Sega Mega Drive: Mortal Kombat III

Year: 1995
Genre: Beat ‘em up
Players: 2
Our Rating: 7/10

Mini Review

Mortal Kombat III revisited the beat ‘em up blood fest genre it helped propagate in its previous editions. The game boast more characters, more blood, more combos, more special moves and finishing moves. The game also offers a new password system at the start of each battle. If you are quick on the joypad you can enter special combinations of symbols to unlock special characters and modifiers. The game play itself remains consistent to its predecessor.

The ever faithful uppercut is a reoccurring favorite move, especially if used as part of a combo. The main mode will see you going round after round with the cast, ranging from elemental ninjas to robots. By this time in the series it was fully self aware. The shock value of the original game barely registers as the series developed. Instead the developers took the 2D franchise down the “larger than life” pantomime route. I for one am glad that they did as a straight shock fest would have little impact on a third outing. Although the game is ridiculously bloody it’s the comedy that you notice first in the finishing moves. Finishing moves such as Cyrax dropping tones of grenades and Scorpions fire deaths are a joy to relive. Overall Mortal Kombat III is about as good as the concept will allow it to be. It’s full of energy and has a strong game identity. Personally I like this edition of the game but I perhaps choose to overlook some of it’s limitations.

Sega Mega Drive: Mortal Kombat II

Year: 1993
Genre: Beat ‘em up
Players: 2
Our Rating: 7/10

Mini Review

Mortal Kombat II: The second outing of the popular and brutally violent series. The premise of Mortal Kombat is unchanged. You must win the tournament to secure the safety of the world. The first game laid down some good foundations for it’s sequel, it’s obvious that the team went back and kept the original larger than life feel of the game and exaggerated it even more. The character selection has been greatly extended with additions such as Baraka, Reptile, Kung Lao, Kitana, Jaxx and Melina.

The arenas themselves have been upgraded a knotch too, some with multi-platform reached by an uppercut, others with background animations to breathe a bit of life in the atmosphere. Perhaps the biggest change/improvement of the game though is the characters themselves. Whilst still a little stiff at times the animations and controls seem a little smoother and easier to get used to making this game much more enjoyable than the first. Each character has a range of in fight special moves. The characters each have their own Fatality, Friendship, Animality and Babality finishing moves too. There’s plenty here to learn and there is excellent replay value in mastering the finishing moves. Some of the most frustrating aspects of this game are the boss fights. Kintaro in particular seems to just be making fun of the learning curve. His teleport stomp must be one of the most annoying moves in beat ‘em up history. Overall though Mortal Kombat II is a solid fighting game, As is usually the case, the two player option is by far the most fun. If you haven’t played this game before it is worth a trial.

Sega Mega Drive: Mortal Kombat

Year: 1992
Genre: Beat ‘em up
Players: 2
Our Rating: 6/10

Mini Review

Mortal Kombat: The game that glorified graphic violence, digitised animation and atrocious spelling. The Mega Drive version is a fair representation of the game although the aficionados will no doubt tell me that they miss the bonus round in the Amiga version or the use of a superior sound chip in the SNES.

After this many years there’s really nothing new that anyone can tell you about the franchise. This simple game escalated in to dozens of sequels, movies, TV series, cartoons, action figures and game crossovers. This is a game that gained recognition through shock value alone. Back in the ‘90s video games were blamed from everything from teen smoking to creating a generation of mass murderers. Every few years it becomes big news, the question “Are violent video games bad for our children?”, the question will never die. Personally I’ve never seen any 12 year old turn in to a dragon and decapitate a lightning God in real life. This first outing seems horribly dated to play, the controls are so stiff I was amazed when I had a recent replay. The game is one that I don’t often return to as all of its sequels offer something a little more. In terms of nostalgia value though the memories of “Finish Him” followed by that chaotic moment of button mashing to get Sub-Zero to rip out someone’s head and spinal column are priceless. You’ve probably stumbled upon this page hoping to read a positive review of a classic. It’s true that the game has much notoriety. However, I would recommend checking out Mortal Kombat II and Mortal Kombat III if you do need a retro gore fest.