Mortal Kombat

 I have been playing Mortal Kombat since the original was first introduced in the arcade, and consequently have played almost every subsequent console iteration...I even bought the Sub Zero side scroller game. I am a Kombat kinda guy.The recipe for Mortal Kombat is 1/3 Big Trouble in Little China, 1/3 Enter the Dragon, add a pinch of Drunken Master and Supercop...served ice-cold on the tombstone of your vanquished friends. So how does the new Kombat kompare? It hasn't changed a lot, it's basically the first three games of the series. Here's the basic storyline...Raiden gets his ass handed to him by the Emperor in the final battle of Armageddon, but just before he dies he sends a message back in time to himself in order to alter the events that lead to the Emperor's victory. The story mode centers around Raiden and the earth warriors struggle to keep earth safe, but runs through nearly the entire roster of playable characters. It's an entertaining single player mission and a cool way to get some cheevos but I didn't but the game to save Earthrealm...I wanted to kick my buddy's ass and rip out his heart, or his spine, or maybe set him on fire. This is the bloodiest Kombat ever and the fatalaties are deliciously gruesome. Theres a new mode that allows the player to build up a meter then lay down a crippling X-Ray combo on their opponent. Long-time players are rewarded with all kinds of early Kombat nostalgia: Test Your Might, Babalities, even the Whoopty guy has made it back into the game. The game is nearly perfect...and when I say nearly I mean there is a crippling shortcoming in the game's most crucial area: online Kombat. Yeah...online fighting, which requires an online pass, is so full of glitch and lag that it's not even fun. I played a buddy on my friends list, during the middle of a workday, and we lagged out of roughly 25% of our matches and the other 75% there was an unacceptable lag between button push and character move. I would recommend this game but I wouldn't waste my time buying a season pass for online play. Mortal Kombat  is still best when played at home with some friends over.