Mortal Kombat II
Arcade
I always feel the need to point this out whenever I review an arcade game. No, I do not have the physical arcade unit in my house. Yes, I am playing it on a home console. I still like to count it as an arcade game though, especially when it is such a perfect translation as this. If I was playing the Sega Genesis or Super Nintendo version of the game, then I would count it as so. This version of Mortal Kombat II however, is taken from the Mortal Kombat Arcade Kollection that I purchased for the PlayStation 3. It is essentially an exact picture-perfect port of the arcade version of the game.
Mortal Kombat is a series that I would always get excited for when I was a kid. Back then we didn't see much blood and gore in video games. Mortal Kombat made it mainstream. I wasn't even a huge fighting game fan, but give me the chance to see people getting decapitated or burned alive in a video game? I was all for it. The original game was a fun, if somewhat shallow experience. There was a limited amount of characters, stages, and fatalities. My brother had the game for Sega Genesis and I probably played it more than he did. But I could only play it so much. There not a whole lot of content to the game.
But the makers of Mortal Kombat had found a winning formula. They now had a foundation to build on. I remember reading the previews for Mortal Kombat II before the game came out. I was awestruck. There would be a larger selection of characters. The story would be ramped up to new extremes. The stages would all be in the "Outworld" instead of here in the real world. Most importantly, each character would be able to perform not one but TWO fatalities each. In addition, they would be able to perform special closing attacks called babalities (where they would turn their opponent into a baby) and friendships (where instead of killing their foe they would make friends with them).
For whatever reason, I never actually went out and purchased a copy of the game. I think it was because fighting games were never able to hold my interest for very long. I was cheap and didn't want to waste the money. But I did know plenty of people who had the game and would bring it over to my house to play. I also probably rented it a few times. I bought a video game magazine with all of the moves and fatalities in it. I remember playing this for hours and hours on end. I wouldn't stop until I had seen every ending, every fatality, every babality, every friendship, and unlocked everything there was to unlock in the game.
I even remember playing this in the arcade a few times. One time specifically was in a tent at the Wisconsin State Fair. There were kids lined up to play the machine. One kid in particular was really good at the game and would destroy anyone who would challenge him. I thought I could take him down, but I could not. On a few separate occasions I attempted to play through it in single player since I was so good at the Genesis version of the game. But the arcade version was always so much more difficult for me and I could never make it through the first two or three fights of the game.
Which brings us to this review.
As I stated earlier, the version of Mortal Kombat II that comes with the Mortal Kombat Arcade Kollection is a perfect and exact copy of the arcade version of the game. Even though it had been years and years since I'd last played Mortal Kombat II, I never really forgot how to play it. So when I first fired the game up, I expect to breeze through it like I did with the old Genesis version of the game.
Boy was I wrong. Being an exact port of the arcade game, this title is designed to make you lose. The makers of the game want you to die and keep pumping quarters into the arcade unit. I got my ass kicked many times on the first fight of the whole game. The first fight, which is supposed to be easy! I picked Sub-Zero, who was always one of my favorite characters. I couldn't even land a single freezing attack on my opponent. In the Genesis version of MKII, your opponents wouldn't be this challenging until towards the end of the game. I started to worry. If things were going to be this hard right off the bat, how was I ever going to beat the whole thing?
I tried to play it clean, but by the time I made it to my third or fourth opponent and I was getting flawless-victoried left and right, I knew I had to change tactics. If I was going to beat this game I was going to have to play dirty. It felt cheap resorting to such tactics, but it had to be done. I picked Liu Kang. When the fight began I would retreat and let the enemy attack. Right as they started, I would unleash the bicycle kick. If I timed it right, they would not be able to block me. I spammed this tactic nonstop until the game was over and I had won. If I hadn't done it I never would have been able to finish the game.
But it felt like a hollow victory. A lot of the fun with the Genesis version of the game was playing with every character and seeing all their fatalities and story line endings. That would not be possible here. The game is so difficult that it feels stifling. There is no room to explore or have fun or check things out. The computer AI is so ruthless that it sucks the fun out of the game. They seem to know your every move before you even make it. Forget about unleashing most of your special attacks. It is a waste of time in most cases as the computer easily is able to block or evade it. Try as I might, the only way to beat the game for me was to spam the kick attack with Liu Kang. And that is no fun.
I get that this is the arcade version and it is extra difficult because of this. But it it so difficult to the point where the game is not even fun to play. I was looking to sink hours into this game, but instead stopped playing after my initial playthrough where I won as Liu Kang. What was the point of exploring further? I was just going to get my ass kicked no matter what I did. All I was in for was a whole lot of frustration.
Admittedly, I am sure this game is a lot more fun if you are playing against a human opponent. But that is not an option for me. Sure I could play against my wife but there would be no competition there as she has never played a Mortal Kombat game before. All I am left with is the hollow, soulless single player mode.
I wanted to like this game. Truly. Mortal Kombat II is a groundbreaking game for its day. Incredibly innovative and it completely changed the landscape of fighting games as we know them. But this version of the game - the arcade version - it is just NO fun to play. If I was reviewing the home versions of the game the score would be different. This fucking version, though. Ugh. It was a frustrating experience that I did not enjoy. I play video games to have fun. This game was not fun at all. I can't find it in me to fail the game because of its influence. And when I was a kid I did have some fun times with the arcade unit - playing it with friends and strangers and the like.
The Mortal Kombat Arcade Kollection as a whole: it was a nice deal (I think I got it for just a few bucks) and it is a nice trip down memory lane. But I didn't enjoy the original Mortal Kombat when I reviewed it back in 2015. I didn't enjoy Mortal Kombat II playing it in 2018. Will I enjoy the third game whenever it is I get around to playing it? Probably not.
Overall:
D-
If you like this review, check out my reviews for the following games:
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