Lol. 
Schrodingers MK. Everyone is dead and not dead. Every time. All the time.
Schrodingers MK. Everyone is dead and not dead. Every time. All the time.
Mortal Kombat
- Thread starter Caldwin
- Start date
Ghostface is out. Probably can't link the trailer.
I haven't watched all the Scream movies but there's a part in the game play when there were three Ghostfaces around. Did that happen in the movies?
Interesting fatality, haha
I haven't watched all the Scream movies but there's a part in the game play when there were three Ghostfaces around. Did that happen in the movies?
Interesting fatality, haha
Well, l saw a video that showed the movie references with his attacks. Turns out they use moves from the latest Scream movies too? After the original trilogy. Ah, cool for them for being ok with the new ones (which I didn't watch still).
Heard this elsewhere about Ghostface, if anyone is interested. It's apparently spoilers?
"Apparently it’s 3 characters that swap around. Original character, Kobra and Kira from earlier games, you swap them during special moves and their knives give them away.
The voice is Roger L Jackson who is the voice of all of the Ghostfaces in the movies."
The voice is Roger L Jackson who is the voice of all of the Ghostfaces in the movies."
The DLC bundle was on sale a couple nights ago. Not sure if it's still on sale right now. But I decided to pull the trigger on it.
MK1 is still far from being my favorite. I just really can't get into it. But I did want to check out Ghost Face and (when it comes out) the T-1000.
MK1 is still far from being my favorite. I just really can't get into it. But I did want to check out Ghost Face and (when it comes out) the T-1000.
T-1000 and Conan look like fun. The idea of it being all the Ghostfaces is inspired.
I just beat the Khaos Reigns in one night. So...kinda short. It was decent, I suppose. But this whole multi-verse thing just gives me a headache. I actually kinda miss the days when the storyline was secondary to the game. Things have just gotten so convoluted ever since Armageddon.
Multiverses for me at this just kill all stakes. Not because multiverse is bad per se. But simply because the way MK handles it just ends being ‘any version, of any one’ can and will turn up, because everything exists everywhere. It just comes off more that NRS didn’t have total faith in their new timeline. So they leave the multiverse open so they can have their cake and eat it.
Khaos Reigns is a muddled let down for me sadly.
Khaos Reigns is a muddled let down for me sadly.
Sub-Zero becoming Noob was just, wasted.
I don't mind Sub becoming Noob.
And honestly, multiverses in and of themselves can be done right. But I rarely ever seen it done right.
Why should I care about this reality over any other? Is it an anchor reality? I haven't seen anything to make me care about this reality over any other. We could just as well as follow the reality of the Titan Kitana and I'd be just as invested (which is to say not much).
In the same vein, why should I care about this particular Scorpion? He's not even a Hanzo.
Elseworlds stories might be an interesting diversion. But I'm never going to care for Elseworlds like I would about something that happens in the main universe.
And here the kicker. When I said before that this game just wasn't catching me like the others, I couldn't figure out why. The game play is fine. I didn't know who the heck the first round of guest characters were. But that's honestly okay, because they're killing it with Ghostface, T-000 and even Conan. So I just couldn't figure out why this game was falling so flat for me...until I started ranting just now as I started typing this.
Theoretically a multiverse can be done right. But you have to give me a reason to care about this universe. You have to give me a reason to care about this version of a character. And everything they've done so far is so at odds with any continuity they ever had before...the characters feel so at odds with everything they've ever been...there's simply very little, if anything, that really jives with me in a meaningful way.
The more time passes and the more I hear about it, the less interested I am in playing it...
So going through some older posts in other threads, I realized/remembered it's kind of my thing to do rankings of each game in a franchise. *hears everyone groaning* Oh yes, I'm doing this! Hey, just be glad I don't own any of the side games. So I won't be doing those.
Mortal Kombat
Played on: Arcade, SNES, Genesis, Plug and Play, PS3 (Mortal Kombat Arcade Kollection)
Okay, let's be honest. Go back and play this again. Even at the time, did this game really have anything more going for it than digitized graphics and blood? The playstyle is stiff as hell. If I go back and play Street Fighter II, I feel like I'm still playing a good game that could still be played today. I go back and play Mortal Kombat, I'm playing a slog fest.
