get through.

The DLC of MK 9 is not all entirely released, but so far we have two characters: one old, one new. The first is Kenshi, now before we get into this, if you've read my blog in the past, you know how I feel about DLC (Downloadable Content) and how much I cannot stand it, simply because if forces extra payments to a game I've bought already overpriced. DLC is unfair in-that if you do not have a cable modem, you cannot use it, and it costs more money than the download seems worth, but besides all of the negatives, and DLC is here to stay, here is my takes on the two chracters.
First mentioned is Kenshi, who become a playable character almost a decade after the first game's release. He is a blind swordsman who replaced Ermac in the Deadly Alliance and Deception titles. He was a fun character, a fan favorite for the new generation of Kombatants, and he is a powerful adversary. He returns to break up the timeline a bit, but is quite similar to the Kenshi we all have played in the past. The render of the character looks great so-far, and though I have little experience with the new characters, I can say they are not worth download just yet, as I hope a full-package is made a few months after the last few DLC characters come into play.

The second character is brand-new to the series, although it is a character created out of one of the famous mythos of the first three games. Skarlet was supposedly a playable character in the second game, but turned out to be a swapped render of Mileena. She is playable here for the first time on DLC for MK9, and is a blood-based female ninja. She uses similar, though not copied moves that Nitara had in MK:Deception, but she is a big part of the mythology behind the Mortal Kombat Universe. Many fans have hoped and wished for a Skarlet character, and now Boon and developers have come to terms with giving the fans the character that is literally a decade in the making. She is worth downloading if you are a super fan of the old games, but she has no real relevance to the timeline just yet, we'll see if the fans accept her, and if she returns as a stock character in the next game.

Overall, the game is fluent in its execution, Mortal Kombat 9 is perhaps the fastest game out, but considering other fighting titles, it's still in the stone-age. A more conservative fighting game, and it is more mature this time around, not so-much in violence, but seems our little MK franchise is finally growing into a classic. The story isn't the bad, but not great, the dialogue could still use some work, and the gameplay, including the A.I. need some kinks removed, but overall, this is by far the best "new age" Mortal Kombat game to date, and I'm so glad that Kratos is a playable special character over Robin, that would've been the worst decision ever made. I enjoyed the game, and if you're a diehard MK fan like myself, this review wouldn't matter anyway, but thank you for reading through it anyhow, and enjoy Mortal Kombat 9.

I just found out that Freddy Kruger is going to be a DLC character coming this August. I will give a full review in the up-coming month on this, and Rain, which has been out, but I have not much to say about the character. Rain does seem a bit overpowered in the preview, but I will put it to the test this upcoming month

I am Malacast Agent, and this is the Malacast Editorial, thank you for reading all of the reviews, and enjoying the many posts on this site. You can follow me on Twitter @mcasteditorial, or add me as a friend on Facebook, just search for Malacast Agentt, the extra t is because FB refuses still to acknowledge my name as real. Also check out the blog here at mcasteditorial.blogspot.com for more information on my newest project: The EntroPhenom Internet Radio Show.

As always. thank you for reading the Malacast Editorial, expect new posts up in the near future.

EntroPhenom Radio Show to be Posted Very Soon

Malaast Agent here, I have3 been discussing for some time doing what everyone was doing,meaning podcasts, vlogs, etc. Yet despite these failings of never delievering the goods,I have decided to team with a good friend of mind, Mr. Edgar Holves, and create a radio Internet SHow. This is the next big step for the both of us, and although we both feel the first few episodes will need some tinkering, we plan on having live video feeds in the future. I am also looking into creating a skype profile in order for skype users to voice chat for free, and for telephone callers to have a toll-free number to call in for questions and comments.
Much thought and work has been put into both marketing and determining the ideas of this radio show, but I am hoping that the variety of topics will interest those who have trafficked this site in the past. If possible I will be posting the shows up later today, but expect them up on either this site, or linked through facebook in the next week.
The first show is a 4th of July special, and the second show is a variety show where we dicuss everything from politics, to cats. Shows three, four, and five will be rounding out the month, while shows six through ten will lead us into the Fall.
For more information on the EntroPhenom Internet Radio Show, and other reviews, previews, and podcasts/radio shows in the future, feel free to check back here at the Malacast Editorial, and don't forget to follow this blog on Twitter @mcasteditorial. I'm also on Facebook, so add me as a friend: My name appears there as Malacast Agentt, because it wouldn't reconize the last name any other way. I will be adding much more to the Facebook page, with internvews, previews, and other video sources. They will be linked here as well for those who do not have Facebook.

Thank you as always for supporting the Malacast Editorial, I will have much more to post in the upcoming months, I am focused greatly on thsi radio show, but I will have some video game reviews coming up, including an in-depth Mortal Kombat 9 review, a Twisted Metal Review when the game is released, and I am planning on seeing Captian America: The First Avenger, so I will most likely review that movie as well.
Again, Thank you for following me on Twitter, and I hope the radio show will entertain you, the second its posted, you'll hear about it first on Twitter, and only here at the Malacast Editorial

Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe Review

Image from Google

Fighting games are a franchise that was held in the highest regards during the nineties. People lined up around the block outside the local arcades to take their chance at beating the best of the best at games like Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter, Killer Instinct, and SNK’s King of Fighters series. The game that was given the most controversial skepticism was of course Mortal Kombat. All fighting games are brutal in their own way, but Mortal Kombat was the first mainstream video game fighter in the arcades that actually allowed you to kill your opponent in a gruesome gory way. This became known as the iconic fatality, and has been shown to have impacted our culture in many ways, as parodies and real-life cases have come to show the Mortal Kombat series as an iconic time capsule that will be seen as one of the most important fighting games of our time.
The newest installment in the series is called Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe. The idea is not a new one for the fighting franchise, crossovers are more common than not. The Marvel vs. Capcom series should be a prime example of how this is an old dog doing old tricks, but it looks pretty and new. Let’s now go into the review for Mortal Kombat vs. DC Univserse:

Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe is a prequel game set between Mortal Kombat 2 and Mortal Kombat 3. The game’s story mode can be played by either the DC side, which brings you into contact with the heroes and villains of that world such as: Batman, The Joker, Deathstroke, Superman, Shazam, and Lex Luthor. The other side can be played by Mortal Kombat characters, and takes place in both Earthreal, the Neatherrealm, and Outworld. DCs side plays out mostly in Metropolis, Gotham City, and of course the Fortress of Solitude.

