Mortal Kombat: 2010

What is Mortal Kombat?:

Mortal Kombat is a top selling fighting game series created in 1992 by Midway games (which was recently sold to warner bros)

The History:

1992

The first Mortal Kombat game was created for the arcades in 1992 by Ed Boon and John Tobias the production of the first game took about 8 months according to the co creator Ed Boon the game was made by just four people.

The Controversy:

Mortal Kombat was one of many violent video games that came into prominence between 1992-1993, generating controversy among parents and public officials. The games violence resulted in the creation of the ESRB this meant that a ll video games would be labled with an approiate age group on them. What caused the most controversy in the game was not just the blood that was spilled during the fight but the signature finishing move at the end of the fight known as a "Fatality" , An example of a Fatality can be seen in the clip below:

The Secrets and Easter E ggs:
The game was not only known for just the violence, there were also secrets and Easter eggs added to the game the most popular being the hidden ninja character reptile, in which you could activate a fight between by following messages that come up in the screen during a fight if you follow them all correctly the fight will take place,

1993

A year had now past since the release of the original Mortal Kombat and fans were eager to see what the sequel had to offer. The art style went towards a more dark direction. The gameplay was simmilar to the first with more normal moves added such as punches and kicks there were also more special moves added, every character now also had two fatalitlys whereas the last

game only had one there were also new finishing moves added although they were not violent like fatalitys they added humor to the game they were known

as "Friendships" and "Babalitys"

Hidden Characters:

Mortal Kombat II contained three new hidden characters Jade, Noob saibot and Smoke these characters were unplayable but were later made playable in newer titles.

1995:

1995 saw the release of Mortal Kombat III , it offered a diverse

cast of characters, crisp graphics and a good combo system. The general style of the game feels alot different unlike the other two previous games Mortal Kombat III has arenas set in modern locations such as a street and subway.

New Characters:

The game introduced new diverse characters that consisted of cyborgs cyrax and sektor a Native American shaman named Nightwolf, a cop named Stryker and more.

1997

1997 was a big year for Mortal Kombat not only would it be the last Mortal Kombat to be released in the arcades it would also be the first step to 3d.

The character models were no longer digitized actors and were now 3d models.

Mortal Kombat 4 is played in a similar way to the previous titles from the series. It introduces weapons and also an almost completely new move-list for each character. Side stepping was also added allowing the character to move around the arena more .

Downfall 1998-2002
Between these years the series had began to suffer al though Mortal Kombat IV had been a success, the franchise began t o suffer from failed spin offs and TV appearances which had received mediocre reviews, this made the series seem as if

it was losing its touch.

2002

In 2002 Mortal Kombat made its return with Mortal Kombat Deadly Alliance. This was the game that resurrected the series from the downfall it was in for a few years. Deadly Alliance was the first all-new Mortal Kombat fighting game produced exclusively for home consoles, with no preceding arcade release.The game played very differently from the previous titles by adding 3 fighting stances per character including a weapon for each character. There was also a tutorial mode added known as konquest and The krypt which contained a ton of unlockable features that could be purchased with koins earned in game.

2004

2004 saw the release of the sixth title titled Mortal Kombat Deception.Twenty-six characters are available to play in the game, with nine making their first appearance in the series.

Game modes

Deception was full of new game modes such as mini games puzzle kombat and chess kombat, it also contains an improved konquest mode which plays as a mini adventure game which tells the story of the game exploring the history with the new character Shujinko.

Gameplay
the game plays similarly to Deadly Alliance, but adds new features such as unique weapons which players can use, and instant-death traps, The game also introduces the Combo Breaker

which could break combos up to three times a match. A new finishing move was also added in that the losing player could preform on themseleves at the end of the fight known as a "Hara-Kiri" which is basically a suicide move like shown below:

2006

2006 saw the release of Mortal Kombat Armageddon the final game to be released on the last gen consles. The game was to be full of content containing over 60 characters including every character from the previous titles into the one

game.

Gameplay:
The game plays similarly to the past 3d titles expect this time every character only has 2 stances to chose from one martial arts and one weapon. Air kombat was added allowing you to land a few hits while the opponent was in mid air. Fatality's worked differently in this game instead of having to press a button combination and watch the fatality, it was replaced with a kreate a fatality feature which chained 11 mini combos such as punches and kicks , ripping off limbs and a finial fatal ending move, the combos were to be pressed while a timer went down starting slow at 1 and becoming more difficult up to 11.

New features

The game included new features such as a new

style of Konquest which played similar to the spin off title Shaolin Monks it also included Motor Kombat a kart racing mini game and a Kreate a Fighter option. The kreate a Fighter offered alot of options from looks, moves and even back-story.

2008

We now come to the most recent Mortal Kombat title released in late 2008 titled Mortal Kombat vs Dc Universe.

The Reaction

When the game was first announced it came as quite a shock to fans not only because of the game being a cross over but also the fact that it would be the first ever T rated Mortal Kombat meaning that the bloody fatalities that were a signature feature in past games would still be in this title but what be toned down in order to fit for a teenage audience.

Gamemodes

The game features a story mode, playable from two different perspectives, one from the "DC Universe" side, and one from the Mortal Kombat side. Depending on which side players choose, they will see the characters from the opposite universe as the invaders of their own. It also features a Kombo challenge mode which gives each character a list of difficult combos to preform.

Gameplay
The stances from the previous 3d games have been dropped and new features such as Free-Fall Kombat and klose kombat have been added Free-Fall kombat is activated while falling from one part of the arena to the other and having the ability to continue fighting the other player can also guess what button you will press if timed correctly he will counter you, klose kombat also works similar in that it relies on guessing what to press ,Fatality's returned for every Mortal Kombat character and Dc villain, although the supper hero's got 'Heroic Brutalities' which were like Fatality's only they did not kill the opponent. An example can of an heroic brutality can be seen below.