GDC 2011 Hands-On: Mortal Kombat - Preview
by VGChartz Staff , posted on 02 March 2011 / 5,990 Views
Right here at the 2011 Game Developers Conference, Sony has been nice enough to host a lounge filled with food, drink, and all kinds of gaming goodness. Amongst these games is the new Mortal Kombat. I know what you're thinking, "That's not a Sony title!" You're right, but it's there anyway.
I was a fan of Mortal Kombat back in the day when it was taboo and the indicator that video games were a one-way path to damnation. I would go to my friend Russell's house and play where my mom couldn't find out. Sorry, Mom. Mortal Kombat has since had a long, meandering history of more fighting games, some action games, and questionable movies.
So I sat down with the new Mortal Kombat with a mixture of high hopes and absolute dread. Five minutes with it and I thought I stepped back into the 1990's. Halleluja.
The feeling of playing the new Mortal Kombat is very similar to the feeling I had when first playing Street Fighter IV. It was like I'd travel back in time with a slightly different controller in my hands, and yet there were high-definition graphics before me. Mortal Kombat looks like a very new, very polished fighting game but still plays just like the older Mortal Kombats. The uppercuts, the strange and unnaturally posed flying punches, and the tight-balled flipping jumps harken back to a different time.
I was able to step into the new Mortal Kombat and immediately freeze my enemies with Sub-Zero. I was able to make opponents "get over here" just like I used to with Scorpion. The new Mortal Kombat welcomed me into its bloody, violent bosom like a long lost loved one.
This isn't just a re-hashing of old games, though. While most moves are straight from the older games, the combo system is more robust and the x-ray system that's been shown in screenshots is the reward for great combos. One thing that really jumped out at me is the persistent damage. Throughout the match, the characters will show damage that never goes away. Costumes and masks rip, gashes open up, and blood flows all throughout the match even into victory poses.
Then there are the fatalities. It becomes fairly obvious why Germany has banned this game, the fatalities are far and away beyond what has been seen before. This is partly because of the vastly increased graphics, but it's also increased creativity with carnage in the new game. Just when you think a foe is good and dead, the fresh corpse gets defiled further.
There were only four characters available for the on-site demo, but it was enough to keep my interest up for the newest Mortal Kombat. Bringing what was great in Mortal Kombat's heyday into the seventh generation of consoles is looking gruesome and great so far.
