Mortal Kombat

        The newest installment of the Mortal Kombat  franchise is so much more then a revival of the series. The classic fighting formula is back with the reintroduction of the 2D fighting plane, but there are plenty of new features that certainly give this game the edge as the best MK game to date. The fighter roster it self is stacked, focusing on characters from the first three MK games, the line up is as follows; Baraka, Cyrax, Ermac, Jade, Jax, Johnny Cage, Kabal, Kano, Kitana, Kung Lao, Liu Kang, Mileena, Nightwolf, Noob Saibot, Quan Chi, Raiden     Reptile, Scorpion, Sektor, Shang Tsung, Sheeva, Sindel, Smoke, Sonya, Stryker, Sub-Zero, Cyber Sub-Zero as well as the appearance of Goro, Kintaro and Shao Kahn as unplayable boss fights, and of course the PS3 exclusive charter, Kratos.
         Each character is far more unique then previous installments, each individual character possessing there own fighting styles and stances, fatalities, special moves and victory poses. The game play has returned to its classic 2D plane with new controls that seem to be adapted from other fighting franchises such as tekken, where each bottom is in control of a corresponding individual limb. One new feature included in this game is the addition the "super meter" which is filled by chaining together combos, taking damage and a few other elements of the game play. The super meter consists of three levels, the first level if used allows the player to deliver a stronger, amped up specialty move. The second gives the player a chance to stop powerfully incoming combos from landing and the third level if filled allows a player to execute an insane new game play combo called "X-Ray Move"

        This is by far one of the coolest innovations I have seen in a fighting game and gives the player more amplitude to preform combos because of this reward. Each Character has their own special x-ray moves all which have a devastating effect on your opponent.
     Of course I could not write a review on Mortal Kombat with out commenting on the defining element of the series, the fatalities. Every character now has two of their very own finishing moves, along with some environmental fatalities that coincide with certain levels. They are plentiful, brutal and the best NetherrRalm has come up with so far. It was also a welcome sight to see the babalities make a return.      

     The game includes various modes including the story mode, which shows greater plot depth then previous games, online mode, tag team mode and the challenge tower. All of these factors attribute to the game being a must own for any Mortal Kombat fan of frightening genre enthusiast. This game gets five out five blenders.