Video game review: Mortal Kombat for the PS Vita

Mortal Kombat is a game which stirs in me mixed feelings of nostalgia. I played this a lot in my teens, and some of my fondest memories include playing the arcade version of Mortal Kombat with my friend Ken at a San Antonio Taco Hacienda at 2 AM. Over the years, I’ve had budget concerns remove me from the arcades, and so I’ve not played anything since the MK3 arcade game.

And, I sucked at the games. But I loved playing them, even when people jumped in, because then I could at least see what the other characters were supposed to do when someone knew how to handle the controls. I got familiar with one or two characters at most, and I still got beat up and lost a lot of money. Hence, the mixed feelings about the MK series.

Hearing about a Mortal Kombat for the Vita, I was eager to sign up for this based on good nostalgia plus the positive reviews I’d seen from other people for this port. And, let me tell you, I was not led astray this time. Mortal Kombat is so good, I don’t even know where to begin with the gushing.

You’ve got several different modes to choose from for your fighting pleasure, and Komplete Noobs and Old Fogeys (like me) who need their memory refreshed will find a practice mode that’s rather useful in exploring different combos without being punished by an aggressive AI opponent. For people looking for meaty play, there’s a story mode that spans most of the cast of hero characters, plus a few of the villains. The voice acting is decent, and the cut scenes have great animation standards. This is by far the best cut scenery I’ve ever seen in a fighting game, and up to a certain point, I loved the story.