Review: Mortal Kombat: Komplete Edition (PlayStation 3)

Quite possibly the biggest game that had Australia crying out for an R18+ rating, Mortal Kombat has finally hit Australian shores a full two years after the rest of the world.

The title was deemed illegal to go on sale in this country thanks to outdated (and thankfully since overturned) legislation that banned all violent video games in Australia.

While the original game never made it over here, the re-release “Komplete Edition” was granted an R18+ rating and has thankfully arrived.

Was it worth the wait?

The Review

The first thing you will notice when playing the first true Mortal Kombat game since Mortal Kombat: Armageddon is that NetherRealm have gone back to Mortal Kombat’s roots. As good as Deception and Deadly Alliance were, it’s an incredible throwback to the original trilogy. NetherRealm also managed to do this while keeping some of the zanier aspects of previous Mortal Kombat games.

The story in Mortal Kombat is a retelling of the first three Mortal Kombats. Right after the events in Mortal Kombat: Armageddon, there is only Raiden and Shao Kahn left to fight, with Raiden heavily wounded and all other Kombatants horribly disfigured around him, he casts a spell on his amulet to tell Past Raiden everything that leads to his future and how he can stop it through a series of flashbacks, or flashforwards from Past Raiden’s perspective. To prevent history repeating itself, Past Raiden takes it upon himself to use Kombatants as his pawns to ensure the safety of Earthrealm. For Mortal Kombat fans of the 90’s such as I, it’s an incredible kick to watch how Cyrax and Sektor became cyborgs and how Jax lost his arms. The story mode is actually really strong, especially for a fighting game, and includes a lot of fan service for Mortal Kombat fans, overall, it’s better than Injustice: Gods Among Us’ story.

Because Warner Bros. loves us, we have been given the Komplete Edition of Mortal Kombat. This version gives us four extra Kombatants and fifteen extra skins for already existing Kombatants (total, not each), which was previously released as DLC only. The PlayStation 3 version also hosts Kratos of God of War fame. With his penchant for destruction and disembowelling, he fits within Mortal Kombat quite nicely, and has his own little story when played in Arcade Ladder, which is a nice little touch.

For those who have recently played Injustice: Gods Among Us, moving into Mortal Kombat will come reasonably naturally, with only a few changes. Mortal Kombat has gone back to its 2D roots, but keeping the 3D graphics. Like the rest of the Mortal Kombat series, you must hold a button down to block, Injustice and Street Fighter fans can have problems remembering this is the case, Mortal Kombat fans will be right at home with the block button. The four face buttons are configured for separate punches and kicks, while throws are executed by pressing R1 and holding either forward or back. Special attacks are as simple as tapping a couple of directions and a button. The controls are rather simple to start, but when initiating strings of combos featuring basic moves and special moves are there for more advanced players.

One of the biggest additions to the fights are the addition of X-Ray moves, high-impact moves that utilises flashy camera work, slow motion, and of course, X-Ray vision on the parts of the body your Kombatant is damaging. Cyrax particularly enjoys kicking his opponent in the back mid-air (X-Rayed to show the cracking ribs), then piledrive them with his foot on the head of his opponent (also X-Rayed to show the skull cracking), for instance. These moves can be implemented once your super meter is full, and is key for any kind of comeback if you find yourself getting your butt whooped.

The super metre can also be used to enhance your special moves, a simple push of the R2 button along with the special attack increases its power. Another thing the super metre is used for are combo breakers, while you won’t hear someone yell “C-C-C-Combo Breaker!”, you do in fact, break your opponents combo string when pressing R2. The super metre can make or break a fight, and adds an element of unpredictability and strategy to every fight.

Blood is everywhere in Mortal Kombat, it comes out with just about every move you make, and it stains the Kombatants. Outfits get damaged throughout fights aswell, which looks cool for the most part, but with Kombatants like Sonya, who suffers a case of Dead or Alive fever, can end up barely clothed by the end of her fight, with no real rhyme or reason as to how her clothes actually stay on. The females leave nothing to the imagination, so if that’s your thing, cool. Fatalities are equally as gory and over the top, you’ll see people ripped in half, skin ripped off, hearts ripped out, no body part is safe in Mortal Kombat.

Modes in the game include Arcade Ladder (and Arcade Tag Ladder), which is the standard Arcade mode featured in just about every fighting game you can think of. There is also a Challenge Tower, which holds 300 different challenges that range from using all of Sonya’s special attacks in a single fight, to killing 20 zombies with Liu Kang’s fireball move, you even get to play as Johnny Cage’s director in this mode!

Mortal Kombat is also not without its zany modes, and this latest release is no exception. Test Your Might is back, as is Test Your Sight, and play as they always have. Failure ends in a gory death in Test Your Sight, which is highly amusing in its context. New modes include Test Your Strike, where instead of moving over a bar ala Test Your Might, you must button-mash and strike when you are within a certain zone, so you can’t hit too hard or too soft, or you will fail.

The online experience is mostly miss, as I was only able to connect a handful of times after spending an hour in online mode. To make sure it wasn’t my internet connection, I tried playing Injustice: Gods Among Us’ online mode again, and found no issues. The only two things I can put this down to is that perhaps it only connects to other Australians, and there just isn’t enough of us yet, or being that the game is over two years old now, there just isn’t enough people to connect to anymore. Hopefully its official release in Australia will be enough to boost the online mode, but only time will tell.

Despite this, the modes include King of the Hill, a mode where up to eight players can join a room, where one player acts as the King, and it is up to players to fight him one on one until the King is dethroned and a new King is named. Anyone not fighting is a spectator, and can watch the match between King and Challenger take place, also choosing who they think will win. Ranked matches also feature, and pit you one-on-one against a random opponent.

All of your fights throughout Mortal Kombat earn you Koins, which you can spend in the Krypt. The Krypt allows you to unlock in-game music, concept art, alternative costumes and much more. The amount of content available to unlock is in the hundreds, and provides a big incentive to keep fighting to see what you can unlock.

The Conclusion

Overall, Mortal Kombat is a dream come true to the older fans, with over the top Fatalities, fun distractions such as Test Your Sight and the Challenge Tower, a classic Arcade mode and an engaging story all wrap up a fantastic package that will keep players busy for months/

Unfortunately, the online mode isn’t up to scratch, and many players may feel that to be a deal-breaker, as multiplayer is what fighting games are generally all about. If you can handle playing the game offline only, definitely pick this up, it’s a brilliant fighter for fans and non-fans alike (unless you are of the faint of heart!)