In my opinion, this is the best Mortal Kombat game ever made. As an old school fan of the original trilogy, I hold them in high regard,In my opinion, this is the best Mortal Kombat game ever made. As an old school fan of the original trilogy, I hold them in high regard, especially Mortal Kombat II. For all these years and up until recently, I have long considered MK2 to be the best, but after playing MK11 recently and spiraling into depression due to the online requirements and demotivational grinding, I had to come back and re-evaluate my love for the franchise. And I have come to the conclusion that this game is indeed the best Mortal Kombat ever made. As MK is my favorite franchise of all time, this is, for me, the greatest game ever made and my all-time favorite. If I had to choose one game to play forever, this would be my immediate answer. I own the Komplete Edition on every possible platform: Steam, PS3, Xbox 360, and PS Vita, and I love them all. I will leave a review for each version, because they are basically the same game, but will add a distinct paragraph at the end for each.
Where to start? I'll divide my praises into sub-sections:
Graphics: Gorgeous, mind-blowing. This was my first high definition experience, the first time I bought a modern console and hooked it up to a flat-panel via HDMI. I was blown away. And the visuals still hold up, because 720p cannot be retroactively demoted from being high def, because it is and it shows. The stages are so detailed, the character models are so cool, the damage is so deliciously bloody, the fatalities look so awesome, it's just top-notch stuff all-around.
Story: Excellent. I mean, it goes from the whole Shang Tsung Island original tournament to the golden-age of MK2, then all the way to MK3's invasion of Earthrealm... it's just so darn good. The atmosphere is there to match as the story goes along. And nearly everyone is here and part of it too. I cannot fault it and I think they rebooted it very nicely. The only thing I don't like and continue not to like is the whole "revenant" schtick. I'm sick of hearing, I'm sick of seeing it, it's dumb and it must stop. Unfortunately, it started here - but because it was new, it was okay. Should have stopped with MKX though, but nope, all the way to MK11's main storyline to the point of being the default of many characters. Kill it, please. But back to MK9, this is the most enjoyable story mode ever of them all, bar none.
Roster: Man, isn't this the best part. Unlike every other post-MK2 entry without exception, this is the ONLY Mortal Kombat that I can move the cursor through the whole roster and not find a character I hate. No Jacqui. No Bo Rai Cho. No Hsu Hao. No Kung Jin. Kombat kids are nowhere to be found. The game is so awesome that they even managed to do the impossible, and make Stryker a cool, relatable, and likable character. And the classic outfits, wow! The ninjas look fantastic, it's amazing. Everything is just done right here. God, I really love this game, so much!
Gameplay: This is gold. Fast-paced. Combo opportunities everywhere. There's depth, you can actually get a character, study its moves and combos and just get very good at it. Watching the pros playing this game is like watching an artist painting a masterpiece, it's beautiful and exciting.
Sound: I prefer the older Asian atmosphere that Dan Forden so beautifully crafted, it just built this awesomely dark atmosphere that reminds you of older kung-fu movies that were lacking past the two first entries. But even MK3 had memorable tunes. While it's not bad, it's somewhat forgettable and just overall meh. But then recently I was choosing stages and pressed start on one of them. Then I heard Shao Kahn laughing. I was like, huh, something is going on here. Turns out to be a little hidden feature: if the stage is a classic MK stage, it will then play the original retro music in battle. I was so excited, this game delivers!!!
Single-player: No grinding here and no stupid online requirements! The tower challenges are so awesome! How about test your luck, huh? I can play that for hours, so much fun! Not to mention test your sight, test your might, I mean, it's just Mortal Kombat Perfection here. Arcade ladder is a classic, just great. My only minor gripe here is with the bosses having the invincibility shield sometimes, it felt like an artificial difficulty increase to me, an afterthought. Challenge 300, Endgame, is legendary.
In conclusion, if there is a game that would get a 10 out of 10 from me, this is it. This game single-handedly brought me back into gaming altogether.
PS Vita specific: The people complaining about the graphics remind me of the current folks who buy MK11 on the Switch and don't understand that it needs to be toned down to run smoothly. MK9 on the Vita is, like MK11 on the Switch, a technological marvel, a sweet treat. Except much better here, as this is a much better game than MK11. Do yourself a favor if you have a Vita and like MK and get this game!… Expand