Don't get me wrong though. There are several things I credit this game with. It pushed games in a way where now we have a ratings system. Take that for good or ill, but either way, it was an industry changer. I also have fond memories of endless hours either playing this at a friend's house or inviting my friends over to play at my house. I owned both this and Street Fighter on SNES. Both games were played more or less equally. And since this is my list, I'm allowing nostalgia to cloud my rating. Nostalgia is a hell of a drug, after all.
Rating B
Mortal Kombat II
Played on: Arcade, SNES, Game Cube (Midway Arcade Treasures 2), PS3 (Mortal Kombat Arcade Kollection)
So the graphics are better than the first. They added more "alities." They added new characters while taking away Sonia and Kano. They also added onto the lore. Also, I may have mained Scorpion since the first game, but I do love to play Kitana every once in a while and she did become of one my top favorite characters.
They also kept most of the true gameplay the same sloggy gameplay of the first one while adding in a new function where the computer is a button-reading cheater.
Rating B+
Mortal Kombat III
Played on: Arcade, SNES, Game Cube (Midway Arcade Treasures 2)
They added a run meter as well as canned combos. Sektor and Cyrax got their start here. They really probably reached the best of what digitized graphics can look like.
They also cut out a bunch of characters, including Scorpion which is unforgivable. This is very likely the most disappointing roster ever. Also, the fatalities were a joke in this one. People often exploded with an improbable number of ribcages and femurs. It was stupidly over the top and not in a good way.
Rating C-
Ultimate Mortal Kombat III
Played on: Arcade, PS3 (Mortal Kombat Arcade Kollection)
Well, they expanded the roster, including bringing back Scorpion and Kitana. They also added new backgrounds. When you say "Mortal Kombat III," I think most people will automatically gravitate towards this version while trying to forget the original exists. It still has the over-the-top amount of rib cages and femurs when people get blown up, making the fatalities of this game still the worst of the franchise (except maybe the DC cross-over). But the size of the roster and overall gameplay improvements including the combo system does make this one a lot of fun to play, especially when compared to the first two games.
Rating A-
Mortal Kombat Trilogy
Played on: PC, N64
Honestly, this is just Mortal Kombat 3 with an expanded roster and an added Brutality function. But an expanded roster can count for a lot.
A+
Mortal Kombat IV
Played on: Arcade, PC, Dreamcast (Gold)
Ho boy! What to say about this one. Now look, I know that many consider this a very rocky introduction to 3D. But you know, if you look at the times, there were a lot of games that had a rocky start in 3D. In fact, I'd dare say Mario and Zelda were the only two franchises I recall that hit the ground running when it came to 3D.
So I do want to be a little lenient on the whole rocky first venture into 3D aspect. The lore was greatly expanded with this one to include Shinnok and Quan Chi. Okay, sure, they were actually introduced in Mythologies Sub Zero. But that was a crap side game. This one brought them into main line continuity. It was also the start of interactive backgrounds (throwing stones and severed heads at your enemies) as well as weapons. The roster was kinda bare. But it had Scorpion and an actually masked Sub Zero. They also took away all the nonsense "alities" like Babalities, Friendship and such, bringing this game back to its more serious roots.
But while I want to be lenient on the whole "rocky first venture into 3D" aspect of the game, I can't forgive it entirely. Leniency simply doesn't make this game any easier to come back to. It also doesn't really forgive the laughably bad voice acting. I mean, the voice acting is really bad.
Rating C
Mortal Kombat V: Deadly Alliance
Played on Gamecube
Honestly, maybe it's just a me thing, but I didn't really like this whole era of Mortal Kombat. Maybe some of it had to do with the wonky button placement on the Gamecube. But I honestly feel it's a bit more than that.
I mean, I'm glad they tried something new to shake things up again. And the sophomore attempt at 3D is undeniably a vast improvement. And hey! I absolutely love Nitara.
But the problem is the high entry barrier. The old MK games might have been stiff compared to other games *coughStreetFightercough*. But at least you could use any character and know you could control them and maybe have to learn a move or two...maybe a combo here and there. But you knew what the controls were.
Here the difference in just the basic moves changes not just between characters, but between stances. It took a LOT to learn a single stance, never mind getting to know a character's whole moveset between stances. It was just too high a barrier for new players.
Oh, and they killed Liu Kang.
Rating D
Mortal Kombat Deception
Played on Gamecube
The same complaints I had about Deadly Alliance, I also have here. But here you have a different roster and also you have multi-tiered arenas. I will always love multi-tiered arenas.
