Mortal Kombat

The Good
Ummmmm......I'll have to get back to you on that.

The Bad
I could just say the simple fact that it exists and be done with it, but I can't. So I'll explain what I didn't like about this pile.

First off, I can NOT stand the engine nor the gameplay implimented within the engine. Ever since this game was released in arcades, the hype surrounding it was stuff like buckets of blood when you so much as tickled your opponent, super-cheezed (spell wrong intentionally) combos, and of course, the Fatalities. But the problem was, it was sometimes WAY too easy to smack down your computer opponent, and other times, the computer would fight using such cheezy tactics that you just want to knock the machine over. And bringing a second player doesn't make things better; instead, it just becomes a contest of "who's cheezier?". UGH.

And...the story continues on the PC with this home port.

Sure, the port is near-perfect, but it's also very buggy at some spots (like refusing to run on certain configurations), and it's also a bitch to control. I'd like to know who was smoking what on the development team when they decided to make a SEPERATE Block button in the MK series. If you ask me, a new Commandment for game developers should be written: "Thou shalt pull back to block!" A seperate Block button doesn't help you at all, unless you're looking to get your head kicked off by some hotshot Hollywood punk in bad sunglasses.

Speaking of which, this game just reeks of generic design. Your characters include: two ninja-looking guys (Sub-Zero and Scorpion), an Army woman (Sonya), the typical good guy (Liu Kang), the evil guy with the red eye (Kano), a god who looks like an old rice field worker (Rayden), and the Hollywood hotshot (Johnny Cage). All of them are digitized actors doing goofy looking moves, and they all animate horribly and look like crap. Oh yes, and they also all look TYPICAL! Oh, and the boss characters: the four-armed and pissed off Goro, and the shrivelled up old prune, Sheng Tsung. These two guys just aren't any better. The stages are a little better (the Shaolin courtyard looks pretty cool with all the monks in the back), but sadly, they didn't save this waste.

What about sounds and music? Well, I hated both. The music was just a bunch of fast beats, and didn't get your blood pumping or make you want to listen to it outside of the game. The sounds were just a lot of loud thwacks, yells (most of them so idiotic sounding that I was laughing out loud at their general crappiness), and squishes. Your typical MK sounds. Bleh.

The Bottom Line
Well, let's say it this way: MK is nothing more than just a "Kash Kow" for Midway. None of the games have ever had any true innovation to the genre, and it has been very stale ever since this release. And yes, I know: what series CAN stay fresh for a long run? But in short, I'd recommend you look elsewhere for your fighting game kicks on the PC.

To find the answer to the above question: it Kan prObably be Found...but not here.