Product description
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Shao Kahn has been defeated at the hands of Earth's warriors,
and now Shinnok has escaped to his confines in the Netherealm.
The war has resumed once again. This time, the battle CAN be won
by mortals!
.com
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With fighters engaging in martial arts/supernatural combat to
the death, the tournament known as Mortal Kombat rages on in this
installment of the ultraviolent series. In addition to requisite
sequel enhancements such as new moves with which to disembowel
your nent, the two-dimensional graphics of earlier games have
been expanded into 3-D. Now rendered in polygons, the characters
move as fluidly as when they were digitized footage of live
actors, and the previously ed arenas have been greatly
opened up and are more eerie than ever.
An excellent conversion of the arcade game, the Nintendo 64
version is sure to delight Mortal Kombat 4 junkies. In addition
to near-arcade quality graphics, unbelievably rich sound, and
responsive controls, there are plenty of never-before-seen extras
that rabid fans are sure to eat up.
However, those less enthusiastic should pass on Mortal Kombat 4.
The gameplay is virtually identical to the 1992 original, and
feels hopelessly dated when compared with other fighting games
that have gone on to evolve, while Midway has remained content
churning out the same old Mortal Kombat. --Joe Hon
Pros:
* Excellent conversion of the arcade game
* Includes never-before-seen extras
Cons:* Parents may object to the violent content
* Limited appeal outside of Mortal Kombat fans
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Review
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The Mortal Kombat series is one of the premier gaming series'
around today. The series, which until now utilized digitized
actors to give the game an extra layer of realism, has been the
topic of comic books, movies, action figures, and even Senate
hearings. The fourth time around the game has gone polygonal,
giving the developers much more leeway when it comes to adding
new moves, holds, and characters. Also, weapons have been added
into the mix, with each character possessing a different ,
club, or staff to beat his enemies with.
The storyline of MK4 picks up the loose ends left behind by both
MK3 and MK Mythologies: Sub-Zero. With Shao Kahn defeated,
Shinnok picks up the slack as the main bad guy. However, he is
also a selectable character, which left arcade players with no
big boss to look forward to. To remedy that, the home version
contains MK1's four-armed bad boy, Goro. Goro looks terrific in
3D, moves very fluidly, and has all the great moves he had in
MK1, as well as a few additional ones. He isn't selectable from
the start, but he'll be available via a code. Returning
characters include Scorpion, Sub-Zero, Liu Kang, Johnny Cage,
Sonya, and Raiden. Most of the old characters maintain their old
moves, and add a new one here and there. The new characters fit
very well into the MK universe, a welcome change from most
fighting game sequels.
The graphics of the N64 version aren't as good as the arcade
version. That's pretty much a given. But they still look very
good, make great use of light sourcing, and run at a very high
speed. There are a few moments where the frame rate dips, but not
enough to cause a problem with the gameplay. The sound is
definitely the high-water mark for the N64. The music sounds very
nice, and the game has all the speech from the arcade, including
the intro and endings. This is quite a surprise, considering the
large a of speech in the game.
The gameplay is very close to the arcade, but the N64 controller
gets in the way. The default setup simply isn't very good, but
with a few changes and some practice, you'll become proficient
fairly quickly. Some of the alities in the game are much
harder to do on the N64 pad, as they require you to hit multiple
buttons at the same time. The combo system has been greatly
simplified. Each character can start a combo the same way, and
some of the more damaging moves in the previous games (the
uppercut, for instance) have been weakened. The introduction of
weapons seems silly at first, but once you've played for a while
and gotten used to using them, they really do add a new dimension
to the game. Each character has two alities, and there are two
stage alities. The alities look nice, but too many of them
are merely 3D updates to old alities, and the new alities
in MK4 simply aren't that great. It would have been nice to see
some more innovation here. A few modes have been added to the
game, including a practice mode, which shows all the characters'
moves and alities. There are also three types of endurance
fights, a team battle mode, and a tournament mode.
The N64 has been hurting for a good fighting game since its
inception. MK4 finally fills that gap. If you haven't liked any
of the previous MK titles, MK4 probably won't win you over. But
this is an excellent translation of a good arcade title, and fans
of the arcade version won't be disappointed at all. -- Jeff
Gerstmann
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