For those who have been shaky on previous MK adventure title, don't worry, this title is no flop. It has good nostalgia material, it has a good fighting engine, the ko-op is lots of fun and there's plenty to unlock (just like all the recent MK titles), but some flaws drag it down heavily. Graphics: It's definite draw-back. Whether you agree with me or not, the graphics are not the best, right? The character models bring me back to N64 era there are a lot of low resolution polygons and objects, and the enemies look even worse. Although it's growing on me a bit, when I first saw the graphics, I was just appauled at first sight. Even adjusting the brightness didn't help the lacklasture loading screens. Heck, some quality, dates back MK4. However, the backgrounds are rich in enivronment (though not flash in detail) and the blood effects (though exagerated) look nice. In CG cutscenes, their mouths do not move with the B-grade voice acting and sometimes (especially during real-time) they don't move at all. Overall - lazy, need work but JUST do the job. Sound: Another draw-back, unfortunately. The music is too subtle, and it just doesn't capture MK enough. Dan Forden and the rest of the team have done a hell of a lot better than this (ie. Deception). However because it's subtle, it doesn't hurt the ears, and you can just ignore it. The voices are ok, and I applaud them for mixing in old voice work with new. However the most positive thing in the sound department are the sound effects and the quick shouts and screams. Excellent Liu Kang and Kung Lao sounds, but did you have to make some of the enemies sound so generic, Midway? Who cares, I love 'TOASTY'! Gameplay: The positiives finally outweight the negatives in this category. Excellent 'ko-op', underrated versus mode (this is where you can just kill time with a friend) and a solid fighting engine. Although the game is pretty tough on single player, ko-op really gets the job done. Unfortunately Midway were too lazy (or the excuse of "we ran out of time") to put in CPU for Versus mode - was it really that hard to put in just that, Midway? Now, some people complain about thw back-tracking the length of story mode. I, for one, am pleased that the story mode is short. It cuts back on frustration, it (suprisingly) doesn't get repetitive and it makes looking for unlockables a bit more easier and easy to navigate through the levels. The back-tracking, however is probably its biggest downfall in the gameplay department. Some of the game features neccesary and good backtracking, while other times, it's annoying and tedious. It's the reason why SO MANY people get stuck on the game, especially in single-player. The ability to see stuff outside the main adventure track but being unable to go there with just a simple jump also proves how linear this game is, which is bad. On a positive note though, Fatalities are back and better than ever and Brutalities and Multatlities are more of a life-save (if you call burning and slicing you enemies 'lifesaving') than just a guilty pleasure. Enemy traps are fun to do, a slicing people with random weapons, at times really puts the 'p' in 'pleasure'. Very fun! Overall this game has to be played in form or another, whether it's just a rent or going to someone else's house to play it, by any true MK fan. Howver if you dislike MK, this will either entertain you or appaul you. The unlockables are really only for MK fans, unless you're a perfectionist. All in all - great game set to a limit. + Figthing engine, nostalgia and ko-op mode - craptastic graphics, some lazy areas of work
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