Image of Captain Marvel from DC fame.

Ok, so the gameplay is one of the best of the series. Unlike most fighters, the button mashing stays the same, but the team at Midway put some thought into revamping the fighting system so it flows well on the Playstation 3. I was not too fond of this mash-up at first, but after playing several characters, I sense how they put lots of detail into the game, and even adding an element It lacked for so long: the double tap dash, which means you hit the directional but twice to make the character sprint. This is present in almost every fighting game, and was a much needed improvement.
The klose kombat addition, where you can pull your opponent in and take pop shots at their face was an excellent, and sometimes a much welcomed break from the brutality of the match. Despite this game’s Teen rating, which is a major step down from the Mature rating the series is used to, the punishment the characters take can be unbearable to watch as they’re tattered and torn apart. The detail to ripping costumes, and scarring is a beautiful attention to detail. Free-Fall Kombat is similar to klose kombat, and does massive damage. Midway also brought back the classic test your might style back into certain levels, where you crash your oppenent through a series of walls, and button mash to add damage. All these great additions play well into the gameplay.

Image from Bat Blogger
I did not feel the Kombo Challenges were done well, , and just makes you throw the controller down, and go back to arcade mode. The new pro moves system is a pain to pull off. Pro moves are like a free extra couple of hits on your opponent. When pulling off a special move, say Sonya’s upward bicycle kick manuver, if you hit the action button, in the case for the PS3, It would be the circle button, she will then do this move twice. These moves are truly for pros, as timing is essential, so newcomers to the game will have a hard time figuring out how to pull them off. With some time, and some quick fingers, the moves will become like second nature. This is although a frustrating part of the game, a very much welcomed edition to the genre, as it forces you to strive and become a better player.
Although you can do all of the combo challenges to earn achievements or trophies ( accomplishments for completing tasks in the game.) and you can play arcade mode on hard to better your skills, the only way to learn how to master the game, is to get some experience in through online play. Online play is very simple, and I feel that it is fun, but like other games in the past, the game play is lagged a bit, and counters done to an oncoming attack can hurt both players, so when say one character is doing a chain combo of hits, and the other character does a special move, both parties are hurt in the exchange. In Mortal Kombat: Deception and Mortal Kombat: Armageddon, I had the same lag issues, now I know this may be a server issue, so why did they not fix their servers, or at least update them? It’s like they said: “Well, it’s broke, so let’s not fix it”.




Despite lag, and a simpler game room layout from the previous game, Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe has a good online system. It could be better, that is true, I’ve only played it on the PS3, so maybe Xbox Live has less bugs. The game play online is at times like arcade mode, but because of the online play, you can have spammers, hackers, and other infringements on the game that can change a camera angle, or hurt game play. This takes away from the accuracy and fairness of the online matches, and may frustrate many a players testing their abilities against the best.
Overall, the game is a great addition as a fighter, but the story mode, the combo challenge mode, and even the online mode need to have been looked over once more, because they flaw the game. The story mode should have been longer, despite it already being lengthy; due to the ability of playing both the Mortal Kombat and DC Universe side. The lack of in-depth plot shortens the experience of what is supposed to be a six-hour game. To be honest, for the casual gamer, this game is not worth your money, perhaps more a glorified rental title.
If I had to score this game, I’d give it a 7 out of 10. The game is a great fighter, but all-in-all this is a game that needs to have been combed over once more. I hope that if they go this route again with a mash-up title, they fix the glitches in the final game. Although it is not as glitch-y or as bad as Armageddon, hopefully the next game in the franchise is more back to the bloody roots that started it all.

MK vs. DC Universe and Mortal Kombat 8/9 Preview

P.S. I did not post any pictures, because they're all over the net.

