Thousands of years ago in a battle with the fallen
Elder God known as Shinnok, I was responsible for the death of
an entire civilization. To rid all realms of Shinnok's menace I
waged a war that plunged the Earth into centuries of darkness
and banished Shinnok into a place called the Netherealm.
Now after Shao Kahn's defeat at the hands of Earth's
warriors, Shinnok has managed to escape his confines in the
Netherealm. The war is now being fought once again. Only this
time it can be won by mortals.
The graphics in Mortal Kombat 4 are awesome with
excellent 3D models and beautiful 3D environments. Even
though the game is 90% 3D, you still don't get full 3D rotation
like in Tekken 2 or Virtua Fighter, but there is still enough
rotation to give you that arcade feel. The special effects, like
the fire, are awesome too. Every part of the game is great
except for the blood. I thought Midway would make the
necessary adjustments to make the blood a little more realistic
then in the previous Mortal Kombat games. Unfortunately they
hadn't changed the blood from the last MK. MK usually has
large amounts of gushing blood in large droplets. They did the
same in MK 4 and they made them 3D. The blood doesn't look
so good, some of it is 2D (which is acceptable because House
of the Dead blood wasn't so bad), and some of it is 3D.
The sound in this game is great, you get the good old
voice of Shao Kahn at the menu and sometimes at other places
in the game. It's not at 44khz, but it's still very good. Not much
change in the sound from the last Mortal Kombat game, but I
can definitely say that the special effects are really good.
The concept of the game hasn't changed much. What
makes this game so different from Tekken and Virtua Fighter is
that MK 4 is VERY fast paced. The combos are smooth yet fast
which is great. This is definitely a great change from the
previous Mortal Kombat games because it's now 3D and the
special effect graphics, using the 3Dfx cards, are really great.
The control has changed also. It's easier to control your
fighters, and the learning curve is much quicker.
Overall I'd say this is a terrific game, definitely worth
getting if you're into the Mortal Kombat series. The
combination of 3DFX graphics, new moves and better control
make this Mortal Kombat game the best yet in the series.
Graphics: 17 / 20
Sound: 12 / 15
Gameplay: 19 / 25
Fun Factor: 17 / 20
Multiplayer Play: 3 / 5
Packaging: 5 / 5
Overall Impression: 7 / 10
Overall Rating: 80 / 100