Skeptical, yet hopeful. That's what I always was about MK 9. Those of
you who know me will know that I've been an MK fan for a long time,
until the more recent games. I liked them at first, but when I
started getting deeper into the fighting game sceen, I realized why a
lot of people didn't like them compared to other fighters or even the
older MK games. I had the chance to play it briefly today, only for
about 2 hours... but I got the general drift, and this short review
will give the impressions I got. I don't have the game yet myself..
but when I do, more detail will be forthcoming!
Gameplay:
This is a bit of an interesting point. I didn't like MK Vs. DC. The
controls felt very sluggish, and the combos just didn't cooperate...
and there were a lot of glitches I found playing against other
fighting game players, as well as a lot of infinites. When I played
MK 9, I actually initially didn't like the engine all that much. I
found the combo timing way too lenient... you could press three
buttons in rapid succession and have the third hit of the combo half
a second later, which means the controls are not in sync with the hit
animations and attacks. But after a while, you got used to it... and
it became more of a challenge to not press them to quickly in case
your opponent was blocking. In that case, you got punished because
they blocked your attack andcountered while you were still halfway
through the combo. Characters this time did feel quite different to
me, which is something I've wanted in an MK game for a long time.
Subtle things like uppercuts having different properties for
characters, certain characters better at a closer range than
others... those have never been existent in a fighting game til now,
and I was pleased to see it. As someone who puts countless hours into
fighting games, MK always got stale because the characters were
always so similar. And... that super meter. Really need to watch
that. There are three bars of it, and you can use those to perform
enhanced specials aka super street fighter 4 x-specials, breakers
with two bars full or an x-ray attack with 3 bars. X-rays were the
one thing I didn't like... because as much fun to watch as they were,
they interrupted the pace of the game, and they do way, way too much damage.
Sound:
The music could still have more variety. I won't lie... but for
Mortal Kombat music, it's quite good. Voice acting is also
surprisingly well-done this time around, unlike in MK Vs. DC. Nice to
hear characters saying a few things I can understand.. even though
there's still a lot of gibberish mixed in.
Final thoughts... as I said. I'm impressed, as are many people from
the fighting game fanbase. But in all honesty, MK made the comeback I
hoped it would. It's been a long time since I had fun with an MK
game, but this one sure did it for me... expect a more detailed
review when I get my copy of the game!
---
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