Mortal Kombat 3 (PC Port)

By the time I was old enough to really want to visit arcades on any sort of frequent basis, the Mortal Kombat series had moved onto its third edition. Probably the most vivid memory of it that I have, is watching this one guy manage to work his way up the Master ladder, while periodically beating the snot out of a whole line full of people trying to take him on in the two-player mode. Suffice it to say, I had my head handed to me on a platter, but at least I wasn't alone by any means.

Anyway, the third game picks up some undisclosed time after the second, where Shao Kahn has regrouped and managed to launch an all-out invasion of Earth. This is supposed to be against the rules of the Mortal Kombat tournaments, but he and Shang Tsung got around this, by infusing an Earth woman with the soul of Kahn's long-dead wife, Sindel (a wife whom he took as a war trophy -- there's that "traditional marriage" thing that conservatives must be going on about). Anyway, with the Elder Gods (as well as Rayden) helpless to stop Kahn, a handful of "chosen" Earth warriors must defeat the Outworld invaders on their own.

It has to be said, this may be one of the more controversial games in the series, but not for the reasons one might think. This was really polarizing in the fan community, largely because of the radical changes in style from the previous games. While some of the classic characters are there, and certainly the layout of the screen is much the same, MK3 has the distinction of moving away from the exotic/fantasy elements that started the series, and taking a much more urban/high-tech approach. Returning characters have taken on a decidedly more "street" appearance, the traditional ninjas are completely gone, and several characters are now augmented with cybernetic implants. Even the backgrounds and overall setting, have mostly changed to subways, back alleys, and skyscrapers, with only a handful of levels set within Shao Kahn's new palace bringing any sort of fantasy credentials.

(that being said, Stryker is one of the best characters in the game, even if he looks like a traffic cop)

Even the gameplay has been significantly altered, thanks to the now-infamous introduction of the "dial-a-kombo" system. By rapidly pressing certain attack buttons -- in a pre-determined order, varying by character -- the player can unleash a rapid-fire assault on his/her opponents. As a spectator, it's pretty cool. As a player, however, it's rather frustrating -- never mind having the time and recall to remember the various combos for each character, your success will hinge largely on you having very quick reflexes, and a controller that hasn't already been smashed to pieces. I seriously wouldn't be surprised if the PC version of this game, is the main reason why we went through so many keyboards when I was a teenager. It also became infuriating, in various updates of the game, as the CPU became prone to unleashing combos on you, that were physically impossible to replicate -- and, naturally, were performed the instant that you began inputting an attack.

Anyway, despite all of these questionable changes, there is a lot to like about MK3. The music is pretty badass, the sounds keeping up nicely. The characters have probably never looked better (at least in the classic era), and all of the moves are fun and creative (even if exploding characters will have MULTIPLE skulls, ribcages, etc. for no apparent reason). The backgrounds not only look incredible, but are increasingly interactive. Stage-centric finishing moves have been in the series from the beginning, though they are more elaborate in this game. There is also a feature called "Battle Ascension", where uppercutting opponents on certain stages, will launch them through the ceiling and into a whole other level!

In terms of the PC port -- which, I must point out, is a pig to get working in DOSBox, and rather hard to find a working version of on Abandonware sites -- it plays rather authentically to the arcade version, but it has some phoned-in elements. For instance, I've made it clear how much I like the varied and elaborate stages that you fight on... so why is it that for the most part, the game will only let you play on about four of them? Out of eleven? That's not the only place where it gets tedious; as I've previously made clear, I am nothing special as a gamer. So naturally, I lose matches somewhat often. To be fair, Mortal Kombat as a series can make this somewhat entertaining, with the various finishing moves that the CPU can inflict on you (if you don't manage to beat it to that, of course). In this game, however, that rarely happens -- so what can already be an exercise in going in circles, feels even more monotonous, because the exact same thing happens in most matches.

That being said, the PC version has its charms as well; the difficulty curve is about as reasonable as the original game, the controls reasonably responsive (at least on my old computer -- still trying to figure out the quirks of my new laptop), plus it is the first PC version of a Mortal Kombat game that has EXTRAS! The previous two games, while good overall, were pretty much straight conversions of the arcade versions. However, the computer port of MK3 has unique features that are rather cool in their own right. One is the support for online play (albeit through LANs -- remember, this was before MSN Gaming Zone). Even if it was a bit limited -- and truth be told, I have no idea how popular MK3 was in LAN circles -- it still fulfilled Jim Carrey's Cable Guy prediction of one day being able to fight your "friend" on the other side of the world. What's more, it would be about ten years, before the console versions of Mortal Kombat had managed the same feat (and took all of the credit).

Another cool PC feature -- and this one, I have tried -- is the "Tournament Mode". The name is a bit misleading, as rather than a ladder-style tournament variation, as you might expect, this is actually a tag-team/endurance match... with each player having up to twelve warriors involved! While it's still straight fighting in the style of the rest of the game, it's a nice change from the norm. There are also several unlockable "cheats" -- some not so unique, like the ability to play as Smoke, or the boss characters -- and some which are unique to this port (like two different invisibility modes).

Speaking of those people... the hidden characters (in terms of just fighting them) are much easier to access in this game, just because all you have to do is input a six-character code, before a two-player match. Fighting them is still tricky, but it is toned down, compared to the previous games. Sub-boss Motaro, is still one of the more creative-looking characters (a freaking CENTAUR!), and is interesting to fight in a lot of ways. He's strong, agile, brutal, and he can even rebound projectile moves... yet all you have to do, to beat him, is uppercut him whenever he comes close to you. Shao Kahn is once again the final boss -- which, quite frankly, I always found kind of lame -- but going against him this time, is a much different experience than in MKII. He's a lot faster, has several new moves, and on top of that your recovery between hits takes longer, so some of the tactics used in the previous game won't work anymore. However, he still loves to talk a lot -- punish him, for that. Also, be on the lookout for a move where he'll leap a few feet in the air, leaving a trail of shadows behind him -- duck under this, and chances are you can nail him with an uppercut on the way down. If you play someone with fast stun moves, you can then wail on him until he's dead.

So I'm not sure, ultimately, what to give this for a verdict. In a lot of ways, Mortal Kombat 3 is a fun and exciting game. However, it's also boring in other ways, and such a stylistic departure in other ways that it barely resembles the previous two games.  Thankfully, this was rectified in a lot of ways, by the upgrades Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 and Mortal Kombat Trilogy. Unfortunately, for a lot of DOS PC gamers, they were stuck with plain old stock MK3 (especially since Ultimate only appeared for the PC in the last year or so, with the HD Arcade Kollection, that has been widely called a disaster). If you're curious, and can somehow find a reliable version of it cheaply/for free, I'd recommend giving it a look... if only because, for better or worse, this game set the tone for what all subsequent Mortal Kombats would become.