Fighting Games Can Learn From Mortal Kombat

Written by Erik Kubik, kube00 Monday, 14 May 2012 06:00

The latest Mortal Kombat was released last year. I was shocked by the game and based on my review, the game was nothing short of amazing! Mortal Kombat had really fallen on dark times before this semi-reboot. Other fighting games could learn from MK’s success.

One of the biggest things I realized with Mortal Kombat is that many of my friends and people in general, who haven't played fighting games for years or consider themselves stereotypical gamers, went and purchased MK. Many of us loved the series in the arcade and on the Genesis/SNES and we’re excited to play Mortal Kombat again. There is a lot of content to the game, including 27 characters who appeared in several of the original games.

There is a long and in-depth single player story. I enjoyed every cutscene and twist. Most fighting games have gamers run through the Arcade mode a few times, fight 1-2 bosses and that’s it. From there, it's off to try the time trial mode or challenge people online. For those who are terrible at sparring against other players will be happy to play through the lengthy and challenging story mode. Again, if other fighting games tried this they might be able to expand their audience and sell more copies. Who knows maybe Marvel vs. Capcom 3 could triple its sales? King of Fighters could have an in-depth story told from several characters point of view.

Mortal Kombat also features the Challenge Tower, which offers 100s of events that players must get through. Some of them require fighting upside down, taking on multiple opponents, fighting with no arms, testing your luck/might, etc. This reminded me a lot of Soul Calibur’s Missions Mode. Players can spend the coins they make in the game unlocking additional content, whether it is artwork, fatalities, more levels, or costumes. There is also a tag team mode and a practice mode for working on fatalities.

There is a lot to the game which makes it well worth a purchase. There’s nothing about the game that feels like a gimmick. Nothing feels recycled, there is a not an ultimate edition which has 2 new characters and a new mode. The game has sold several million copies and received a ton of praise from critics and gamers alike. So many games from this genre use the same thing every year and looking back at Mortal Kombat Gold, 3, and a few others, this series is guilty of that as well. Overall, Mortal Kombat is well made, there are tons of great characters and in-game cutscenes to keep the story interesting. This was one fighting game I actually wanted to finish and keep playing. Mortal Kombat just might be the best fighting game of this generation. Maybe its time Capcom did this to DarkStalkers or Namco to Tekken.