PS3 Demo Review: Mortal Kombat

The Mortal Kombat Demo hit the Playstation Store on PSN for everybody yesterday.  And let me just go on record to say: "THANK YOU!".  Ok, that's out of my system now.  So, if you haven't played it yet; you may be asking, "What's so great about another Mortal Kombat game?".  You're answer is in the question.  It is a Mortal Kombat title!

Mortal Kombat was introduced to the world back in October of 1992, and has spun off numerous subsequent titles, a television series and several movies; and let's not forget the cartoon (ok, the tv series/movies/and cartoons all left a lot to be desired).  But nonetheless, the franchise has been able to retain it's popularity.  Gamer's have been pretty well been catered to throughout the years as well.  When the world cried out for a great fighting game, we were giving Mortal Kombat.  When the world said they wanted more 3 dimensional fighting games, we got a Mortal Kombat set in 3D arenas.   And with the newest incarnation, we are taken back to the basics.  The game is once again back to it's 2D side fighting action that we have come to love from the franchise.  Let's be honest, the 3D arenas weren't really that great.  The real joy of this game is that we get to play as our favorite MK fighters, but with updated costumes, moves, and even the classic stages (The Pit and The Forrest both look stunning in the demo).

In the demo gamer's can select one of four fighters to play as.  We have access to Scorpion, Sub-Zero, Mileena, and Johnny Cage.  Each fighter has their own entrance cutscene before each fight.  There are only two stages playable in the demo: The Pit and The Forest.  Both are rendered in stunning detail.  Likewise, both stages have their own stage fatality.  The Pit's stage fatality is the classic uppercut off the bridge.  You enemy will fly up in the air, off the bridge and be impaled on the spikes below.  The Forest's stage fatality involves throwing your enemy in the mouth of one of the trees in the background.  True to Mortal Kombat form, the violence is as  heavy as ever.  With gallons of blood being shed during each fight.  The controls are pretty much the same as they ever were.  A couple of buttons perform kicks and punches, there is a grab button, and then a series of special moves.

Speaking of special moves, back in the day we had game guides or strategy guides that would outline each of the special moves and fatalities for every fighter in the game.  Now, simply pause the game and go into the 'Moves' menu, find the move you want and see the button combination for that move.  Nice touch.  Most of the classic moves are back, from Scorpion's Spear to Johnny Cage's Nut Punch; there is plenty to enjoy this time around.

New to the series are the X-Ray moves.  These new X-Ray moves will deplete the bar of built up energy at the bottom of the screen (this energy bar allows you to pull of super moves and attacks).  Once you have built up enough energy, simply press the button combination for the X-Ray move (usually L2 + R2) and your fighter will blur a little before the background turns black.  Your fighter will then execute a rather painful looking combo upon the enemy in which the camera shows an X-Ray view of what that attack is doing to their internal organs and bone structure.  Insanely violent, pretty gross looking, but awesome at the same time.

The gameplay in the demo is limited to a single Ladder (which consists of 4 fights and teases a Goro encounter).  The actual gameplay is sharp and responsive and the graphics/character design is absolutely gorgeous.  I am not a big fan of paying full retail for a new game, but I will make an exception for this title when it's released.  And when you complete the ladder in the demo you will be treated to some nice video footage of the final game which shows more X-Ray moves, stages, and fighters (see below the jump for more info on that).

***Spoilers Below***
Do Not Read if you want to complete the demo first to see for yourself.  If you don't care, keep reading.

When you complete the demo you get to see a kind of fuzzy shot of Shao Kahn's throne with the words "Kombat Kontinues" infront of it.  Then sit back and enjoy the video.  The video shows several more fighters than what we know have been released.  It shows Sonya, Stryker, Sindel, Cyrax, Sektor, Nightwolf, Shang Tsung, Reptile, Kitana, Jade, Lui Kang, Kung Lao, Ermac, and yes; Kratos!  It also shows a selection of stages that look very familiar from Ultimate MK3 all rendered in gorgeous 3D.  We get to see what appears to be some stage fatalites which include, a scene from the street stage where Cyrax is standing in the background as a car speeds toward an injured Lui Kang.  It proceeds to run him over, and we get an X-Ray view of his skull cracking and his headless body falling down to the street.  The second noticeable stage fatality shown I can only assume is in Scorpion's Lair, where Scorpion can be scene holding Sub-Zero's head into a puddle of lava, and when Sub-Zero's head comes up out of the puddle his face has been burned off showing his skull with lava dripping from the eye sockets.

Also showing off all new "Test Your Might" levels, minigames and unlockables.  I also believe I overheard some chatter about online play as well.  I absolutely can't wait for this to hit the streets.