The Kollection comprises of the first three games in the series: Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat II and the updated Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. Selecting the game of your choice requires you to scroll through three arcade machines (which we thought was quite clever) and boom, you’re in. It’s worth noting here that the games themselves are direct ports from the originals. To some, this might represent a true blast to the past, but to others, this is a very questionable decision for several reasons.
Ah, hello to old friends (and foes).
The first thing that you are probably going to notice is that the audio and visual quality has not been touched at all. As a result, you’re going to be treated to rather fuzzy sprites and tinny music and sound effects. The next thing you’re going to notice is that the gameplay is very dated. The controls are especially guilty in this regard. Of the three games, MKII was the only one with decent controls. We found the controls in MK very stiff and unresponsive, while on the opposite end of the spectrum, UMK3’s were very loose, leading to a lot of problems in executing fatalities, especially given the nature of the 360 controller’s analogue stick. Add to these control issues how incredibly unfair the A.I. is and you’ll notice how much the game has aged. There were times that we swear the A.I. cheated in front of our very eyes – “Wait, how was that even possible just then?” We do concede that cheap A.I. and clunky controls may have been part of the original games’ character, but none of this exactly bodes well for players picking these games up for the first time, especially if they are used to the newer games in the series.
Still, there’s something charming about leaping around the screen like a madman while hoping that maybe your opponent won’t grab you via some inconceivable method this time. But if you ever feel the need to – gasp! – actually play the game properly, the game does have a handy dandy move list available for each of the characters on the pause menu. Getting to the pause menu takes a little bit of time though, as you’ll have to wait for all of the 'Round 1' type of text to disappear before you can even access it. Maybe we’re just impatient, but little things like that do add to the flow of the game for us.
Remember this stage? REMEMBER?
Of course, the main drawcard of the Kollection is the addition of online multiplayer modes for each of the games. Contrary to what you might think, considering what we’ve said about the rest of the game, we didn’t find our experience with the online functionality too bad. The matchmaking feature is actually quite decent, allowing you to filter opponents based on a similar skill level. While our matches did suffer from random dropouts and the occasional lag, we’re willing to take that as our internet’s fault. We also found that MKII seemed to be the most popular (possibly due to the aforementioned controls).
The Mortal Kombat Arcade Kollection is definitely what we consider to be a mixed bag. On one hand, you have unacceptable controls, hard-as-nails A.I. and extremely dated audio and visuals. On the other hand though, who can resist the booming “FINISH HIM” sound clip and those over-the-top, gore laden Fatalities? For 800 Microsoft Points, it may be a pretty good deal, especially for those trying to relive the old g(l)ory days, dated gameplay and all. But for the rest of us - is this really how we ought to be remembering the series?
) and neither has unlocked it for me.
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