Mortal Kombat: if you've looked back at my past reviews/previews, you'd see that I've been solely dedicated to this fighting franchise, and not just for the singularity feeling of going head-to-head in a classic, updated fighting game, but for the overall expansion of the Mortal Kombat world that has taken this mud ball by its reigns and said: "Whoa, hold it right there, now see this? This is how a fighting game is made." This is the definitive fighting game on the planet, and people ask, how did this one beat out all the others when it comes to fighting games? I mean Capcom, SNK, even Neo-Geo have their classics, but Midway's Mortal Kombat is the game franchise you think of? Even games like Soul Calibur, and Bloody Roar ( in my opinion, Bloody Roar is an actualy technical fighting game, where button mashing and spamming do not pay off) fail to compete with this game that is over 15 years in the making? Well, because the story never goes stale, and the kombat system is what others strive to be, yes even Street Fighter.
Unlike Guilty Gear, KoF, or even Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat made the best jump from 2-D to 3-D of any of the above named fighters. I'd throw in Bloody Raw and Soul Calibur into that line-up, but those two were already three dimensional games, and are also top tier franchises. For more information on Mortal Kombat's significance in video gaming history, please refer to the earlier posts.
Now, when I think of Mortal Kombat, I think of three things: 1. Story, perhaps the most important aspect I find in the series, and where Armageddon failed me, but that's another story. 2 Control, I want to be able to have quick reactions, and not deal with the same three-hit combos spammed to hell in every damn match against Scorpion. The controls need to react fast, because that's how the fighting genre is, speed and skill against defense and reaction. Finally, I want characters: Above 20, below thirty, but 10 is a reasonable amount to really show-off whether you know how to play, or just spam characters until they shoot out a fireball.
Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe was a fucking joke when I first heard the announcement, about four-to-five months ago. That's when I was bored and decided to check out Midway's homepage in hopes of a new Suffering game to preview, but alas, I see Batman and Sub-zero squaring off. It was a few weeks before April Fools' so I figured it was Gamepro doing a gag, but they already set up the Zelda film, which I admired through the creativity that went into that faux trailer. Nope, Midway was not following in the Gamepro footsteps, this game was coming out whether I liked it or not, I expressed my utter hatred for this game, and I am not picky I disliked Marvel vs Capcom as well, because cross-overs are nothing but unimaginative games pieced together to make a quick buck off of old content.
Then I heard that it was canon! This game is canon to the story, as it takes place between MK I and MKII, which was also the early and mid-nineties, the rise in DC comics were going up with Frank Miller, Alan Moore, and Todd McFarlene working on different Batman comics, revitalizing the franchise from near death, and shitty films. Remember, the Michael Keaton Batman came about this time as well, so it was desperately needed. That is probably coincidence, rather than playing to the Golden Age of DC revitalization.
I was not happy about this at all, I mean as someone that knew Special Forces was a bad idea, felt that this game in-particular would flop like a fish on scalding glass. I also suspected that Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe was TIme Warner sticking their nose in Midway's business, but I saw potential after not just the renders, but the fact that fatalities were specific to certain characters. After the last three games (MK: DA, MK:D, and MK:A) The fatalities were becoming more and more broad, and the characters were based more off fighting style and either good, bad, or neutral. So when I saw that the fatalities/brutalities, would be specifically picked because of either a hero of villain, I saw the possibilities of a future game (MK 8/9 depending how you are counting) as it would play out on the next gen consoles. What irritated me is that this game should've came afterwards, and was done obviously because of the next few years in film. DC is struggling to regain its dynasty from the conquering Marvel franchise, and impending superiority of Dark Horse with Hellboy, and the ever-present Image comics with Spawn. DC Universe is another game based on DC that is coming out like an MMORPG style game, and that is also because of the revival of not only Batman in The Dark Knight, but the next Superman movie in Summer of 2009, the green lighted production of a Green Lantern film, and the big Justice League movie to conclude in 2010 or 2011. Marvel is ahead of this game with an Iron Man movie, an Incredible Hulk movie, and possible upcoming Captain America movie, and Spiderman 4. These movies, in-turn lead into an Avengers film. Marvel Wars is probably the kickstart to all these happenings.
Back to the game, and why I feel it was a bad idea: See, you have these two franchises, and just how they're both suppose to be playing out towards the video game medium, and the theatrical medium, and both together are like mixing pizza with ice cream, only a few sickos are going to enjoy the taste. Midway did this because of the fail attempt to win their fans with Armageddon which they knew was hype, and even admitted to leaving out important areas, while never giving us bios, or closure. So instead of fucking up the next canon game in the present timeline of Mortal Kombat, they're going back to the glory days of MKII, which is considered to be the game's high-point.
The story they came up with is unoriginal, and really lazy: the two world's collided, and now MK and DC characters are battling it out because they can, and it's not even like the tournament is happening, it's just like this: "Hey! It's batman, he's like my opposite" says Sub-Zero. "I have to kick his angst, anti-social ass back to Gotham City where he can nightcap with Vicky Vale, and over-analyze simple tasks." Yeah...Sub-Zero and Batman....long lost twins, sort of like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny Devito in the movie Twins. Of course Scorpion and Superman have to duke it out, I guess both are complete opposites because.......yeah, still trying to grasp a hold as to why these two are paired up to battle it out, makes my brain hurt, so I'll go play pong for a while.
Yeah, this game is sad, I mean it's really, really sad, there's no beacon of light at the end of that lighthouse, it's just a lighthouse that's beating it's window-paned face on the wall trying to figure out why the hell this game was made.
But then, I saw a tiny flame, I saw it budding across that dark palette of suck ocean, and what came back was the smile and laughter of a clown. A deranged, psychotic, whacky clown that SHOT KITANA IN THE FUCKING HEAD WITH A PISTOL!
The Joker's fatality, is by far one of the sickest things I've ever saw, I mean it's the Joker, nothing better could sum him up. First he pulls out a pistol, shoots the opponent, and out comes confetti and a "BANG" flag. Opponent is like "WTF?" then he pulls out another pistol and just point-blank shoots them in the FUCKING HEAD....yes, I'll say it again out comes pistol, shot in head, and I say "MK vs DCU, I'm in love with you, please, take my hand in geek, comic-book guy nerdiness marriage".
So despite flaws, characters most of us had to research to know who the hell they were, which I'm glad to have done, Shazam is an interesting Superhero, despite being a blatant rip-off of Superman...or is it vice versa, sorry, Marvel fan here. This game has potential, sure it's not what the fans wanted, but if they allow creative freedom on all parts. (DC writers are working with Boon and company on this project) it could be a good vanity piece for collectors down-the-road. If Boon doesn't fuck it up, we might have a play-worthy game on our hands.
I've had the chance to sample a bit of this game at Comic-Con this year, but seeing the drastic changes to the game since then (i.e. new characters) I just hope they spruce up the lucidity of the controls, and for PS3 use the Sixaxis controller in some way, maybe test your might? That is all easy programming though, and may be a last-minute surprise. I've pre-ordered the game, and expect to get it at least two days ahead of the curb, as I am also reviewing Street Fighter 4 here, and in an indy magazine put out by gamers. Leipzig showed us that all MK characters, except Johnny Cage will be in (As of now) and that characters such as Wonder Woman, and Deathstroke, what else could we see from this game that seems to continue to surprise, and mesmerize both sides of the fan base spectrum? Perhaps we'll never know, but in the upcoming months leading the the November 10th release, Mortal Kombat vs, DC Universe will be one game fans will need to play, as this can be a turning stone in the series as we know it; I mean, look at what happened to Street Fighter after Marvel vs. Capcom... give it a thought.


