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This post is sponsored by the World Wildlife Fund
Mortal Kombat 4 Thoughts and Review
So as the nineties moved towards the later end of their existence, it seemed like Mortal Kombat had reached it zenith. The third game's story seemed to wrap up the major conflict of the series, that being making sure Outworld and Shao Kahn did not claim Earth. A fourth game was speculated but what would it even be about if such a game were to be released? Not to mention more advanced fighting games were starting to be produced and the 2D digitized sprites of the Mortal Kombat franchise seemed dated. It looked like Mortal Kombat had done all it needed to do.
Well, leave it to Midway to throw us a curveball. Not only were we getting a fourth entry but it's going to be in 3D?!? Let the speculating begin!
The article in the above screenshots gave just enough to let us know what we were getting into, but left enough to the imagination to get us all talking. Who would be returning? Who would be among the new crop of fighters? How would it continue the mythology of the series? The other wrinkle was that the Sub-Zero game was being developed at the same time. It looked like Mortal Kombat was going to get a nice little jump start to silence the talk that the series was getting stale.
Personally, I love this game. Again, I didn't concern myself with who was being excluded and I was more interested in what was being brought to the table as far as new features went. Thankfully, the game played more like the older titles and didn't handle like some other 3D games like Tekken or Battle Arena Toshinden. Things felt smooth and the only new things to get a handle on were the sidestepping and the weapon mechanics. Getting to use weapons was pretty cool but a lot of them don't make sense. Why does Sonya use a bladed pinwheel? How come Scorpion's sword isn't a katana? Raiden using a hammer and Noob Saibot rocking a scythe was pretty awesome, though.
Graphically, things looked great. I love how Sonya FINALLY looks a fucking military officer. Reptile was looking more and more like he should. Getting to see fatalities in 3D glory was also a bonus, Scorpion's fatalities in particular. I don't think the environments were as memorable as the other games. They just seemed kind of "meh". I also can't really recall as many tunes as I can with the older games. Shinnok's status as the main antagonist wasn't really taken as far as it could've gone. Thankfully, they fixed that years later with Mortal Kombat X. Nonetheless, none of the drawbacks stopped me from playing this fucker almost endlessly. I remember taking the Nintendo 64 version to school with me and any time we would have a free period, I hooked that sucker up and would pass the controllers around. I had a 90+ win streak this one time. I seemed to have a better grasp on this game than any of the other titles.
I know this game didn't hit bullseyes with a lot of people and most see it as either a bridge into the titles we got in the early 2000s or an example of how the franchise was losing its luster. Mortal Kombat: Annihilation certainly didn't help matters. The main conflict of the game didn't really mean much in the overall scheme of things, either. Only the stuff with Quan Chi and Scorpion really seemed to matter as Deadly Alliance kind of picked up on that thread. It's still an interesting curiosity as the last mainline entry of the 90s.
My main character: Quan Chi takes the mantle here, although Sub-Zero and Reiko weren't that far behind.
Best Fatality: Quan Chi's Leg Rip. I mean, come on, it's hilarious as fuck. Imagine being in the afterlife and everyone's swapping stories about how they ended up there and you have to be poor fuck who tells everyone you got beaten to death with your own leg.
Worst Fatality: There are some really nonsensical ones like both Tanya's and Sonya's respective Kisses of Death but I have to give this "award" to Jarek's Eye Laser. I was never a fan of turning Kano's eye thing into a cybernetic weapon but it would've at least made sense if Kano was the one doing it in this game. It's never explained why Jarek has this ability and on top of it, when it's all over he just does his stupid pose and the lasers are still on. Like, WTF?
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