Mortal Kombat

[Fader209]

Yeah Shao Kahn, Goro and Kintaro have some invincibility frames mixed in with their moves which makes them very cheap to fight against. The best tactic is to be cheap back - teleport up close to them when they taunt or use projectile attacks if your character doesn't have anything like a teleport.
I'll be honest, these cheap characters are the only thing that put me off the single player side of the game as you are slowly getting more proficient at making combos whilst climbing the ladder and then all of a sudden you get punished for it.

Quick review:
Dang good game for the casual and hardcore fighter fans. Deep enough combo system for experienced players while being accessible for newer players (as opposed to Blazblue which imo is too complex for the majority of people).
Excellent work on the Story campaign too.

[BaronSqwelch]

picked this up as the horror fest I am going to next weekend has a tournament and I at least needed to know some moves...

I knew I would be rubbish at it but its almost unplayable to me. Purely because it uses a button to block....I just cant get used to it!! Years of Sf2 has just made it second nature to pull away to block....its like trying to forget how to swim for me to switch to button blocking!

Stuck in story mode with Sonya taking on 2 characters...is it possible to block xray moves or do you have to dodge?

As it is, just going to have to get a basic grasp of a few characters in ladder mode then back to the shop!!

[MisterBubbles]

picked this up as the horror fest I am going to next weekend has a tournament and I at least needed to know some moves...

I knew I would be rubbish at it but its almost unplayable to me. Purely because it uses a button to block....I just cant get used to it!! Years of Sf2 has just made it second nature to pull away to block....its like trying to forget how to swim for me to switch to button blocking!

Stuck in story mode with Sonya taking on 2 characters...is it possible to block xray moves or do you have to dodge?

As it is, just going to have to get a basic grasp of a few characters in ladder mode then back to the shop!!

Epic Fail, jog on

[Shozuki]

picked this up as the horror fest I am going to next weekend has a tournament and I at least needed to know some moves...

I knew I would be rubbish at it but its almost unplayable to me. Purely because it uses a button to block....I just cant get used to it!! Years of Sf2 has just made it second nature to pull away to block....its like trying to forget how to swim for me to switch to button blocking!

Stuck in story mode with Sonya taking on 2 characters...is it possible to block xray moves or do you have to dodge?

As it is, just going to have to get a basic grasp of a few characters in ladder mode then back to the shop!!

Its worth persevering and trying to get your head around the block button as the game really is fantastic. You can block most X-Ray moves, but not ones which are grab based.

Are you talking about the

->Open Spoiler<-

Sonya vs. Jade/Kitana

In which case it shouldn't be so tough try spamming energy ring and arc kick.

What really lets this game down for me is the dodgy netcode, I'm barely able to get a match that I can perform combos on or even use correct strategy. Still Netherrealm claim the fix is coming...

[BaronSqwelch]

its bizarre how hard I find it to squeeze the trigger to block
been playing the ladder mode to try and get used to it...

got the cheev for doing it without blocking too despite really trying lol

will try your tips now Shozuki, cheers

[Shoju]

picked this up as the horror fest I am going to next weekend has a tournament and I at least needed to know some moves...

I knew I would be rubbish at it but its almost unplayable to me. Purely because it uses a button to block....I just cant get used to it!! Years of Sf2 has just made it second nature to pull away to block....its like trying to forget how to swim for me to switch to button blocking!

Stuck in story mode with Sonya taking on 2 characters...is it possible to block xray moves or do you have to dodge?

As it is, just going to have to get a basic grasp of a few characters in ladder mode then back to the shop!!

But how long did you play before deciding that? Any new/different mechanic takes time to adjust to, it's the same for everyone. Don't know about MK specifically but in general I think a block button actually has it's advantages.

[Dogg Thang]

Got the Vita version of this today. I hadn't played the big console version. First impression - oh my, why are the graphics so bad? The character models and their lighting are really last gen, highlighted by the way cut scenes switch from the shiny detailed (yet still kind of odd looking) models to the PS2-era versions. That said, once it gets into the actual fights and I'm at usual fight distance, it's not too bad. The backgrounds look nice and detailed with plenty going on, there are times when more than two character models are needed on screen and it moves smoothly with no frame rate drops so I guess the character models took a hit for those other aspects and that's fair enough.

Once I got past the old-school visuals, I discovered what seems to be a pretty excellent fighting game. Going the arcadey mode first, I found a really good selection of Mortal Kombat characters and getting into the fighting, the impacts are excellent and the moves really satisfying. Very enjoyable combat, reminiscent of classic Mortal Kombat but feeling nowhere near as limited. Really enjoyable.

Then getting into the story mode, wow, they really put the effort in here. What a wonderful story mode. I know this sort of thing doesn't matter to some in fighting games but I love a story and love having a reason to fight my opponent, like role-play fighting. It makes it much more involving for me. And they really went all out here. I'm really impressed with how they structured it and the amount of progression in the story. I didn't know all that much about this new MK, so this is a real treat. And having abandoned the series since it went 3D, I'm loving the odd surprise (like

->Open Spoiler<-

human Cyrax and Sektor

) and characters I don't know.

It's nasty. Very violent and even with the outlandish story and moves, there's a real horror feel here. Means Freddy Krueger doesn't feel all that out of place.

So I'm massively enjoying this. Very impressed.

[davek22]

Agree with you on the graphics Dog. The close ups during the introductions and fatalities really make me think those character models are PSP level. Also there are lots of gore particle effects missing from the home console versions. It makes me wonder if they have a 3DS conversion planned and these are shared assets. I got Tekken on 3DS same day and shocked to say that looks nicer than MK
Getting past that though I have been loving the game. The variety in the challenge towers on Vita with great use of touch screen makes it worth playing even for owners of other console versions. The Vita dpad is really nice for fighters. Playing it back to back with Tekken on 3DS really shows Vita is best for fighting games

[Dogg Thang]

You could very well be right that they're planned shared assets. Or maybe this was started as a PSP version at one point. Either way, the graphics are very disappointing given the capabilities of the Vita. Still, really loving the game itself. Would have been nice to have the game this good and look great too though.

[davek22]

Loving the challenge towers. Test your slice is cool. Fruit ninja but with body parts

[Dogg Thang]

Is there any system to unlocking things with the coins or do I just choose at random until eventually I unlock everything?

[davek22]

It seems random to me. I got a new fatality by going right to the back and picking an iron maiden victim though. Dog if you want to play multiplayer my ps name is dkwookie. I keep getting thrashed online

[Dogg Thang]

Cool, I'll add you if I haven't already although I haven't yet given online a go. Just been in the story mode since I got it. It's really good.

[Shozuki]

love last years MK and got this on Vita today and well its as fun as ever but the graphics are awful at best which is a crying shame. Agree with the others on the new challenge tower stuff is really fun!

Still a great game, but man.... Those graphics are awful!

[Dogg Thang]

Finished the story mode tonight. Really excellent stuff, although I didn't know the guy

->Open Spoiler<-

right at the last cut scene, must be from a later MK game?

Also there are some people in the character select who don't appear in the story. Freddy Krueger and Kratos for obvious reasons but I don't really know the others, except for Rain who I think was in UMK3 if I remember correctly.

And on top of the meaty story mode, the arcade battles also have endings? Excellent. Really impressive.

Wondering now if the crappy graphics have anything to do with having to load everyone in for Shang Tsung?