Review by bbears

"The Best 2D Fighting Game Ever"

Mortal Kombat is a fighting game that made a living by sporting over the top violence and gore. Mortal Kombat 2 is a game that seeks to up the ante in every possible way on it's predecessor. With more characters more arenas more fatalities, and of course more blood, MK II is game that if you liked the original than you will love this sequel.

Mortal Kombat II is good looking port of the arcade hit. The game is based off of digital characters filmed in real life to be put in the game. This gives MK II a very unique look. All of the special effects are of high quality. Which in this game is major part of the draw to it. Most of the special moves and the fatalities are ver y cool looking and you won't see anything like them any where else. The sound is also very good too. All the special effects sound like you would expect, and the off color techno music in the background helps with it's unique charm.

Mortal Kombat II has really great controls, which is one large reason it is such a good game. With so many 2D fighters out there what really separates them is giving the arcade feel with a console controller. This where MK II really excels, even just the normal 3 three button controller will give you a real sense of arcade control.

Story wise MK II is above average as well. This is where most games of this genre don't bother. Basically Shang Tsung ahs called for a second MK tournament in outworld after an attack on Liu Kang's temple. While this might sound kinda weak there is a impressive amount of background story for each character. And that is what makes this series so cool, through the times you have always been able to identify and instantly recognize all characters of the series.

Gameplay wise MKII is a fairly straight forward 2D fighter. Each character has the same basic attacks. But what separates the game is the inclusion of special moves. Each character has 3 to 5 special moves. These moves are unique to each character and mostly have to do with special ability that character might have. So the entire gameplay comes down to setting up your opponent for one of these devastating moves. On top of that specials lead into some type of combo. Characters like Kitana can even up some pretty crazy 8 hit combos, and this style of play thats pretty advanced. The game features 12 characters plus 3 hidden, so there is lot see and master. But the MK franchise's bread and butter is of course the fatilities. At the end of each fight the loser will wobblily in place to be finished off. You can do so by enaging in one of characters fatalities which over top killing blows showering with extreme gore. At the time there was nothing like it which is why MK II developed such a cult following. If you get bored of killing you also have the option friendship or babalites. The main drive of the game is to see all of the fatalities and finishing moves.

MK II is still the only game I can pick up and play 13 years after it's release. Because it is fun for the same reasons now as it was then. If you still have a genesis then I definitely recommend this game.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10 | Originally Posted: 03/02/07

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