Hands On: Mortal Kombat

After the debacle that was Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, creator Ed Boon must have most definitely had an epiphany after which he decided it would be better if the game went back to its hyper violent roots. And thankfully, Warner Bros. supported his vision as a result of which Mortal Kombat was reborn.

On a lazy Friday afternoon, we were invited to the Warner Bros studio in Mumbai for a taste of things to come, and boy, are they scrumptious! And this is coming from someone who’s not too hot on fighting games.

Tag Team FTW!

It’s no secret that Mortal Kombat is heading back to its old-school roots and that fact is very evident in the simple yet efficient gameplay where you choose a fighter and then go completely medieval on your opponent. The build we got to try out was unfortunately only a single player one so besides the rather lengthy tutorial, we were left with the Tournament mode. Like older MK games every fighter has an insane amount of (complicated) moves so we most definitely recommend picking a favorite and then sticking with him/her.

The first thing that hits you as soon as you boot up the game is how gloriously violent everything is. Start beating the crap out of someone and their blood spills all over the arena. His/her clothes start tearing and their bodies bear testament to the severe damage through nasty cuts, gashes and bloody wounds. As you wail away on your opponent pulling off combos, breakers and other moves, you build up your meter which when full can be used to execute a psychotically cool X-ray move. Yeah, it’s as awesome as it sounds which means you can break bones and all sorts of ligaments in X-ray vision. It’s a brutal but insanely cool reminder that the old MK is back to stay.

Burn notice

And yes, the Fatalities are back too but pulling them off, like always is a complete and utter pain in the backside. If you can memorize the moves then props to you. If not you’ll have to be content watching a fatality being performed on you by the AI. It’s an utterly humiliating way to be finished off but one that is just so over-the-top and satisfying, you can’t help but enjoy the misery inflicted on your character.

The build on display was a two month old one so there were instances of a few slowdowns, especially in those levels where there were a ton of background effects. Other than that everything was proudly displayed in glorious HD. The detailing on characters is badass and nearly every level had some sort of stuff going on in the background be it unfortunate dudes being hung in the Living Forest or a bunch of fighters taking on some sort of a gigantic creature in a coliseum.

Kicking it old school

For all those who’ve been put off by the series, this right here is the game capable of winning them back. It sticks with the successful formula concentrating on what it does best, while offering some of the bloodiest and most violent gameplay in existence today.

Mortal Kombat will release by the 22nd of April 2011 for the Xbox360 (Rs. 2499) and PS3 (Rs. 2499).