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Game Reviews
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Review: Mortal Kombat 1
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| Reviewer: Vladimir Legkostup
Date: 03/04/2002 |
Mortal Kombat
Mortal Kombat-part 1. The beginning. A masterpiece of a genius that became the base of a great universe with millions of inhabitants. Did the authors of the game guessed about the star popularity waiting for their creation? I think they did just a partly. Even the most talented manager hardly can forecast such a success.
What made gamers go crazy with Mortal Kombat?
At the moment when MK1 appeared in the arcades there already existed enough fightings rather popular among the gamers. But the problem was that all of them represented the same kind of drawn fighting games with very impressive but completely cartoon characters and the alike gameplay. (Street Fighter 2 and Fatal Fury, Burning Fight and Final Fight, etc.)
Even after the appearance of SF2, fighting games were treated as something unserious, not worth paying attention on the side of large companies or advanced programmers.
Mortal Kombat brought completely unique style in everything-starting from the design of fighters and the process of fighting and ending in charming music with traditional oriental motives. Apparently there was no greater revolution in the history of videogames, because it was Mortal Kombat that put fighting genre on the same level with other genres. It made bosses of the game world realize that single kombats could bring even larger income than RPGs, Quests and Strategies.
Kombatants were shocking real, making complete illusion of interactive movie in which the main role was given to the player! Each character got his/her unique special moves, very fresh as for their conception and at the same time limited enough, not allowing to turn the mortal kombat into a commonplace skirmish using magic and improvised means.
The control in MK1 is as revolutionary as the gameplay and the graphic. Amazingly exact and sensitive, it made a new standart. Just remember how difficult and inconvenient it was to throw fireballs in SF2 and to perform combos in Fatal Fury. In attempts to finish off the rival most showy, the gamers very often yelded to the rival who was satisfied with any victory.
But when MK1 appeared the problems of control vanished almost fully. Having due experience even such complicated personages as Kano are directed easily, reacting upon given commands at once. Moreover, Mortal Kombat was the first to demonstrate the separate button for a block. Earlier in all fightings one had to clutch and hold "back" to make a block, that lead to losing one's bearing and made additional difficulties.
And of course you cant avoid mentioning Fatality! They apparently occured to the authors after watching one of the movies about fightings without rules. Really, why not give the opportunity to mock at a defeated enemy, it's so funny and real :) Frankly speaking, i start worrying about the mental balance of mk-team. At the extent of the serial existance they invented enormous number of purely sadistic scenes of violence. And though nowadays finishing off is an insperable part of MK, in remote 1993 it excited the great scandal which was finished only within the precincts of the US Parlament. As a result, in home versions it was necessary to hide the most striking violence under special code which was luckily brocken soon by hackers. :)
But all the brawls and troubles were of use for Mortal Kombat universe, sacrificing new fans to it, which waited for the continuation of the story about Elder Gods, chosen warriors and forces of darkness. Well, we have what we want till this very moment, and, for God's sake, let the great war be finished not soon!
Vladimir Legkostup a.k.a Vladirus |
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