Now, Mortal Kombat 8, or 9, however you count it, I count it eight because of this game, but in the line of games, it will actually be MK 13, 14 counting MK: Unchained for the PSP, but you get the gist. Mortal Kombat 8 for all intent purposes, should be to the PS3 as Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance was to the PS2, granted, it was a great game, but it also laid the path for Deception, perhaps the best game of that console. New characters are a must, especially female characters, I think they are under-appreciated in MK games, and feel that they can be just as original if not more original than the male characters. Mortal Kombat 8 will take place right after Armageddon, so we're guaranteed to be saying good-bye for a while to some of the classic characters that have died off in Armageddon *Note: no characters have yet to be canonized as dead, and/or gone from the Mortal Kombat Universe, so it's still anyone's game, but don't expect Scorpion to be biting the dust twice, he's still going to be there, unless Boon completely shocks the hell out of me and puts him off for now, but he's not gone for good. The story mode will follow along the lines of what we've seen in the past, but I'm hoping for less sandbox, more story, maybe something like a Mortal Kombat: Reconciliation game, where we all get to start back at square one, and not let emotion run the tourney, but rather have the fights be for the sake of humanity, and play that battle out on an epic scale with CGI galore, you can have perhaps the most intense MK game if you try hard enough and make that sparing effort.
In hopes of a future game, I do hope that MK DOES NOT, I repeat DOES NOT go the way that Bungie did, and create an RTS style game, as it will be like turning Tetris into an RPG, or Final Fantasy into an FPS....oh, sorry, FF XIII already did that from the looks of the game.
MK on the PS3, the real MK will be worth waiting for, Boon is making a promise, and knowing him, he'll not keep it, but Ed Boon also knows this story as it's his lifeline, and if he cares about the $60 bucks of not just my money, but the hundreds of thousands of fans throughout the world that adore MK, he'll focus on a good story, and great fighting.

Check out my upcoming posts on future video games, music, technology, and of course, literature/books. Thank you for reading Malacast Editorial, and hope you've enjoyed your stay.

Mortal Kombat Armageddon has come and gone...

And the end is sweet! As expected this was quite the game....and it is lives up to the hype. After buying the premium edition...I found it to be oen of the most unique Mortal Kombats to be made in quite some time. Nevertheless the game has some minor flaws...but the fan of this game will look past them. Although the game lacks in some area...Mortal Kombat Aramageddon is a worthy sucessor of Deception. If you liked the other games, buty this one....but if you felt that Deception lacked in a few areas...then just rent this game. Perhaps renting is the better choice. Old fans will rejoice that an arcade perfect version of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 comes with the game...and I would not be shocked if that is what people go to first! Excellent game nevertheless...go out and try it...MORTAL KOMBAT!!!!!!!!



First off, this is a quick edit...sorry for the lame review.......Okay first off, all the chracters are good, but are missing that extra style that is vital to the game. Personally I think that Mortal Kombat Armageddon handles well, but still could use some minor fix-ups, and a major change for Next Generation Cosoles....which BTW are all out now, and we are seeing that my personal facorite the PS3 is not doing so well. I did make a blog about the Wii after the offical namechange....but it was never posted. I found it interesting that a lot of people are going to put money in Nintendo's pockets again, but what are you going to do? Anyhow, back to MK: Armageddon....this game is good for what it is...a fighting game. If you like to beat ppl up through bideogames, this is one of the best games to "P000WN" some of your good buddies at...but it is not the best one made. I think that it was exciting, and is fun to play, but Konquest was great, and I cannot wait to play through Konquest again. I've unlocked the majority of the coustumes that people had, and found them all to be interesting, although i have not been able to use them all as of yet, and I have not even touched the possiblities of beating all the chracters in Konquest mode....but I will be honest...I am not as excited as I once was, hence the reason I am reposting, and I found it to be nothing more than a few days in....and a few hours of real excitment so far. I really want to take the fight online, but I will not be able to do so for a little while. Nevertheless, I am ready to really be honest and say that this game is a buy for sure if you are a diehard MK Fan, but it is not much of a renter...since it is really one of those games that takes a while to get all the goodies inside. One thing i found irritable is that there is not a real story throughout the entire game, all tidbits leading up to what was supposed to be the story to MK Armageddon. Mortal Kombat Armageddon was okay....nothing to really get too excited about, but I figure if you had not played it by now, you are not going to play it at all.

Armageddon is on the Rise (Mortal Kombat Part 3)

The time is now....Mortal Kombat: Armageddon is a mere twelve days away. The site is up and counting for over a month, and the game is practically finished, being shipped, and ready to be played in one of several consoles: XBox, Xbox 360, PS2, and coming soon of the Wii! The game now boasts a race car style game along with the Konquest Mode. (How does Boon do it?) and it has the full roster. One thing so far bugs me though....Motaro looks....different. I guess you can't make all the characters look like they did in 92-present, but it looks hot.
Releasing October 9th, instead of the third as it seemed to be intended for....This game is going to be a must-have for the fans of the series. If they really do kill off a lot of the main characters, it really does not matter because this game is going to let you feel great about being a gamer. MK: A is aiming to be one of your games for the next year...where can you get a sneak peek you ask? So far, IGN has been a great help in showing easy to access video footage, and even shows the bulk of characters at the select screen. When I saw the roster...I was so shocked, I must have fainted. The screen reminded me of Marvel v.s. Capcom, in that it seems the charcters were endless.