But if I'm going to be honest, I spent more time in Chess Kombat and the (rather well done RPG like IMO) Konquest mode than I ever did in the game proper. Like seriously, I would love too see this kind of free-roaming mini-RPG story mode type again. And that Chess game was just *chefs kiss*.
Rating C (less because of the game proper on more because the extras were so fun).
Mortal Kombat Armageddon
Played on Gamecube
Well, on the good side, they simplified the muti-stance gameplay so it wasn't quite so hard to get into. The roster was the best ever, needless to say. I absolutely love the create-a-character. This is the first game I ever played (before Soul Calibur for me) where you could create your own character. So much love for that alone.
But boy-oh-boy. I'm sorry, but those Kreate-A-Fatality, while understandable given the Kreate-A-Fighter, was the worst thing to ever make it into an MK game. I simply can't let that slide.
Rating B
Mortal Kombat Vs. DC Universe
Played on PS3
I honestly didn't hate this as much as others did. Like, yeah, the blood and fatalities were nerfed to hell. But...um...I had a SNES instead of a Genesis back in the day, and we'll just leave it at that.
I still liked the cross-over. Superman vs Scorpion. Subzero vs. Batman. Joker vs. Shang Tsung. It was awesome. And on a personal note...I kinda kicked ass online.
Mortal Kombat 2011
Played on: PS3, PSP
Well, after the bitching I did over the complicated controls, it was nice to get things back to basics. I also love the roster. And bringing in Freddy Krueger as a guest character was a sweet, sweet taste of things to come. The roster and story mode was absolutely fantastic.
On the bad side...look, I know this is Mortal Kombat. You expect there to be blood and gore. That's just a given. But from this one to 11...it got just a bit too squeamish. I mean, by the time of 11, even the devs who had to study human anatomy for these fatalities were getting PTSD. If that's not saying something, I don't know what is.
So I'll say it here, but know that it'll also be a factor in X and 11. Just a bit too squeamish.
Rating B+
Mortal Kombat X
Played on PS4
What can I say? I love the new characters, particularly Cassie and Jacqui. Also, both Alien and Predator as guest characters? That's so awesome I can't even say!
But again, squeamish.
Rating A-
Mortal Kombat 11
Played on: Switch, PS5
I first got this on the Switch. And if I only ever had the Switch version, I would've been okay with that. But when I got the PS5 version, well, that just ensured I'd never be able to play the Switch version again.
So...the good. I still love Cassie and Jacqui. The guest characters are really good: Rambo, Robocop, Terminator. The Krypt was decent enough. But I think the biggest thing I loved was bringing back Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa to voice Shang Tsung. Like, in the same way Keven Conroy will always be Batman for me, Cary will always be Shang Tsung.
Bad parts...I don't think anyone liked the fact that Sindel was evil instead of brainwashed.
Rating A+
Mortal Kombat 1
Played on PS5
*sigh*
After only three games, they're resetting the timeline yet again. Cassie and Jacqui (the two best new characters of the last three games) are cast aside. In fact, all of the characters have been so fundamentally changed from who they used to be as to be unrecognizable. The guest characters so. Far....
I mean, unless you have the right streaming service, you wouldn't even know who the hell Omni-Man, Peacemakeror Homelander even are. Like all the previous guest characters, even if you don't watch the movies their from, you know who they are. But I had no idea who these three are before googling them. Ghost Face...pretty cool. Probably the only guest characters so far I'll give a pass to. Conan...we already had fake Schwarzenegger in the last game. T-1000...we already had a Terminator in the last game.
Nitara...the one character I was so looking forward to returning. I love the character of Nitara. It's only because of Nitara that I stuck with Deadly Alliance for as long as I did. And you bring in Megan hugging Fox to play her? Seriously? Megan Fox? Who the hell asked for this? The one character I was looking forward to returning and you have to go and ruin her with Megan hugging Fox? GAH!
At least they toned down the fatalities some from the previous games to be less squick. But I am so not feeling this one.
Rating F
Mortal Kombat
Played on: Arcade, SNES, Genesis, Plug and Play, PS3 (Mortal Kombat Arcade Kollection)
Okay, let's be honest. Go back and play this again. Even at the time, did this game really have anything more going for it than digitized graphics and blood? The playstyle is stiff as hell. If I go back and play Street Fighter II, I feel like I'm still playing a good game that could still be played today. I go back and play Mortal Kombat, I'm playing a slog fest.
