Like:
Brutality - This game made a name for itself with over-the-top violence and it's back and it's still cringe worthy. Not even just the fatalities, but some of the standard move sets are brutal!
Other Worldy? - This may sound dumb, but I was shocked at how happy I was to see a ton of supernatural elements in the game. The majority of the characters are some kind of magic, evil, demony or machine so the move sets match them. Noob Saibot in particular throws a phantom image of himself around and seeing these other characters do really cool moves is a breath of fresh air from the more standard Japanese fighter where you just punch fast or faster and air combo.
Graphics - While not mind-blowing or having it's own style like SFIV it gets the job done. The MK games have always had a more "real" look to them and it works well here.
Fatalities - I'd argue that the original MK was the start of the "Pooping On Chest" era that we love now. What better way to further humiliate your opponent then after winning you literally rip him in half? Now there's T-Bagging and the oh so over done "CHAINSAW REV BY YOUR HEAD FOR FIVE MINUTES" or the "curb stomp", but I think MK did it first and did it best.
Move Sets - They're not overly complex. Coming from Tekken 6 where each character had around 100 moves and when you couple that with "juggling" it was just too damn much. Maybe I'm a noob, but SFIV and Tekken felt more like button mashers. In MK you have to know combos to some degree to win.
Pacing and Weight - I just like how the game feels over SFIV and Tekken 6. You move with more weight and purpose and when you strike it just seems to have more "OOMFF!"
D-Pad - After playing fighting games on the 360 the D-Pad is a savior on the PS3. I use it over the joystick.
Tag - I only played one round of Tag and it just adds another element of energy and excitement to the match. You pick 2 characters and then go into battle and with the push of a button (and depending on if you're mid combo) you can call in a buddy for support to finish a combo, add defense measure or just swap out for a fresh guy. It adds a very large layer of strategy to the game and will be much harder to master, but works really well from what I played.
Energy Bar - There's an energy bar that fills as you either take damage or perform combos. It's broken into 3 segments and depending on how you use it will drastically alter your outcome in the game. Do you use 1 bar to enhance a combo? 2 bars to perform a combo breaker if you're about the destroyed? Or do you use the whole bar and try a devastating X-Ray move that takes away 1/3 of health? Bad new is if you go X-Ray and it gets blocked you'll have spent your whole bar for nothing. It has saved me and been the cause of my destruction numerous times and it's awesome.
King of the Hill - I think that when I'm playing alone this will be what I'm playing. It supports up to 8 people and while the 2 people are fighting you're in a theater mode and watching the match. You have an avatar that represents your character and at the end of the match you literally get to rate the winner 0-10! It sounds dumb, but what a blast! If you win you stay. If you lose it's back to the end of the line. I got into one match late last night and I was nervous because these guys literally have nothing to do, but watch you and I didn't want to look like I sucked.....and I just watched the guy I was about to fight use Sonja and he humiliated Sub Zero. I beat him (it was a good fight) with Stryker and after the match it was awesome to see the guys give me scores! I got all 9's and 10's! I won the 2nd match with Noob Saibot and got all 9's and 10's again! The 3rd match had connection issues and the lobby was closed, but King of the Hill had my heart pounding much harder than any other game I've played that I can ever remember. Take the combat and fighting one on one and then throw in the fact you're being watched and judged and want to stay "King" and you've got a really exciting game mode.
Lobby System - If you've played Tekken 6 online you know how bad it is. Basically hit a button saying you want to play and then wait to get matched up. You'll probably be fighting a guy that has over 1000 battles won and has only lost 100 of them. In MK you can join a lobby with over 100 guys in it and scroll through them and see their stats. If you see someone you want to fight you send them a challenge and if they accept you battle it out. After the fight you can choose to play again or go back to lobby.
Dislike:
Computer AI - I feel that last night I got pretty damn good with Noob Saibot and Stryker and the computer will cheat the hell out of you to win in the tournament ladder. A handful of Stryker's moves actually become meaningless against them! It's cheap and it's a dated style of gameplay and it should be gone.
Balance - Jury is still out on this because it could just be that I'm still new and have been out of fighters for a long time, but it already seems like Smoke is the favorite of douche bag players. He has 3 moves that when performed back to back get you in a whirlwind of hurt. At first I thought it was unblockable, but after fighting 4 different players IN A ROW that used Smoke and that same game style I figured out a decent defense, but I just hate guys like that.
LAG! - It wasn't always bad, but sometimes it was pretty terrible. Surprisingly though even when the game was chugging I was still able to perform combos and win matches. I would think that this would be fixed in the near future with a patch.
Graphics - While they do look good overall the effects on the Fatalities can be a little hokey looking.
Overall:
This is an excellent fighting game and one I'm really looking forward to playing with Lead Salad online and working cooperatively against other human players. It's a great return to form for the series and finally shows Japan that the US knows how to make a great fighter as well.
Sry but I had to chime in on this one. I kinda think you are painting the other fighting games out there to be something they are not (SSFIV and tekken 6). To say that those were more about button mashing is definantly wrong and I think I proved that during our matches in tekken 6 lol. Also I have recently gotten into SSFIV and I am enjoying that also. I thought the online system for tekken was also good, you have to remember there aren't as many lower level people on those servers because the games have been out for so long. I agree a selection based online lobby would be nice, but the servers rarily ever lag.
ReplyDeleteI don't think tekken and ssf were bad games for you, I think its more of the fact that MK is what u grew up with. Im glad u found a great fighter u like.
I think people are hard on fighters in general because they are hard to get into if you weren't into them from the very beginning. Since the moves for reaccurring characters never really change, people get really good with them. I have been playing the tekken series since tekken 2 and been using the same several characters since tekken 3 lol. The game isn't about just knowing combos but also knowing when to use them and that's why I prefer that series. I do think im gonna eventually have to give MK a try one of these days so I can kick ur butt in that too lol.
Good review. I remember how "shocking" the first one was when it came out. And when I took Tae-Kwon-Do in high school, we got to meet the martial artist who was "Skorpion". They filmed him for all the body movements.
ReplyDeleteI still suck horribly at fighting games. If you close your eyes and mash all the buttons, you can kick my butt... :P