Picture from http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/26/Updated_Roster_
Render_Armageddon.jpg picture includes updates with the addition of several chracters previously unreleased including: Meat, Motaro, Chameleon, and a new Reptile look!

Picture from Wikipedia.com. This is the newst look for Chameleon, unlike the multiple shifting of the four men ninja.



I really do not have too much news as of now...and judging by the lack of posts it has been impossible to determine what is on the up and up...but I am counting along until Aramageddon finally arrives in stores...and cannot wait to own my cop...I will be there the day it is being sold, and I damn well know I will be playing it until the wee hours of the morning. For those who do not know the details to this game, Mortal Kombat Armageddon is the make all, end all game of the current generation. Mortal Kombat has been around for over a decade, and is one of the most important games created, simply because it brought this sort of gaming to the mainstream. The sort of gaming I am referring to is the more realistic fighter that introduced the ability to ill your character at the end of the fight...which many have tried to imitate, but have failed to measure up to in MK's style.

This picture, also found on Wikipedia shows Motaro as he will be seen in MK:A. Motaro loses his quadrpedal state, and becomes a biped beast.

This picture taken from wikipedia.com shows a concept of what the mock character Meat will look like in Armageddon
For a more complete history of the games, you can read my past blog on the subjec of mortal Kombat. If you want information on pre-ordering, go to www.mkarmageddon.com, and click on pre-order. The website is also up and running smoothly... and it is going to be one of the more helpful tools on deciding what to make of this new game. Mortal Kombat Armageddon will of coures feature past characters, some not even playable before, some just no as well-known, but do have a story in the MK Universe. It does appear that almost every chracter does have a weapon to call their own...unlike in the last post where you would only be subjected to the use of stage weapons. Again, these may have all been rumors in the past...but rumors are becoming less and less reliable aws new facts pour out of Midway Studios.
Chamelon is a character in this new game! Yes, it is true! Reptile returns looking like a half man, half lizard, and both smokes will be playable in this new game. Motaro is playable along with all the past bosses, and it also appears that not-so-favorite chracters are returning as well....Mokap for example is returning...but for how long will he survive? Sheeva is playable, Goro, Shao Kahn, Rain, Stryker, even Meat is a playable chracter! (Meat is the skeleton puppet that comes from killing off your opponent from the original Mortal Kombat games.)


This picture taken from wikipedia.com shows a concept of what the mock character Meat will look like in Armageddon

A big plus is a return of the "Versus" screen before a battle that allows you to see who is being pit up agaisnt who, and the level in the background to where you will be fighting. This was a little extra start-up screen from the original game....that I sort of missed, and am happy is back. Kombat engine added air combos and assaults, and should also bring back some memories of the old school fighter.
A new Kombat Roster was posted, and information for the game can also be found at wikipedia.com, just type in Mortal Kombat Armageddon. You can also check out gamespot.com, or use google, however you prefer to search, you will probably find the information you need. That is all for now, until the game is realeased, I will offically update the blog, but until then, keep on supporting Malacast Editorial by commenting, visiting, and telling a friend!

Part Two of Two:Preview MK

This is Part Two of the Mortal Kombat review/preview. Continue to enjoy...oh, if you have any question leave them in a comment.


So thus the end of the series for now has ended on a high note, and we can expect to see games in the future. Truly the gaming franchise has seen good things on the sixth generation consoles, and has made quite the impact on gaming society. Now we can look forward for the seventh generation of games to perhaps take this franchise to a whole new level…or is this console’s generation of kombat truly over?
Enter Mortal Kombat: Armageddon. This game’s title says it all, as the true end of Mortal Kombat comes to a conclusion…for this gaming era anyway. If you are the diehard fan, the true cannot live without some blood, fatalities, and that sick sense of humor that Tobias and Boon bring to the table, then stick around for this one.
MK: Armageddon is going to be the biggest thing for this gaming franchise i.e., it will be out with the old and in with the new on more than one level. We are talking every character from the entire series making some sort of appearance, and as of now 60 playable characters! This end of an era theme is not just about the end of this game on the sixth generation consoles, but also refers to the fact that these some of these characters will be making their last appearance ever in this franchise. It is not for certain in the storyline as of now who will stay and who will go, but it appears that people should be getting their bets on that everyone is up for retirement, So start making your dead pool lists, because it is open season on these beloved characters.


Picture from http://ps2media.gamespy.com/ps2/image/article/692/692901/mortal-kombat-armageddon-20060301041308070.jpg Classic Kombatants Rain and Sheeva squaring off...for what might be their last time In MK: Armageddon.

