
	Platform Xbox 360 Genre Fighting Publisher WB Games Developer NetherRealm Studios ESRB M (Mature) Released February 28, 2012

- An unexpectedly amazing single-player story packed with a great 10 hours of fighting - With smooth graphics and gameplay, great controls and excellent online multiplayer and spectacular single-player gameplay, Mortal Kombat has reclaimed its crown as the best fighting game

- If you already purchased the original when it was first released, the extra content isn’t worth shelling out more money

Review: UFC Undisputed 3 (360) Review: Tekken Hybrid (PS3) Review: Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe (360) Review: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword (Wii)
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Mortal Kombat Komplete Edition

Score: 9.5 / 10

Mortal Kombat has a long and infamous history as a gaming franchise from its very first appearance in the arcades. But the face of console gaming changed completely in 1993. That’s when Mortal Kombat, already broiled in controversy from its bloody arcade beginnings, was released on the Sega Genesis. The gory plasma spewing from the arcade Mortal Kombat that had been censored out of the earlier “family friendly” Super Nintendo version was now unlockable on the Genesis, raising the ire of wannabe child-protecting social activists.

Videogaming evolved in the minds of many “concerned adults” from a youngster’s harmless diversion of plumbers rescuing princesses and hedgehogs collecting coins into malicious, killing violence sure to corrupt the young minds of those little

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straight-A Johnnys and Janes playing it, transforming them from little innocents into blood-lusting miscreants overnight.

That fear of parents worried about their children playing violent videogames, especially Mortal Kombat, ridiculously spawned congressional hearings, but also paved the way for the current-day game ratings system and also the acceptance

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of the “Mature” videogame.

Of course, what brought Mortal Kombat to the collective consciousness of American parents and politicians in the first place was that it was so popular, based on its exceptional gameplay.

Now, nearly 20 years later, M-rated games are commonplace, and that violence in the original Mortal Kombat is tame by comparison to many of today’s videogames. But wasn’t hasn’t always the same in these last two decades was the quality of Mortal Kombat games. The advent of more powerful home consoles and an ill-conceived movement away from Mortal Kombat’s 2D roots plunged many of the multitude Mortal Kombat iterations into mediocrity.

That mediocrity disappeared completely, though, with the release of 2011’s Mortal Kombat, a spectacular return to glory for the fighting-game franchise. The newest edition brought back amazing graphics and the super-smooth gameplay and controls (including the infamously popular finishing moves) that the franchise was known for at its height of fighting-game domination. It also reacquainted gamers with familiar fighters along with great fighting, especially online.

But what made the newest Mortal Kombat rise above any other fighting-game franchise, particularly Street Fighter IV, was an unexpectedly amazing single-player story packed with a great 10 hours of fighting adventure. The story is nonsensical (story has never been exactly a strong facet of Mortal Kombat), but what the game does exceptionally well is transition from cut-scene immediately into fighting battles. And gamers get to be placed into the fray as not just one character throughout, but must switch characters as the story progresses, adding the challenge of learning new fighting styles while in the heat of mortal combat. This is easily the best single-story mode a fighting game has ever had.

Just as other Capcom fighting games have done recently, 2011’s Mortal Kombat has been re-released as Mortal Kombat Komplete Edition, containing all the downloadable content that was available after the original release, with new “warriors” (including Freddy Krueger), classic character skins, a digital copy of the Mortal Kombat movie and an album full of Mortal Kombat music.

Gamers who already bought the game when it came out in 2011, though, won’t find enough in the “komplete” edition to justify purchasing it. However, any fighting-game fan that missed it last year shouldn’t pass it by the second time around. With smooth graphics and gameplay, great controls, and excellent online multiplayer and spectacular single-player gameplay, Mortal Kombat has reclaimed its crown as the best fighting game.

- Lee Cieniawa
lcieniawa@armchairempire.com

(April 19, 2012)