Review: Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 [Xbox 360]

I know this game came out quite awhile ago but I finally decided to transition from the Trial phase to the Full version so now I present my review of this classic in the MK series.

Back when Mortal Kombat 3 came out many were disappointed with what was essentially an upgrade from the superb Mortal Kombat II. With better graphics and a ton of new characters though it was lacking a lot that gave the series it’s charm, particularly fan favorites such as Scorpion and well.. all of the palette swap ninjas were gone. So to answer the cries of it’s fans, Midway released the Ultimate patch for MK3 upgrading it to Ultimate MK3 with the missing characters, new moves and a bunch of fixes. This was the quintessential 2D Mortal Kombat to come out since MKII and the fans were pleased..

Move forward to October 21, 2006. Midway releases UMK3 to the Xbox 360 fans in all it’s original glory with the addition of Online play (which only those who had the luck of playing a Wavenet machine back in it’s Arcade days got to enjoy), unlockable achievements, leaderboards and optimized for 4:3 and 16:9.

Is it a perfect transition? Not quite sadly… the game is an emulation not a port so theirs bound to be some bugs here and there.

Graphics: 85/100
Graphically, The most noticeable is when the game transitions from game screens, theirs a jumbled mess of scrambled graphics for a split second, does it interfere with gameplay? No, but it just makes the game look unfinished. Other then that the game looks great, not much to say about the subject because.. well.. it’s an emulation.

Sound: 100/100
The sound is perfect, all the grunts, groans, screams, gurgles and all the other brutal sounds are all intact and in stereo for you gamers with surround systems. The last time I played UMK3 at home with sound this good was back when it deputed at home on the Sega Saturn. Nothing is more satisfying then perfect sound in an arcade translation.

Gameplay: 80/100
The gameplay is all there in it’s entirety including the same cheap AI and the nearly impossible to beat Motoro and Shao Kahn. Once again the 360’s controller gets in the way though, the analog stick isn’t the best for the 2D action and the D-Pad isn’t much of an improvement.

The online play is a very nice feature BUT my only gripe with it is there is no skill setting so half of the time you may get paired up with a player who is far superior to you, pulling off 15-hit combos and leaving you feeling really embarrassed at losing to an opponent in a matter of seconds and they having won a flawless victory.

Replay: 90/100
It’s one of the best 2D MK games since MKII so you can’t beat it. While the AI is cheap and dirty it’s still fun to see the blood fly and send your enemy to his death as only MK can do.

Is it worth the 800pts? Yes, it is even if your not a huge fan of the series it is still a great fighting game.