If you can remember going to the Laundromat and scavenging in your parents’ belongings for quarters to play on the arcade machines, you’re not alone. The new Mortal Kombat Arcade Kollection presses the nostalgia button on gamers young and old.
The collection, cleverly titled “kollection” in accordance to regular Mortal Kombat practice, allows gamers to take a shot at climbing the challenge towers of Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat II and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. Each separate game allows for the challenge of a second player, no coins necessary.
Gameplay
The gameplay is not what you’d expect if you played the most recent Mortal Kombat game for the next-gen consoles. The younger generation won’t be hit with the nostalgia as much, but with this game, they can see what Mortal Kombat has evolved from.
One of the great feelings is being able to choose your character and hear the deep voice in the background say the name of the character in your preparation to fight. Mortal Kombat allows you to choose any of 10 characters. You heard me correct, 10 characters. This is how it all started and sometimes it feels good to go back and not feel overwhelmed with options.
Mortal Kombat II comes in and allows the player to choose from 12 characters..
Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 allows for the use of more characters, but I’ll leave the screenshot out because some of them could be spoilers (they have to be unlocked).
Once the game is started, the controls don’t seem to be clear. The game makes use of the entire Xbox 360 controller, but that’s unknown to a person who just wants to pick up the game and play. Pressing the “back” button accesses the game’s menu to which “Help & Options” can be selected and from there, the game’s controls are found. Unbeknownst to myself, holding left (when on the left side of the screen) on the directional pad is not the block button. The game makes use of the right trigger in order for the character to block. Each face button has a different use ranging from directional kicks to punches. Yelling the phrase “Cheater, cheater, pumpkin eater” is about the cleanest phrase I’ve yelled out while playing.
While playing, you get reminded of how difficult the game actually is. Like any other cheate—I mean, lover of simplicity, would say, using the move list is extremely helpful. Though, as I found out on Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, playing on Easy and trying to access the move list cannot be done.
I still think Jade is a cheater (she almost got a perfection while I played…on easy).
Mortal Kombat fans will be enthused to know that insane uppercuts in Mortal Kombat II and in Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 will yield to the appearance of Dan Forden who is still in the game with his coined “Toasty!” or whatever it is you believe he says.
Still in the game, as if Mortal Kombat could be Mortal Kombat without it, are the fatalities. There’s nothing better than beating your ridiculously difficult AI opponent and having the ability to perform a fatality on him. A quick press of the back button and search on the moves list will get you the perfect combo for a fatality, babality, fergality, or even a friendship…friendship? (see what I did there?)
Sounds
The sounds of the game aren’t crisp and clear, but that’s done purposely. To give it the arcade effect, the sounds of the game remain muffled-sounding and retain the feel for an arcade machine. The deep voiceover is still there, as previously mentioned, and players hits go hand-in-hand with grunts and other various noises you’d regularly hear during tennis matches. The downfalls to the sounds, however, are that sometimes after trying to do a combo or finishing one, you still hear grunts. This is all after your character has finished attacking and is standing still. I can never get over the good ol’ classic, “Get over here!” so I think Scorpion is going to be a hot choice for me.
Also, it should be noted that if the game is left on idle for a while and you forget the game is running, the soundtrack started to resemble that of Sonic the Hedgehog…interesting.
Online
The online gameplay was a good idea on the part of Midway, if that’s what they’re even referred to as anymore, but it seems as though it could use work. Some online games lag, much like others, but with a fighting game, timing is important. Being able to press buttons in certain combinations, uninterrupted, is key to winning matches. Some online matches are funny. There may not be communication via Xbox Live headsets, fortunately, but in-game motions are enough to show player frustration. I found myself in one match where both of our characters kept blocking because we didn’t want to attack first.
Another issue with the online play is the ranking system. The way people rank is through basic win/loss of games, but it doesn’t get more specific than that. Switching between the games doesn’t seem to change your rank. In the sense that if you have a score of 2014 while playing Mortal Kombat II and you switch to Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, your score shall remain at 2014. There’s no real telling who is best at any game.
Overall Thoughts
The game brings a lot to the table in terms of nostalgia and gameplay, but it lacks in other aspects. It would have been great to see a revamped version of the game as opposed to a complete port from the arcade classics. No, it isn’t a bad thing that the game was a direct port, but it would have been interesting to see the difference between the arcade game and a polished version. If they had more time to complete the game, it would have been interesting to have an option like the new Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary Edition has, one button graphics change.
The game is fun if you’re playing alone or with others. Alone, of course, you’ll be dealing with the trials and tribulations of difficult AI whereas against other people you have a better chance of winning. If you have 800 Microsoft Points just lying in your account, might as well take to picking the game up. Quite frankly I would wait till the game is on sale, even at $7.99 it would be a good steal. For someone who is going from the new Mortal Kombat to this won’t feel like it was worth the money. Fans who have been with the game from the beginning, you won’t be disappointed, frustration and all.