This game has been a huge one on a lot of people's radars since it was first announced. It has been looked to as a way to reinvigorate the franchise into what it once was. Trying to help fans forget the films and lack luster games that have been placed out there on the market. Here's what I have to say.

The Premise:

At the end of a great battle against Darkseid and Shao Kahn, each in their own universes, something goes awry and begins the merging of the two universes. Through confusion or just trying to find answers to end this universe ending event, both sides fight through to find a way to end it. Along the way heroes and villains of each universe join forces to face an overall common enemy, the other universe, in Mortal Kombat.

The Good:

The story for this game is much better than I was expecting. Even after watching the trailer for the game. I must say it was very well done without that many stretches in continuity or cannon. Granted some where in there, but it was needed to make the story work.

Also, for the story they did one of my favorite type things for story modes, run the same story but from a different perspective. That is, if you play the DC side of the story, there are a few things that happen that effect the story of the MK side and vice versa. When you play the other side they are explained. But in the end, it is two different types of story that lead to the same ending. It is interesting to find out why certain things happened without have to stretch for something. It gets explained by playing both.

Moving away from the story side of things, Midway went back to the roots of the game for this iteration. By that I mean, they use a lot of the traditional button moves and combos that fans have been seeing since the first game. For the most part you can pick up any MK character and start playing like you did back when the game first came out. The DC characters need a little time to pick up, but their maneuvers are not to difficult to get the basics down really quick. Something I really love in a fighting game.

That said, they also "dumbed down" the Fatality/Brutality button presses to its origins as well. No more crazy having to do quarter-circles and pressing buttons resemble a God of War mini-game. They are not easy to do mind you, but they are simple button presses with requiring a specific location to be standing. Like one of Batman's is Down(x3), Up, X. With no real speed needed to get it off. Just something nice for less hard core gamers.

One more thing I will touch on that I see as good is the addition of the Aerial Kombat and "Test Your Might" functions. These can really make or break a fight. What are they? Well like the older games where the environment can get involved, this is kind of the case. You can slam your opponent into a wall and rush them through doing a certain percentage of damage. Or fight in a free fall area of the level doing the same thing. It adds some great extra flare to the way the fight plays out. Not mention the animations are interesting for each character in the game.

The Bad:

First and foremost, the game is way too short, at least story-wise. It was beatable in about four hours of play. Granted, this is a fighting game so it is kind of an added feature that there is a story, but it just seemed like it was over way to quick to have a full story. I guess I just wanted more. Each side was about 4 fights over 8 of the characters from each side with about two to four minutes of cut scene. I really wanted more Joker.

That said, the ending for each individual character seems a little anticlimactic given the work placed into the actual story mode. Character endings consist of a still frame with about thirty seconds of voice over explaining what happens. Granted it is very old MK like, but it just seems out of place when compared to the larger story mode. Like I said, it was more of a let down playing through the full story mode and getting just that for the ending to a character beating Arcade mode.

Another thing that seemed a little bothersome where the combos and linking them. While it is easy to pull of moves, making combos work is very difficult and a little time consuming to get the timing right. The timing needs to be perfect to get things going. That and the descriptions of how to perform them needed a little more detail. Maybe it is just me, but they almost seem a lot harder than what they were going for with everything else in the game.

The Rating:

8.8/10

In the end, this is a great game. If you are not into the story, it will provide hours upon hours of ass-kickery amongst friends online and offline. While you should be able to unlock all the extras in under four hours, a good fighting game like this will keep people playing for a while afterward. It's at least worth a rent if you just want to play the story modes though.