Rounding out the “Summer of MK”, which has been supported with a steady stream of DLC for the smash hit 9th entry in the series, “Mortal Kombat“, we get a final dash of nostalgia with the release of the Mortal Kombat Arcade Kollection. Is this icing on the cake or a stale reminder of an era long gone?
The download-only release is exactly what it sounds like, and little more. These are three “Arcade Perfect” ports of Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat II and Ultimate Mortal Kombat. The presentation is straight forward, with some nice global options that let you set all games to EASY mode or just set individual games to EASY or HARD mode. To have any semblance of fun, though, you want easy. The mind-blistering cheapness of the computer will quickly win out over the 90’s arcade nostalgia, so do yourself a favor and play with those settings right away.
As for the game play, it’s exactly how you don’t remember, and I’m sad to say that it doesn’t hold up. The original Mortal Kombat shows its age the most out of the three, where Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 seems to hold up pretty well. What’s nice is that if you have one of the PDP Mortal Kombat branded fight sticks then it will work like a charm with these games, and I feel is really the only way to play them.
But, also keep in mind that I think the only way to play is by actually enabling the scan lines and convex screen options in the game settings menu to really round out the experience (so don’t hold that against me for wanting the full nostalgia).
This brings me to the next, and really the last, “enhancement” to visually presenting these classics.
There are several options to apply filters to the images. One mimics that of an old CRT display, scan lines and all. Another “softens” or blurs the look of the games, and even one that makes it look more like a hand painting. If you dabble in old video game emulators, this is not unlike various filter options you will find in to take the pixelated edge out of these old harsh graphics.
The 4:3 aspect ratio of the games is surrounded by a frame that copies the appearance of the arcade machines. I feel the border for MK 1 to be the best, as it looks like a textured part of an arcade machine. For MK II and MK 3, the borders are themed for the particular game. For example, MK II utilizes dragons that were art assets in the game, and though they look nice, I clearly wish I had a time machine to go back to 1992 and hit up Alden’s Castle at my local mall. The more authentic looking the better for me.
The devs have added a small selection of online play to the mix, as is now the norm for remakes/updates. It is pretty bare bones but that’s oddly part of the charm; to remain nostalgic it should be simple. Getting into a match wasn’t too difficult except for in MK 1, which no one seemed to be playing. Perhaps it was a connection issue for me, but all my matches were lagging and felt like they were in slow-mo. Hopefully that is something that will improve with server-side patches. I figure that if I can stream Netflix in HD, I should be able to play a 20 year old game online… but oh well.
The collection is both sufficient and at the same time disappointing. Maybe I am just a completest, but why wasn’t the original MK3 missing from the group? It would technically be redundant, but some of us like MK3 for what it originally was and want to play it in its original state.
Another addition that would have put this over the top for me would have been the inclusion of Mortal Kombat 4. It has its fans, and I am one, however there exists no arcade perfect version of the game unless you own the original machine. To make it a true arcade collection, the original MK3 and MK4 should have been included.
Most gamers who would be interested in this collection likely have one of these games already, as Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 was available for a long while on XBLA — before Midway fell apart and Warner Bros scooped up the pieces — and Mortal Kombat II has similarly been available on PSN.
For what the Kollection packs in, I would argue that this is really only for the hardcore MK fan, as there is not much fun to be had by casual players of the series. These original games were meant to suck quarters from us, so skill-based play against the computer is not feasible and the online clearly has its issues. There are no options for enhancements to the game play (MK I is so slow) or user interface (could I get a moves list on the side or something as an option?). It really is what it looks like at first glance, so you may not be coming back to this one very frequently.
This review is based on purchased copy of the game from the XBLA Marketplace.
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