THERE was a time when the mere mention of Mortal Kombat was enough to throw staff at the Daily Mail into paroxysms of indignation.
The game was surely at the root of all ills in society, from David Mellor’s penchant for Chelsea-shirted-romping to the decline in standards of the English language.
Of course this was utterly ridiculous. After all it was just a game where a few fuzzy, pixelated, and ridiculously named fighters beat lumps out of each other causing unconvincing red splodges to be thrown across the screen.
Such was the hysteria I remember spending about two weeks trying to persuade my parents that purchasing the game would not necessarily mean I was destined to spend the remainder my life at Her Majesty’s pleasure.
They relented and funnily enough I’ve managed to go the 18 years since without trying to pull someone’s head clean off their shoulders and I’ve even avoided impaling anyone with a harpoon.
Anyway, Mortal Kombat is back and it’s a measure of our changing society that this latest version has managed to hit the shelves with minimal predictions of the downfall of civilised society.
Visually this latest version is excellent and if you can ignore the (as usual) ridiculous plotline then you’ll find an addictive and challenging fighter that rewards patience and hard work.
Despite the many years since the title first bloodied our screens the developers have chosen to stick with the 2D format.
The old favourites are back including Raiden, Liu Kang, Johnny Cage, Sub Zero, Scorpion and Sonya.
To those that have never experienced Mortal Kombat those names might as well be written in birdsong but they are all well designed and balanced characters, and above all they’re cool.
The old classics are joined by a whole raft of new fighters and in total you can choose from 27 different pugilists in your quest to spill as much claret as possible. Make no mistake, there’s a lot of blood and some pretty heinous injuries.
The ‘Fatalities’ are still there and they’re exactly the same as many years ago – great fun the first few times but eventually a little tiresome.
There’s more balance in the actual fighting and the introduction of the super meter adds a new tactical dimension. This means that those who don’t just want to mash the buttons until their opponents drop can actually respond to a pasting with a combo breaker or even unleash the new and utterly devastating x-ray attacks.
These are particularly fun and look great as you watch your opponents bones shattered into piece.
As fighters go it’s one of the best on the market but if you’ve played Mortal Kombat you’ll know what to expect and you won’t be disappointed.
RATING: 3/5