The Mortal Kombat games were some of my favorite games to play when I was a kid, ever. I always liked how it had a darker tone then all the other fighting games at that time. I also liked that you could uppercut your enemies head off their body after you defeat them. And who doesn't like a little gore and violence? Especially gore and violence with such style. That's another thing I liked about this game, you can actually KILL people in this game unlike other fighting games. With so many creative ways to rip apart your opponent the game was destined to become a classic. And now that it's available on the XBLA for only 5 bucks, everyone can relive the fun.
The only thing they changed was the main menu, which they did very well, great presentation. The first mode I played was the single player tournament. I play it on novice because even now that I'm 20 years old I still don't have the balls to try it on hard. Starting up the first match and seeing that blood splatter across the screen as I land my first punch sure does bring back memories. There's no bullshit spark or flash when I land a punch, it's blood, the way it should be. The game has everything the original had. It's still fun as hell and still has great combos, I love the combat system MK3 has. I know a lot people say it doesn't compare to games like Street Fighter but I don't care, it's good enough for me. Besides few things are more fulfilling then pulling off a Fatality at the end of a match, or even a Friendship for that matter.
"Friendship. Friendship, again?"
After that I played online. Now I'm an average player and I never claimed to be the best, but what is up with some people? 90% of the people I played online used Smoke. Come on guys grow a pair, put some variety in there. And if you're going to use him at least learn some of his combos, everyone just spams the teleport uppercut. Other than that the game is still fun to play online because occasionally you get those people who mix it up a bit. I got my ass handed to me by a guy using Ermac, but I didn't mind at least he took the time to master him. However I still enjoy sitting on the couch with a couple of friends and having some great matches.
The sounds and graphics are still great, as they always were. Awesome music and lots of great/humorous sound effects, "Toasty!". The digital actors hold up well today as a 2D fighting game and the excessive amounts of blood from a little punch to the chest still looks good. Everything just looks crisp, especially in HD. The achievements list is pretty good. Nice range of easy to hard ones. Getting a 2 hit combo or pulling off one Fatality is easy enough, while beating Noob Saibot or winning 100 Xbox Live Ranked matches is sure to be a challenge for even the hardcore players. What more do you need to know? Buy this game.
Gameplay/Playability: 5/5
Graphics/Sounds: 5/5
Story: 3/5
Multiplayer/Online: 5/5
Achievements: 4/5
Replay value: High
Final rating: 5 stars
5.0