Mortal Kombat

This was one of the few games that gave the then-very-popular Street Fighter II video game some competition, and it tried to better that classic by not only including real digitised martial arts fighters, but by putting in some really gory bits.

Just punching someone's head in repeatedly causes liquid crimson to spurt from their face in ridiculously high amounts, and when you had one two bouts out of three against your opponent you had the option (if you knew how) to perform a fatality that would actually kill your opponent in some rather horrible way.

As usual with this kind of game, every single character has a special move (the best ones were Scorpion's harpoon and Sub-Zero's freezing move that froze his opponent rigid for a short time, leaving him/her open to an attack); otherwise, all characters had much the same set of punches and kicks.

While the graphic violence (which probably started the video game rating system) is amusing for a little while, it hides a less-euphoric truth; there's not really much to all of this, and once you've seen the fatalities a few times it's doubtful you'll bother much with them (or even the game) anymore.

It was in 1993 when I got my first taste of gratuitous bloodshed and dazzling martial arts action in the form of the greatest 2-D fighting game ever created: "Mortal Kombat." "Kombat," as envisioned by creator/programmers Ed Boon and John Tobias, revolutionized martial arts video gaming with this awesome fighter. It also sparked an unprecedented controversy for its violence, something that would only help to further ensure its success, not defer it.

In "Mortal Kombat," we're introduced to the fighters, who include monk Liu Kang, martial arts movie star Johnny Cage, Special Forces agent Sonya Blade, Lord Rayden the god of thunder, shape-shifting sorcerer Shang Tsung, terrorist Kano, rival ninjas Sub-Zero and Scorpion, Shang Tsung's guardian Reptile, and the four-armed Goro.

"Kombat" received the big screen treatment in 1995 with British director Paul W.S. Anderson behind the camera; that movie was plain awesome, but unfortunately suffers from a bad reputation because of a horrible, disjointed sequel, "Mortal Kombat: Annihilation" (1997).

The series of games have gotten a better reputation over the years, especially with the release of two new advanced "Kombat" games, "Deadly Alliance" and "Deception," and a third - the upcoming "Shaolin Monks" - each of which takes full advantage of a revamped fighting engine.

The violence is shocking, the fights are brutal, and the blood flies but the martial arts action suffices over all of it. Though it's progressed significantly since 1992, the original hasn't lost any flare. The game that started it all, "Mortal Kombat."

10/10

Mortal Kombat was released at a time in which every other fighting video game was an utter rip off of Street Fighter 2. Street Fighter 2 for a long time remained the only fighting game worth having a tournament for. But then in 1992, Mortal Kombat was released. By today's standards the game lacks depth, but back then it was completely original and fresh. Never before have we seen a fighting game with such creative attacks, a block button, and balance from the fact that all characters had the exact same set of normal attacks.

I'm sure anybody who plays video games remembers the controversy that Mortal Kombat started. It was a shame that the game was so violent, because it completely distracted from what made Mortal Kombat good. There were plenty of players who liked the game because it more adult, but there were a large number of tournament players who actually enjoyed the challenge.

Today, here in the USA great games like Guilty Gear XX#R do not have an official American arcade release. Fighting games simply didn't take off too well in this country.

"Mortal Kombat"("MK") and "Street Fighter"("SF") were the two biggest games on the arena of fighting-games back in the early 1990`s. Most people preferred the SF-series, but I always preferred MK because of the graphics, gameplay and not to mention the extreme violence. The first MK remains playable today and a classic, but it has been bettered by superb sequels.

8/10

As a young kid, mortal kombat was just about the most incredible game in the history of the world ever ! Nothing could touch it !The digitised graphics , while done before were executed well and the characters were so dark, menacing and vivid that they made other video game characters look like wimps.

And in addition to the then amazing look of the game there were moves that allowed you to actually kill your opponent ! Streetfighter never went that far ! It was all too exciting. "Greatest game ever!" i squealed at the time.

Now I'm old and wise , mortal kombat doesn't do it for me no more- time has revealed its mediocre nature.The characters are still inspired, but the game play is jerky, and the difficulty level can get insanely hard . The music is bland and quickly gets annoying while the combos and moves never come out as smooth as streetfighter 2 , MKs one time rival.

Its funny how time can change things.