Mortal Kombat: Komplete Edition (PC) Review

 (Originally posted on April, 2017)

(2013, PC)

If you spent any time in the arcades of the early 90s, it was easy to get pulled into the blood-drenched mania of the Mortal Kombat series. The games weren’t exactly masterpieces of coding or design, but seeing real life actors digitized into a fighter (along with the unprecedented violence!) created a huge buzz. Most importantly, at a younger age, much of the fun was in getting involved in something that’s certainly naughty, but not exactly bad. With the many gruesome moves and the rare occasion that someone could beat the final boss to show off an ending, spectating provided just as much entertainment as the nearby Street Fighter 2 or Ninja Turtles cabinets. By late ‘96, the deluge of Mortal Kombat 3 revisions finally began to wear thin. Not just fighters, but all genres were taking off in exciting directions with the polygonal power of the new systems. Years later, the increasingly wacky 3D Mortal Kombats of the 2000s were easily shown up by the fresher, more shocking Grand Theft Autos and First Person Shooters of the day. After a long period of awkward, often indistinguishable 3D fighters, the series finally back to basics with a 2.5D reboot of the original trilogy had an undeniable appeal. Since the announcement of ‘MK (2011)’, it was easy to recall Mortal Kombat at its best…all the cool characters, copying moves and codes from magazines or AOL, arguing over made up rumors…and of course, delighting at the FATALITIES!

Not content with just cashing in on nostalgia, the developers of Mortal Kombat: Komplete Edition took a serious stab at creating a deep and competitive fighter. Appearing like the Mortal Kombat of old on the surface, you’ll quickly discover it humbly borrows from the modern mechanics of the competition: larger move lists, EX moves, super meters, combo breakers, tag transitions and more. Never forgetting its past, the emphasis on brutality and general feel of the controls and physics (particularly the speedy, weightless jumping) is just as you remember. Completing the 16 chapter Story mode and casually playing the regular Arcade mode with each character, I admit to leaving much of the game’s depth and features unexplored. Looking for little more than the 90s arcade experience, I hardly even touched the various special challenge modes, tag modes and the bonus crypt that’s buried with hundreds of pieces of unlockable art, music, codes, etc.

Over several hours, the Story mode impressively retells the events of 1-3 and is great entertainment for returning fans in particular. Switching from one fighter to the next, you’ll first participate in the cheesy, Hong Kong film style tournament of the first game, infiltrate the gloomy but alluring Outworld, then finally save what’s left of the Earth. Besides all the visits to many of the old locations (and some new), I particularly enjoyed the sub-plot of the rivaling clans. Only described in original trilogy with vague, static screens, a generous use of cut scenes do a much better job of fleshing out the story of Liu-Kang, Scorpion, Sub-Zero, Cyrax, Sector and Kung-Lao and others. Even the previously forgettable or awkward characters like Ermac, Nightwolf and Striker fit in with more cohesiveness and purpose in this retelling. My only complaint is that unlike the surprisingly enjoyable 1995 film, the over the top, often comical violence instead comes off as too harsh and will put off many players. In the Arcade mode, the bosses are still infamously tough during hand-to-hand combat, even on beginner difficulty, as they lack a mid-attack stunned state and can always swat you away. There’s still a way around the likes of Goro and Shao Kang, as they're quite vulnerable to projectile spamming, to the point they can be toppled by novices. However you take out the bosses, it’s worth the effort, as each member of the 30+ cast has an impressive 2D ending: drawn with a rich use of color, read with an epic MK-style voice over and often taking a bizarre, but never dull twist. Throughout the rest of the tournament, if you don’t execute one of the multiple fatalities at your disposal, each character has a rather dynamic, well thought out winning animation worth repeated looks.

Remember fighting outside in front of all the monks, or the corrosive slime of the “Deadpool”? Many of the classic stages from the original trilogy return, now with far more detail and life breathed into them. ‘The Forest’ looks creepier than ever as fog envelops its depths. Snakes, flies and other insects gather over dead (?) bodies as the mischievous notes of a frightening wooden flute play from an unknown source. ‘The Pit II’ is even more otherworldly with lightning filled clouds, threatening mountain peaks and billowing volcanoes. New stages include a gorgeous temple garden (one of the few inviting areas) and Shang Tsung’s gruesome laboratory. The music is inclined towards an orchestral style of loud tubas, drums, tambourines and occasional electric guitar and Asian instruments, all doing their best to build an atmosphere of intense high stakes battle. The remixes of past themes made me miss the soundtracks of 2 and 3 in particular, which, even if sounding abrasive upon release, still had more distinction and ambience than the competent, yet unremarkable soundtrack of this game.

As a kid I loved the mischief of all the low res (yet shockingly real at the time) violence, but here it’s often too gratuitous, sometimes feeling more like an active detriment than the game’s main draw. The often disturbing facial disfiguration during arcade mode doesn’t appear to have an off-setting. The comical gore and absurdity of the fatalities are overshadowed by the cringe inducing believability of the “X-Ray moves.” A number of scenes in the Story mode go from fun and games to a depressing degree of macabre. I don’t think the older Mortal Kombats are any worse than a scary movie, but I would certainly be uncomfortable with the idea of a 9 year old playing this one.

If you have the stomach for it, the 2011 reboot of Mortal Kombat and its DLC-included ‘Komplete Edition’ is a solid throwback to the series of old that also comes closer than ever to being a viable, competitive fighter. Ironically, while it finally gets the gameplay right, it goes so far with the violence that it’s often more distasteful than giggle inducing. Or maybe I’ve just become squeamish with age and play too many Nintendo games! I'm not exactly in a rush to buy this game’s sequel, but as someone eternally nostalgic for the 90s, Mortal Kombat: Komplete Edition was worth dipping my toes back into the acid and flames.