Mortal Kombat AKA The best story ever in a fighting game

[Sno]

I am definitely in the minority about MK9 and it saddens me.

As for the fighting game it plays, well it is just a case of the fact that the low level game is completely unispiring, it doesn't feel like there is much to play around with and instead it suffers from what Tekken always has, that spamming buttons works fine and then there is a massive divide in the mid level game (I cannot comment on the high level stuff alluded to) where you just learn the scripted, prescribed combos and then you are done.

I am not great at fighting games (my days of Streetfighter 2 obsession are way behind me), but it was easy to see the limitations of the low level game when it becomes so transparent in a matter or minutes.

I really don't want to just try and dismiss your opinions of the game, that's not what i'm trying to do, but i can't help but feel that maybe you've been approaching the game from the wrong angle.

There's been some talk about it of course, but I don't think anybody here is really digging into that high level game. I follow that scene kind of passively, but i'm a total scrub myself. I am a pretty casual fan of fighting games, and am definitely playing a pretty low-end game, but even for me there's a lot of flexibility and possibility i've found in MK9. Probably not as much as some other games, but it's definitely there. Like, special cancels are real important in MK9, if you mix some special moves into those basic canned strings, it really opens things wide up. (Juggles too, very important, especially in the corner.)

Say you're playing Scorpion, the move list shows you a BP-FP-BP string. Well don't do just that, do a BP-FP-Spear-BP-FP-Takeout. Twice the damage and still extremely minimal level of execution. The thing here is its definitely not the most efficient or effective combo, you're never going to see people throwing that combo around in guides or anything, it's just something i tried out in the training mode and found worked well for me and my general level of skill, so i started using it. (The lag online also really limits what you can do, and that is a real problem with the game.)

Way more important though is that a lot of strategy elements that apply to any fighting game also apply to MK9, baiting attacks and punishing whiffs, high/low mix-ups, etc. (Here's the whole side of fighting games you will never get out of, or even learn from playing solo AI's, figuring out somebody's strategies and breaking them apart will always be the real draw for a good fighting game.)

Maybe this helps open up the game a bit for you, but maybe you already knew all this and still didn't like the game, that's certainly your prerogative.

[riotspark]

After putting some time into this game, I'd probably go with the idea that this is not a game where playing to win, and playing to have fun coincide with each other, due mainly for such a high disproportion between low and mid level play with its combo, spacing, and meter mechanics. Enjoyment from this game as far as the raw fighting mechanics will greatly depend on what type of gamer the player is vs. who they normally play with. I see this game as one I can def. play around with friends who aren't super hardcore into fighters like I normally am since we can mess around with the different characters, along with the low level of execution for the special moves. That fun can greatly dissipate once someone plays the game at a higher level simply from how fast the game is once combo strings, chains, and stuff get put together.

That said, the amount of time and effort they put into story/challenge modes respectively should be a gold standard for future fighting games to come, although will most likely be one not met by eastern developers due to their shift in focus and design, especially with console ports.