E3 Preview: Mortal Kombat - Preview
by VGChartz Staff , posted on 17 June 2010 / 5,829 Views
Mortal Kombat has certain stigmas associated with it. First, the massive violence in the original arcade game caused angry parents to form the ESRB to "keep that filth away from our children!" Later, a censored port to the SNES was outsold by far by the unexpurgated version available on the Sega Genesis (apparently parents wanted Midway to keep that filth away from their children, but they still wanted it for themselves). Nintendo realized their error and released a more violent and true-to-the-source arcade port when Mortal Kombat II came around.
Later, the MK series branched out into action adventure games like Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero and Mortal Kombat: Special Forces. These lacked the masochistic magic of the original three numbered sequels, and shortly thereafter, Midway declared bankruptcy. Mortal Kombat, and most of the rest of Midway, was bought out by Warner Brothers for a paltry $33 million.
Warner Brothers: "We're gonna reinvent this franchise." How? Ed Boon (the lead programmer of pretty much every MK game ever) was at E3 to explain today:
"We listened to the fans. We found the three things they want out of a Mortal Kombat sequel: fatalities, a revamped fighting engine, and a solid M rating. We focused on those as our three pillars during development."
They also moved the series back to 2D; did I mention that? Remember how great Mortal Kombat II was back when we were eleven? Warner Brothers is hoping to tap into that same sense of awesome we had back then with the new game, and they did it by being BRUTAL.
I wish they had let us take pictures in there, seriously. They'll let the world see the game when they're nice and ready, I suppose. You'll just have to take my (hopefully vivid and entertaining) retelling as fact, and believe me when I say that nobody in that room had a better E3 gaming experience all day. It was just so... visceral.
First up: Scorpion versus Sub-Zero. Every punch connects with authority. Sub-Zero pulls an ice sword out of thin air and stabs it through Scorpion's chest. He bleeds everywhere; his clothes stain with red that dries to a deep brown as the fight goes on. Scorpion counters with his classic, "Get over here!" followed by an uppercut into a teleport kick combo for 30% damage. At the end of the fight, you know he's been in a battle, even if he was the winner. Torn clothes, bloody wounds, maybe part of his face would be missing... all in a day's work.
The levels are new and improved versions of our favorite blasts from the past too - the Living Forest, the Dead Pool, the Pit. The epic level-based fatalities have returned as well, even more gruesome than before. And the characters are back: Nighwolf with his magic (psychic?) axes, Johnny Cage (complete with nut punches), Mileena with her oh-so-pretty face and improved jiggle physics, Kung Lao with his crazy razor hat, Reptile the snake face, and Sektor, god of bloweverythingup.
John Edwards and Brian LeBaron of WB took the controllers for a messy fight. A messy tag team fight. Yes, Mortal Kombat takes the gratuitiously over-the-top violence that the series is known for and adds in some new perks once exclusive to other series like Street Fighter and Tekken. Tag battles, special meters for each character, removable organs, layers of flesh and bone that can be peeled back and/or broken... Tagging your partner in and out can include either an attack upon entering the arena or a special move as a team - two simultanous fireballs, for example - one from each teammate.
The special meter is a big addition to the series. It's split into three sections like Street Fighter IV and sits at the bottom of the screen, looking pretty. Each character has special moves, and each special move has an enhanced version that's more powerful and uses one section of the special meter (I'm not 100% positive that it's actually called a special meter). Use two sections, and you can execute a Breaker attack, which interrupts an opponent's flow mid-combo and lets you turn the momentum to your side.
Use all three sections of your special meter to perform an X-ray Attack. This is basically an Ultra Combo which zooms in on a particularly devastating move, letting you admire an x-ray image of your opponent's ribs shattering, their neck breaking, their shoulder blades separating, or - in Johnny Cage's case - you get to see some testicles rupturing as he ruthlessly assaults them over, and over, and over. With his fist. Every single person in the tiny, darkened theater cringed, gasped, or whooped when this happened. Those sick, sick people. (I loved it too!) Each character has their own X-ray attack, and the meter recharges over time as the battle goes on.
Besides the persistent blood stains on the fighters, the X-ray Attacks, the 3D combatants on a 2D plane, upgraded characters and settings (there is someone dying in the background of nearly every level), what's left? Yes, I remember now... the fatalities.
The show ended with a montage of some of the best deaths I've ever seen in a video game. Mileena throws her sais into the chest of her enemy, then appears to go in for a kiss. She obviously changes her mind, and when she's almost there... RIPPPPP off with his head! Then, she takes a big sloppy bite, like a dog that just caught a rabbit after a long chase. The screen fades to black with her dripping her opponent's blood from her jowls.
Or, Reptile pulls back his enemy's head, opens their mouth, and snowballs acid down their throat. YES! My favorite, though, is Kung Lao's fatality. He takes off his razor sharp hat and spins it like a saw blade into the ground. It keeps spinning like a jigsaw halfway out of the floor, and he pulls his opponent through it, one leg on either side, slicing them in twain in the most beautifully horrible way imaginable.
That is how you do a Mortal Kombat game. That is how you kill an enemy at the end of a hard-fought battle. That... is Mortal Kombat. The series has endured bankruptcy, plenty of less-than-stellar titles, and years of silence (Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe doesn't count!) to become the most emotional experience I had on the floor. I haven't literally cringed, gasped, or laughed aloud in wonder at something on a game screen in a long time. Bravo, Warner Brothers. You did the MK name proud.
Check out Mortal Kombat on Xbox 360, PS3, and PC when it releases next year. Hopefully we'll have some screenshots and video for you soon, so make sure to check back when that embargo breaks!
Now, once all together in celebration of the glorious return of one of the defining franchises of our generation... "MORTAL KOMBAAAAAAAAT!!!"