Don't get me wrong though. There are several things I credit this game with. It pushed games in a way where now we have a ratings system. Take that for good or ill, but either way, it was an industry changer. I also have fond memories of endless hours either playing this at a friend's house or inviting my friends over to play at my house. I owned both this and Street Fighter on SNES. Both games were played more or less equally. And since this is my list, I'm allowing nostalgia to cloud my rating. Nostalgia is a hell of a drug, after all.
Rating B
Mortal Kombat II
Played on: Arcade, SNES, Game Cube (Midway Arcade Treasures 2), PS3 (Mortal Kombat Arcade Kollection)
So the graphics are better than the first. They added more "alities." They added new characters while taking away Sonia and Kano. They also added onto the lore. Also, I may have mained Scorpion since the first game, but I do love to play Kitana every once in a while and she did become of one my top favorite characters.
They also kept most of the true gameplay the same sloggy gameplay of the first one while adding in a new function where the computer is a button-reading cheater.
Rating B+
Mortal Kombat III
Played on: Arcade, SNES, Game Cube (Midway Arcade Treasures 2)
They added a run meter as well as canned combos. Sektor and Cyrax got their start here. They really probably reached the best of what digitized graphics can look like.
They also cut out a bunch of characters, including Scorpion which is unforgivable. This is very likely the most disappointing roster ever. Also, the fatalities were a joke in this one. People often exploded with an improbable number of ribcages and femurs. It was stupidly over the top and not in a good way.
Rating C-
Ultimate Mortal Kombat III
Played on: Arcade, PS3 (Mortal Kombat Arcade Kollection)
Well, they expanded the roster, including bringing back Scorpion and Kitana. They also added new backgrounds. When you say "Mortal Kombat III," I think most people will automatically gravitate towards this version while trying to forget the original exists. It still has the over-the-top amount of rib cages and femurs when people get blown up, making the fatalities of this game still the worst of the franchise (except maybe the DC cross-over). But the size of the roster and overall gameplay improvements including the combo system does make this one a lot of fun to play, especially when compared to the first two games.
Rating A-
Mortal Kombat Trilogy
Played on: PC, N64
Honestly, this is just Mortal Kombat 3 with an expanded roster and an added Brutality function. But an expanded roster can count for a lot.
A+
Mortal Kombat IV
Played on: Arcade, PC, Dreamcast (Gold)
Ho boy! What to say about this one. Now look, I know that many consider this a very rocky introduction to 3D. But you know, if you look at the times, there were a lot of games that had a rocky start in 3D. In fact, I'd dare say Mario and Zelda were the only two franchises I recall that hit the ground running when it came to 3D.
So I do want to be a little lenient on the whole rocky first venture into 3D aspect. The lore was greatly expanded with this one to include Shinnok and Quan Chi. Okay, sure, they were actually introduced in Mythologies Sub Zero. But that was a crap side game. This one brought them into main line continuity. It was also the start of interactive backgrounds (throwing stones and severed heads at your enemies) as well as weapons. The roster was kinda bare. But it had Scorpion and an actually masked Sub Zero. They also took away all the nonsense "alities" like Babalities, Friendship and such, bringing this game back to its more serious roots.
But while I want to be lenient on the whole "rocky first venture into 3D" aspect of the game, I can't forgive it entirely. Leniency simply doesn't make this game any easier to come back to. It also doesn't really forgive the laughably bad voice acting. I mean, the voice acting is really bad.
Rating C
Mortal Kombat V: Deadly Alliance
Played on Gamecube
Honestly, maybe it's just a me thing, but I didn't really like this whole era of Mortal Kombat. Maybe some of it had to do with the wonky button placement on the Gamecube. But I honestly feel it's a bit more than that.
I mean, I'm glad they tried something new to shake things up again. And the sophomore attempt at 3D is undeniably a vast improvement. And hey! I absolutely love Nitara.
But the problem is the high entry barrier. The old MK games might have been stiff compared to other games *coughStreetFightercough*. But at least you could use any character and know you could control them and maybe have to learn a move or two...maybe a combo here and there. But you knew what the controls were.