This game is going to blow the rest of them away, or that is the hype we are getting. I feel that it will have the same fighting system, just a little re-vamped. You can now combo in the air, and stop attacks as well. You can also create your own character, which is a first in the game’s history. Some polls have been going up recently what character you would create from real life, and the response shows that this will be a well-received concept for the game. The new create a fatality mode is quite interesting in that a player can jam in a certain number of combos to pull off avant-garde fatalities. Concepts tossed out for this new idea are a combatant ripping out the brain, then the heart, liver, etc. and having it done by randomly pushing in a set of combos, and I can only assume it is sort of like a juggling fatality that will continue as long as you hit the correct buttons. There is still a set amount of time you have to pull off the fatality moves, and that it may be more tricky this time around due to the new form of what seems to be a tribute to the brutality.
The now infamous Konquest mode gets pumped up on steroids, and has been rumored to have two main characters now, one good, and one evil. The game takes up a Mortal Kombat: Shalion Monks style, in that you will fight not only one person in kombat mode, but many characters at once in a knock around fighter similar to old games like N.A.R.C. and Streets of Rage. It is still skeptical on how secrets will be unlocked, but I can only assume that many secrets will come from the vault (What replaces the Krypt…perhaps symbolic to “opening” up the history of MK, or perhaps “locking” away the old, and making room for a whole new generation of MK story, characters, and concepts) and from finding things throughout the Konquest mode. It was rumored that all secrets can now be unlocked through any part of the game, so if another concept style is created, (e.g. the matching blocks game from Deadly Alliance) then there will be several areas to open up secrets. I would also make a hypothesis on how this game will be a tribute to all other games in the past, and should have secret characters like khameleon, Chameleon, and Meat, but those are simply guess or rumors that are being spread about. One thing that Boon and Tobias make sure, is that the fans are kept guessing until the opening of the game’s package.
The game sounds huge, and that it will pack a hefty size for the current generation systems to spin out, but then again, there has yet to be a huge number of two disc games for the current generation titles, could this be the first one? I thought Deception, with its Chess set style gaming, and other add-ons would be at least two discs, but I was shocked when it was just one playable disc that rendered well, with decent load times. So this may in fact be the current systems being pushed to their limit, because Boon and company believes that life in these systems is far from dead.
The game will have to tie up all loose ends, and there are a lot of them, especially for most characters that we have not seen since MK Gold, the Sub Zero Mythologies game, and even MK: Special Forces. (All games that did not sell too well, and have either been canned from development, or not well accepted by the fan base. These games are considered overlooked, and put in the past.) Most of the endings of characters are not tied into the true concept of the MK storyline, but each fighter does have a history, some origins are still unknown in the storyline now, so this must tie up in some way for the sake of the fan’s lust for knowledge.
I believe certain characters making their appearance for the first time in a while were concept characters that were not suppose to become big names, but did, and now have their own story to tie into this universe. Names like Rain, Motaro, Kintaro, and Goro return to tie up the ends of their story, and what really their significance is now, since Rain has not been seen in either Deadly Alliance, or Deception. Nevertheless, fans will have to wait for these answers on October 2, 2006, when the game is to be released to the many fans of the world.
I hope this games sticks with the route it was going, in that the Martial Arts is a factor, and the history behind the feudal-like world of Asia is respected, and returns. I know that there are to be two fighting styles per character, or so is true until final production, and weaponry will be more optional. (I can safely assume that areas will have certain weapons that can be picked up, like in the previous title.) I also know as of now, that these characters are all playable, the roster of characters is shown below, and comes from the game’s mother site www.mkarmageddon.com. Lastly, I know that the roster is still being questioned, and that if it can expand, or if characters not playable will make a cameo appearance in the Konquest mode.
Stay tuned in for Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) where new information on many upcoming games will be revealed. E3 is scheduled for May or June this year, and will be a three day affair of video games, new hardware, and perhaps a sneak peek at the last two big “next-gen” consoles (Playstation 3, Nintendo Revolution) will be revealed. There may even be playable games on the floor, and if so, live coverage online, and on television may be shown.
Go to www.gamespot.com for more information on this, and other MK games I have mentioned, or check out G4tv on your cable or satellite provider for all the video game information you need. I will do another report on Mortal Kombat: Armageddon when more information is leaked, but knowing Boon and Tobias, it will be quite a task to pry any information away from them. Thank you for reading this series of blogs, and thank you for supporting Malacast Editorial.

Part One of Two: Review MK

When I first started this blog not more than six months ago, I was thrilled that some people have taken interest in what I have to say about books. I have started to throw in a little flavor once in a while with a preview of a movie, and a review of it later on, but I did not realize that people would actually care about what was said on this blog. I thank all those who read my work, whether it is one person, or a hundred persons, I always try to thank them for taking time out to read what I have to say. It means a lot.
I decided that I would give you all a treat that is more entertainment than educational in any way. This is my first real blog in that it alone is over four thousand words long. I have split it up into several smaller blogs and I hope you enjoy it.

Introduction

I have reviewed books and movies on Malacast Editorial, but I have not taken notice to any other medium of entertainment or epicenter of learning. I now have decided to do my largest review, and perhaps largest preview yet. Controversy has paved the way for many great things. Although they may start out as tasteless, senseless, and downright explicit in everyway, they later grow up to be great things. Marquis De Sade was one of the most explicit, sexually deviant, libertine to ever pick up a feather and pen down words. His atrocities have made their way into our world today, and are considered great works of art. The movie “Quills” sees him more as a leader of democracy and open freedom, and a new movie called the “Libertine” stars Johnny Depp as a man of similar values and morals. (Mind the puns). Nevertheless Sade has made an impact on our world today, but it is far different from once he first penned his first horrific obscenity.
Music by rappers like 2pac has opened up the eyes of everyday people to what the urban gangsters of the street deal with every waking moment. His voice was at first seen as violent, hateful, and discriminating, but his words were later seen as poetry, art, and full of intelligence one picks up from a life of violence, and one that had ended just as so. His words inspired many people to see beauty rather than hate, and shows that genius is not just for the schooled, but for those who have to learn things much harder than others.
Although this review/preview may not seem as awe-inspiring as De Sade, or as poetic and hold much more in common with Tupac Shakur; other than they were both controversial, it is perhaps one of the things that I have seen grown from an immature state, and become something bigger and more in-depth than it was first perceived as. Plus it is just entertainment, and should be seen as entertainment only; here is my review of the history of a famous videogame franchise that grew up to be something you could make an epic series out of, just by the raw story that it has created in over thirteen years.



MK History and Future As of 2006
By: Paul Q.

