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Review: Mortal Kombat 4 (Rev 2.0) |
At the arcade there are basically two types of individuals. One being your die hard Street Fighter gameplay fanatics and the other being Tekken-like 3D luscious game beasts. Now somewhere in between lays a huge group of Mortal Kombat aficionados, and is this groups that often becomes blasted with insults about its game.
So here I am, after playing hours of Mortal Kombat 4 [for the record: Revision 2.0] and I feel kind of weird (please save your jokes until the end). When I walked into the arcade I can honestly tell you that I was expecting Mortal Kombat heaven. I am a big Mortal Kombat fanatic for two reasons: 1. Great storyline and 2. Scorpion. Well as I was saying, as I entered the arcade I was expecting the greatest Mortal Kombat game to ever be conceived out of geniuses at Midway (and I use the term loosely) and what I received was something in between. MK4 did not blow me away (again save your jokes for later) nor did it really disappoint me. Allow me to explain.
Graphically Mortal Kombat 4 is nowhere as beautifully crafted as Tekken 3 (not to even mention the AM3 behemoth, Virtua Fighter 3). Although the characters pace themselves perfectly on-screen, there are some polygon breakouts during the fight. The fatalities although bloody, are nowhere near as exciting as Mortal Kombat II’s. Continuing on the issue of graphics, Mortal Kombat does boast some very interesting backgrounds. As far as originality is concern, Mortal Kombat 4 backgrounds suffer from “lets go back to Mortal Kombat II, get the backgrounds, and place them on a 3 dimensional plane.” And as pathetic as this may sound… it sure worked for me. Both Goro’s Lair and The Living Forest shone in beautiful 3 Dimensional detail. Just to wonder around in the level in all its 3D beauty literally enchanted me. A Mortal Kombat buff? Maybe. A Mortal Kombat II play-till-you-die fan? Sure as hell!
Anyhow, for once the characters in Mortal Kombat 4 are not swap palettes, but I will reserve further comments when Revision 3.0 arrives at the arcades in a couple of weeks (or months) with hidden characters and all. Scorpion never looked so good with an incredibly macrabe mask. Sub Zero returns with a similar Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 mask. Jax, my second favorite character from Mortal Kombat as a whole, looks smoother than ever, goat-T and everything. Sonya looks sexier and Liu Kang and Johnny Cage look much more buffed up. Shinnok and Kai look like hardcore Mortal Kombat 4 material, but where in God’s name is my Kung Lao?
The introduction for Mortal Kombat 4 is excellent. Raiden stands in the rain as the water washes over his hat. He speaks with a God-like voice that sends chills down your spine (careful with Sub, you just might lose it). Which reminds me of some of the new backgrounds.
Among all the backgrounds I was able to see over the period of time I have played MK4, Raiden’s is by far the one that left me in awe. As lightning crashes over the mountains you battle on what looks to be a dojo. The floor is covered with stone and on four corners of this octagon you find small pillars. Im a sucker for detail.
As we embark ourselves deeper into the netherealm we come into the sound and music department in Mortal Kombat 4 and its here where you experience one of the biggest strengths in the game. As far as the sound effects are concerned, this game IS Mortal Kombat. The trademark “Fatality” shout by the announcer still gives you a sense of victory that is unsurpassed by any other game. “Flawless Victory”, “Excellent” as well as “Come Here!” are back in this 3D brawler. In addition, the introduction is narrated by Raiden at the beginning of the game, and you certainly must hear it. Another nice touch by Midway was the addition of a “What are you waiting for?” remark when you place in your quarter and do not press the START button for about five seconds. Yeah I know, who cares. I found that to be rather humorous and useful when you are playing some of those people that are usually waiting eons to press START. Musically, Mortal Kombat 4 succeeds where Mortal Kombat 3 (and UMK3) failed. Mortal Kombat 4 contains some great gothic tracks and the track which plays in Raiden’s level is right down perfect. I have to give credit to the creators of Mortal Kombat 4 for the Mortal Kombat 4 music. How about a soundtrack guys?
MK4 contains the rather popular MK gameplay. You still have your Run, High Punch, Low Punch, Block, High Kick, Low Kick controller (err joystick) set up. All moves are performed via tapped combinations and the Run button allows you to do just that, Run. In addition, the Run button now plays the role of the 3D movement. Press the button twice and your character will side step to the front. Press down and Run twice and your character will side step to the background. Your character also has its arsenal of special moves which will bring a great sense of Deja Vu to the player. All of the original character still have the same moves they had in previous Mortal Kombat games. A sign of relief? Maybe. Im sure as hell glad Scorpion retained his spear move.
I did find a few signs of glitching in the game however. For starters there is foreground obstruction in most of the levels. At times the whole screen will be blocked by a some unknown object. This leads to a depressing button smashing sequence and may the best button smasher win! In addition, combos executed on the opponent sometimes leave the character just standing there doing absolutely nothing. Say that you are Raiden and you are performing a combo on Johnny Cage. You start your combo and the opponent only has 10% of life left. When that number reaches 0% you can not continue the combo at times. I find this rather annoying because I feel satisfied only when Im allowed to finish a combo regardless of their lifeline. Some other glitches include: polygon breakouts and poor hit detection. For example, I was playing as Scorpion and executed a jump kick very far from my opponent. For some odd reason I hit the opponent in mid air (he never jumped) and drained 70 some percent of his life. More power to me I guess. Another annoying glitch was Scorpion’s insane Spear, Punch, Punch, Spear combo. Now, Im no genius but I believe Midway made some error in the programming. The computer controlled Scorpion perform the spear move continuously. A good 98% combo… I certainly did not find that funny.
In all, Mortal Kombat 4 brings Mortal Kombat II to new levels of fun. Mortal Kombat III was a step down, I believe Mortal Kombat IV is a step up it its own ways. Sure, the game may not be as revolutionary as Tekken 3 or Virtua Fighter 3, but it is a hell of a lot of fun. And that my friends is what really counts. Whether you like it or not, Mortal Kombat 4 is a great game in its own right and that much credit has to be given. Come Revision 3.0 some of these glitches would be worked out and more characters hopefully added. Wherever you see a big crowd in the arcade, walk, better yet run towards it, Mortal Kombat 4 is just a few feet away.