Here the difference in just the basic moves changes not just between characters, but between stances. It took a LOT to learn a single stance, never mind getting to know a character's whole moveset between stances. It was just too high a barrier for new players.
Oh, and they killed Liu Kang.
Rating D
Mortal Kombat Deception
Played on Gamecube
The same complaints I had about Deadly Alliance, I also have here. But here you have a different roster and also you have multi-tiered arenas. I will always love multi-tiered arenas.
But if I'm going to be honest, I spent more time in Chess Kombat and the (rather well done RPG like IMO) Konquest mode than I ever did in the game proper. Like seriously, I would love too see this kind of free-roaming mini-RPG story mode type again. And that Chess game was just *chefs kiss*.
Rating C (less because of the game proper on more because the extras were so fun).
Mortal Kombat Armageddon
Played on Gamecube
Well, on the good side, they simplified the muti-stance gameplay so it wasn't quite so hard to get into. The roster was the best ever, needless to say. I absolutely love the create-a-character. This is the first game I ever played (before Soul Calibur for me) where you could create your own character. So much love for that alone.
But boy-oh-boy. I'm sorry, but those Kreate-A-Fatality, while understandable given the Kreate-A-Fighter, was the worst thing to ever make it into an MK game. I simply can't let that slide.
Rating B
Mortal Kombat Vs. DC Universe
Played on PS3
I honestly didn't hate this as much as others did. Like, yeah, the blood and fatalities were nerfed to hell. But...um...I had a SNES instead of a Genesis back in the day, and we'll just leave it at that.
I still liked the cross-over. Superman vs Scorpion. Subzero vs. Batman. Joker vs. Shang Tsung. It was awesome. And on a personal note...I kinda kicked ass online.
Mortal Kombat 2011
Played on: PS3, PSP
Well, after the bitching I did over the complicated controls, it was nice to get things back to basics. I also love the roster. And bringing in Freddy Krueger as a guest character was a sweet, sweet taste of things to come. The roster and story mode was absolutely fantastic.
On the bad side...look, I know this is Mortal Kombat. You expect there to be blood and gore. That's just a given. But from this one to 11...it got just a bit too squeamish. I mean, by the time of 11, even the devs who had to study human anatomy for these fatalities were getting PTSD. If that's not saying something, I don't know what is.
So I'll say it here, but know that it'll also be a factor in X and 11. Just a bit too squeamish.
Rating B+
Mortal Kombat X
Played on PS4
What can I say? I love the new characters, particularly Cassie and Jacqui. Also, both Alien and Predator as guest characters? That's so awesome I can't even say!
But again, squeamish.
Rating A-
Mortal Kombat 11
Played on: Switch, PS5
I first got this on the Switch. And if I only ever had the Switch version, I would've been okay with that. But when I got the PS5 version, well, that just ensured I'd never be able to play the Switch version again.
So...the good. I still love Cassie and Jacqui. The guest characters are really good: Rambo, Robocop, Terminator. The Krypt was decent enough. But I think the biggest thing I loved was bringing back Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa to voice Shang Tsung. Like, in the same way Keven Conroy will always be Batman for me, Cary will always be Shang Tsung.
Bad parts...I don't think anyone liked the fact that Sindel was evil instead of brainwashed.
Rating A+
Mortal Kombat 1
Played on PS5
*sigh*
After only three games, they're resetting the timeline yet again. Cassie and Jacqui (the two best new characters of the last three games) are cast aside. In fact, all of the characters have been so fundamentally changed from who they used to be as to be unrecognizable. The guest characters so. Far....
I mean, unless you have the right streaming service, you wouldn't even know who the hell Omni-Man, Peacemakeror Homelander even are. Like all the previous guest characters, even if you don't watch the movies their from, you know who they are. But I had no idea who these three are before googling them. Ghost Face...pretty cool. Probably the only guest characters so far I'll give a pass to. Conan...we already had fake Schwarzenegger in the last game. T-1000...we already had a Terminator in the last game.
Nitara...the one character I was so looking forward to returning. I love the character of Nitara. It's only because of Nitara that I stuck with Deadly Alliance for as long as I did. And you bring in Megan hugging Fox to play her? Seriously? Megan Fox? Who the hell asked for this? The one character I was looking forward to returning and you have to go and ruin her with Megan hugging Fox? GAH!
At least they toned down the fatalities some from the previous games to be less squick. But I am so not feeling this one.
Rating F