Picture from http://darksamurai.50megs.com/mkpage/mk.jpg

I recall around 1993; all the children were playing this game either on their Super Nintendo (Although it was censored on this system) or on their Sega Genesis. This game would go on to strike controversy, piss off a senator, and become one of the biggest franchises in the history of the video gaming industry. It was also the only game in history to have had a day named for it as a promotion gig, which actually worked! Remember “Mortal Monday”?
Mortal Kombat…the name brings back memories of the past, and remind me of today just how elusive this gaming franchise has been. At first glance, it would seem that the series is like any other fighting game, but beneath that exterior, lies something very avant-garde to this long time genre, the fatality. This finishing technique is also what has sparked the most controversy ever to a video game title in the history of gaming. Although that is now overshadowed by Rockstar’s GTA series, Midway has not stopped shocking the public with Mortal Kombat, throughout all 14 years of its existence.
Mortal Kombat was co-created by Ed Boon and John Tobias. The game comes from Midway, the company that brought you Spy Hunter, and NBA Jam series. The first Mortal Kombat was the game to first introduce the legendary characters that many still know today: Sub-Zero, Sonya, Raiden, Liu Kang, Scorpion, Kano and Johnny Cage. The game hit arcades hard, and soon would be released to home consoles. One thing that has made this fighter different from many others is the deep storyline that follows throughout the entire series.

Character selection from Mortal Kombat 1 picture from http://www.cyberiapc.com/vgg/stills/megadrive/mk1-1.jpg

Outworld.... the vast beyond that the many of the entities of Mortal Kombat appear from are locked into a battle between Earth’s mightiest warriors, and the evil of Shao Khan and Shang Tsung. They are then pit against each other in Mortal Kombat, where the winner not only gets bragging rights, but also determines the fate of all the realms.
Mortal Kombat has made fighting games epic, and created a combo/juggling system that rip-roared through the rest of the 90’s games, making an advanced system of fighting during that time. Despite that, the colorful array of characters was also something to behold, i.e. they were far different and very personal to the other fighting characters at the time. Mortal Kombat is by far one of the most appealing series ever to hit the console, and shows this off by the in-depth history of the character’s lives, and how each of them ties into the conflicting battle of good and evil.
Mortal Kombat II brought forth a massive list of characters, including favorites like Baraka, a demon-like creature from the Takarta clan, and Jax, friend of Sonya, who has entered to find his comrade, and to whip some ass. The fighting system first introduces the combo system, a now infinitely deep storyline, and a few hidden features, including fighting Noob Saibot, an apparition in the form of what looks like a ninja, and Jade, a female ninja. It was also the first game in the series to bring in the finishing move “friendship”, where instead of killing your opponent, you would have a comedic performance happen instead, e.g. Scorpion would present a doll to his opponent that is dazed and wobbling as a present.
MK III brought forth the most realistic graphics wit a 2D setting in what looks like a 3D world. Papers by the characters on the streets, and subway cars go by and hit the kombatant to perform on of the series’ first complex stage fatality. The game also features for the first time the ability to uppercut your opponent onto another level. This has added much intensity by the change of settings. The game brings in harsher fatalities, and characters that look so real it is uncanny to the more cartoon-like, or computer generated fighters in other games. I personally feel that this is what made the series better with every new game they put out: the realistic rendered people, in a surrealistic rendered background added to the idea that this game is by far the most alluring fighter there was at the time.



Picture from http://images.webmagic.com/klov.com/screens/U/wUltimate_Mortal_Kombat_3.png with updated graphics, and whole list of characters, MK 3 and UMK 3 were two of the best games in the series. Above are Scorpion and Reptile going at it in the pits of hell.

Additions to this game that make it noteworthy are the animality which was thought to be a feature in the second game, but first officially debuts in the third. An animality is when your character turns into a spectral animal and kills the opponent, e.g. Sub-Zero turns into a polar bear and munches down on his opponent. To perform an animality, one would have to beat their opponent on a round three, and then perform a mercy to give them a little health to try one more time, and then to be beaten again, and thus the animality can be performed. It was sort of tricky to pull off, but was worth the wait.
About a year or so later, Ultimate MK III was released, and brought forth new environments, and a couple of new faces, while excluding one or two. Fighters like Jade, Ermac, and Rain were now playable characters. Some old favorites like Reptile, Sub-zero, and Scorpion were still there, but what made this game a keeper were the new environments, new fatalities, and the addition of the brutality. A brutality is when the winning character begins a system of combos that then turn into a fatality, and literally pummel the opponent to pieces.
Although it is very similar to MK III, and only a few things have changed, it was still a good game and held people over for the next game, which appeared on the next generation consoles.
Okay, if you are not familiar with what I mean by “next generation” console, you may not know much about the gaming industry or games, but that is cool, because I am going to give a brief look on the Industry and “console wars”:
The Super Nintendo, or Super Famicom as it was called in Japan went up against Sega’s second piece of hardware, the Sega Genesis in what is referred to as the 16-bit era. Both were worthy adversaries, and dominated their own respected marketplace. Sega came off as the bad boys of gaming, with more violent games rather than kid-friendly, but that sort of thing does not matter much now. Anyhow, the next generation after that was known as the thirty-two/ sixty-four-bit era, or the fifth generation of video game hardware. This was a toss-up between newcomers Sony, old school Nintendo, and of course the “bad boys” Sega.
Sony’s Playstation put out the game MK Trilogy which combined the characters from all the previous titles, and stuck to the 2-D image that myself, and many gamers loved, but it did not seem to go off as well with the fans, who at this point were desperately waiting their chance at MK 4. Well, they have gotten their chance around the late 90’s, prior to the sixth generation of video game consoles, and were a mixed crowd.
See, MK 4 moved to the thirty-two/sixty-four-bit era, and it was really a toss up if this was a great idea. It was cool to see your favorite characters in this whole new system of graphics, and with a brand-new story, it seemed that the series was going to take a turn for the better. Again, all your favorite characters return, with some new ones like Quan-Chi, and Shinnok. Arcades would be the first to tell us if the game held water, and a huge Semi went about with arcade games across the coast, in either tournaments or to distribute cabinets for consumers to try out. This game did upset many loyal fans to the franchise, but it also brought a younger audience into the scene that were looking for something that was old-fashioned, but new.


picture from http://images.enet.com.cn/egames/downloadimage/200409/s1094206407.jpg" border="0" alt=
Mortal Kombat in 3-D for the first time on home systems. Takes away from the realistic look, but would launch the series into the new millenium.

