The Mortal Kombat saga has had ups and downs along the years, from the golden era of 16 bits to more recent titles like Mortal Kombat vs DC, which I must confess, I was not very fond of. Mortal Kombat Komplete Edition for the Xbox 360 brings back the glory of the old days in a true bloody and gore fest fans of the series will love, oh and Freddy Krueger, damn Freddy Krueger!
Story
The game begins when Shao Kahn defeats all the warriors of the earth, Raiden about to die at the hands of Shao Kahn sends what’s left of his energy to his pastself. Raiden now experiencing visions of a tragic future which must be avoided at all cost, is trying to change the events that are about to unfold and rewrite the history of the first three tournaments of Mortal Kombat.
Gameplay
Undoubtedly Mortal Kombat is one of those fighting games that are well worth, especially Mortal Kombat Komplete Edition since it has all the extra DLC which includes 4 extra characters such as Freddy Kreuger, Skarlet, Rain and Kenshi. But that’s not all, you get classic game costumes, plus a code to download the soundtrack of the game, if this is not a fan service I don’t know what is.
This game reboots one of the most popular sagas through the first three tournaments in the story mode, in which we will have the opportunity to play with different characters throughout it.
Something great is the many questions and doubts in the series will receive a answer here, as the origin of the cyborg initiative or the real cause behind the slaughter of Scorpion’s clan.
Just this game mode will give us hours of brutal entertainment. But that’s not all that Mortal Kombat has to offer, we also get Arcade mode which allows us to play classic mode with a new tag team option for up to four players in a local or online, which adds a unique dynamic with lots of action.
Challenges Tower has more than 300 challenges, it will have you glued to your TV for hours! This allows single player or 2 player co-op which is dandy!
The Krypt lets us unlock tons of music, classic suits and fatalities for the characters, in addition to conceptual art of the game, for this you spend coins. Which are easy to obtain because you will get them as you beat your opponents in any game mode.
Online mode, we have a great King of the Hill, which is self explanatory, its a way in which you can challenge and prove that you are the best! With lobbies where you can watch the fights on your opponents, just great.
As we all know the Xbox 360 controller is not ideal for fighting games, even so it was able to pull combos and special moves very easy, even with a lousy 360 control pad it’s easy to execute them unlike other fighting games for the console, it is good to see that developers give us a game with refined controls that make us enjoy the game and not the other way!
Of course The Fatality and Babality are present, blood and murderous moves and combos, all included in a game that you will enjoy to no end!
Speaking of murderous movements, we can not forget the X-ray, you execute this when your power bar is filled completely. You fill the bar by performing combos and attacks, and believe me … not only looks spectacular, but the punishment you inflict on your opponents is totally devastator.
Broken ribs, fractured skulls and much more! Believe me you will love when you connect an X-Ray attack and you sure will hate when you have to bleed by suffering this attack, most notably the attack of Johnny Cage to leave you with the face of pain!
Graphics 9/10
When a game gives the jump from 2D to 3D, does not always work as expected, in this case the transition does not only look great, but also works perfectly!
The game certainly looks fantastic, even when story is presented to us as cutscenes without prerenderization (which would give them more quality) are quite well done and show us quite detailed character models, quite pleasant to watch.
The scenery is highly detailed and with lots of movement in the background, people on the different arenas, pools of lava, fireballs falling from the sky and more!
Of course we can not ignore, how impressive the close up are when using X-Ray attacks, which are extremely painful and in great detail that will leave you saying oh wow, that gotta hurt..!
sound 8.5/10
A very good soundtrack, great sound effects and good voice acting, everything complements the gameplay and the graphics so well.
Downside
Although it is a great game it’s not exempt of problems, let’s start with the obvious that weighs more. There is lag, when you go to a match on Xbox Live and in some game modes it kicks you out from Xbox Live. Offline this happened to me, playing in the tower of challenges and I know it happened to others playing King of the Hill. Can be quite frustrating when you lose a match because of this, something that certainly takes away the gold from Mortal Kombat.
What’s up with some bosses that are so damn cheap? Goro kills you in three or four shots if you’re not careful, Shao Kahn spaming that hammer like if there was no tomorrow, in spite of the game having balanced characters, bosses like these are really frustrating!
What the hell …?! *takes some air* Don’t you hate the monster that comes out of nowhere in the Krypt? That was scary! Why in god’s name they added it, but they succeeded, it’s scary.
Speaking of the Krypt, although it is good that you can unlock stuff, unlocking the fatality moves is somewhat useless, because if you know how to do them or check online this is not really worth it, wish I could get more useful stuff for my coins.
Overall
Without a doubt Mortal Kombat Komplete Edition is an worthwhile investment for your game collection, especially if you’re a fan of the saga that will give you plenty of challenges, lots of unlockables, by the most part balanced and refined combat system and a cool storyline that will delight big to every Mortal Kombat fan out there.
Definitely a title that fans of the fighting genre should not miss, whether you have a Playstation 3 or an Xbox 360 this edition deserves a place in your bookshelf. Believe me, you will not regret it!
We give the game a 9 out of 10!
**A review copy was provided by the publisher for this review
~Mario
