FINISH HIM!

While I don't play a ton of video games there are a few that I follow pretty closely. I've been a huge fan of Mortal Kombat since the first game came to arcades. I fondly remember waiting my turn at Tilt to have a chance at playing the game. Of course the waiting tended to be more enjoyable for someone like myself who was terrible at the game and promptly got beat down by the "king of the arcade," but the memories are still great. 

I remember picking up the home versions for Genesis and having a blast with those games. When four came out for the playstation I was a little bummed. The changes in the game made it less fun in my opinion. The later versions for the Playstation 2 brought back some on the fun for me and I really liked all the mini games like puzzle fighter. Each new version added more stuff and soon the series was bogged down by it. Having different styles was cool and chaining combos between them was fun, but something just didn't feel right.

A few years ago they released Mortal Kombat vs. DC, which was supposed to be similar to Marvel vs Capcom mashing up super heros with the video game characters. While the game was fun, and introduced some cool mechanics like smashing through walls and arial combat, it didn't really feel like Mortal Kombat. Really you could have shoehorned any characters into the game and had a decent time with it.

Now in 2011, Mortal Kombat is back and has cut out all the extra nonsense to go back to it's roots. A 2D fighting game that has tons of gore and crazy moves. After picking the game up last week and playing through about half of the story mode I 'm really impressed. I liked the Konquest mode from previous versions, so having a story that makes sense in a fighting game is a lot of fun for me.

Going online and getting beat down in king of the hill matches is just like wasting quarters at the arcade. The nice thing about this is you can heckle and interact with the avatars of other players while waiting your turn.

There are also a bunch of hidden items, unlockables and other easter eggs that will eat tons of time trying to find them all. The challenge mode is pretty difficult, but mastering it will only improve your skill level.

If you were ever of a fan of the series this is the perfect spot to jump back in spill some blood.