I would say video games sort of lost that whole edge to them right after the sixth generation (sometimes wrongly called the 128-bit era) because games became more like movies, and began to lose that essence that was known as video games. Levels became maps; cut scenes became animated to the point that they were movies, and by becoming a character, you lost the sense of controlling the character, but rather helped the character along, and lost the interaction. GTA III was one of the only games to come out in that era to give you a sense of being back in the game, but something old school did come into play, and made its appearance on a new system since the Playstation.
During the time when the Xbox and Playstation 2 dominated the marketplace, Ed Boon decided that it was time to bring the franchise into the next generation, and do it much better than the last time. Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance pit Earth’s fighters against the two evil sorcerers Quan Chi and Shang Tsung. This went on to be one of the best Playstation 2 games, and revitalized the franchise. Although many old school gamers were still skeptical of this game, the graphics, and the out-dated combo system (which is still used in many games today like Soul Caliber) it was still much better than the last 3-D predecessor.
Deadly Alliance at that point can be seen as the savior of the franchise, because it was all or nothing. This paved the way for the game’s “sequel” MK: Deception, in which Quan-Chi, Shang Tsung, and Raiden team up to face the long exiled Dragon King, who returns to wreak havoc. Shang Tsung, Raiden, and Quan-Chi sacrifice themselves, but to no avail, and its up to a new hero, Shujinko, to battle this menace, and save the realms from utter destruction
MK: Deception is as of now the latest in the Mortal Kombat Universe. It added a much longer Konquest Mode (Which was created in Deadly Alliance, but was just a walkthrough for each character.) and follows the story of Shujinko, and his quest to be the Mortal Kombat champion. Deception also added a fun little puzzle game that played out where you must match all the colors of the blocks to eliminate them, and not to have them build up over the top. There are also cartoonish fatalities at the end of the matches, where the loser dies. You can select bobble-head like characters from the MK series, and unlock secret characters in both the Krypt and Konquest Mode. (For those who do no know, the Krypt was an idea put forth in Deadly Alliance that you would use either koins, or keys to unlock and get production photos, secret characters. And sample videos. It was a good idea, but was taken further in Deception, in which a player can see characters running through a graveyard, and mist and eerie elements were added.


Picture from http://www.mortalkombatguides.com/mkdeception_gc/images/mkd_gc_selectlg.jpg This is the Gamecube version of MK: Deception that included Goro as a playable character. As of now, this is the most advanced the graphics and story have been. It has grown into a much, much larger world than one could possibly imagine...and its about to get bigger with next generation consoles. (click to enlarge)
There were a few Mortal Kombat games that did not quite catch on, and that I fail to mention above. It is not that I feel they are not significant, but that do not fit into the focus of the glory of this series of games. I want to mention them here, in their own section, so not to tie them closely into the games that follow the story, rather than are exclusions from the focus of the game. Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero, was a side-scrolling game for the N64 and Playstation 1. It was one of the worst Mortal Kombat games to date, and does not fit into the storyline of the series at all. The focus is being that of Sub-Zero, and of the elusive Quan-Chi, and his three assassins who are to take out Sub-Zero. The game has a very small following from the diehard fans. MK: Special Forces was suppose to be a shooter I believe, I will be honest, I never played it; in fact, I do not believe anyone played it because it was canned. I never followed the game, because I felt it would not appeal to gamers of the series. I was sort of right in the sense. I will not lie and say that the idea was decent, but done wrong, I saw it as a honestly horrible game, and it was a bad time in the series’ end of its first Golden Age. In fact, I will be ballsy enough to say it ended its first Golden Age. Not that there were no bad games before it, it just sucked as an idea that much. The last game I failed to mention that I know of is MK Gold, which came out exclusively for the Dreamcast. You remember that system, the one that took Sega under? Well, it was released after a year, mimicked the game MK4, and was simply horrible to play. Now I do not want you to think that games of different concepts for the series do not work, there is an exception to the rule, and it comes in the form of a couple of “holy monks”
Shalin Monks was a game that took place after Mortal Kombat 1, and flows into Mortal Kombat II, it was a more well-received game, and ended the poison of the side-scrolling/adventure games put out by Midway on the Mortal Kombat series. The game follows both Liu Kang, and fellow Shaloin, Kung Lao (Hence the title). The game follows their journey into the realms, and opened up with a really kick ass CGI film, that is sometimes played on the G4 channel’s show “Cinematech”, which takes movies and game play from games, and mixes them up like a small theater preview before a big movie. Shaolin Monks also does tie well into the story, as a prequel, and is also quite fun to play. Shaolin Monks was so well received; it may actually develop a sequel. This is all just speculation, rumor, and nothing is yet known about a sequel yet.


Picture from http://ps2media.gamespy.com/ps2/image/article/588/588941/mortal-kombat-shaolin-monks-20050218034420540.jpg This game looked great, played great for what it was, and is the newest game that has the Franchise name. CGI movies of the characters made it look very next generation, and the game played out well for a side scroller. Most complaints came in two player mode where the one person could not advance without the other, and that the health bar was shared between both players. A unique, but annoying concept.

This has been Part 1 of MK history, Part two will be out shortly after.