New and Improved Storyline for 'Mortal Kombat'

IGN reported on Thursday, March 3, from the Game Developers Conference that the soon-to-be-released "Mortal Kombat" game for the Xbox 360 and PS3 will be engaged in a bit of time-bending. The article states that game characters will be moving around to various points in the franchise's storyline to alter history in untold ways. The player will then have to deal with whatever changes his time travel results in for the remainder of the game. The article quotes "Mortal Kombat" director Ed Boon, who says, "I really feel like this is the most interesting--story wise--of any of the Mortal Kombat games we've ever released."

For those of us who have a predilection toward fighting games, and I hold just such a predilection, this makes for interesting news. Mortal Kombat Online states that the "Mortal Kombat" series debuted at arcades in 1992 and was an instant hit for several reasons: the graphically realistic characters, the special moves, and the fatalities. The fatalities were undoubtedly the most controversial aspect of the game. They included the game's goriest moments, from spines being ripped out to arms being torn off and more. The blood gushed, and fighting game enthusiasts ate it up.

Unfortunately, though, the storyline for "Mortal Kombat" has never been what you would call simple to understand or all that engaging. While storylines for fighting games are certainly not the most crucial aspect as to whether the game succeeds as a whole, it is nice when they make sense and don't take away from the overall presentation.

I am eager to see how Boon and his team turn the game's somewhat chaotic history, consisting of several "realms" or dimensions that war against each other via "Mortal Kombat" tournaments, into a tight story that adds to the personal history of the characters and enhances the gameplay.

While time travel is inherently impossible to predict, if it ever was to exist, I'm hoping that the game explores some of the realms dealt with only on a passing basis in the previous games, like the realms of order and chaos or even the domain of the elder gods. I'm also interested in the fatalities, of course, and will be curious to see what new methods of disembowelment the game cooks up for this signature feature.

The new "Mortal Kombat" comes out on April 19, 2011, according to gamestop.com and will undoubtedly carry a "mature" rating. For fans of this ultra-violent fighting series, we wouldn't have it any other way.

Sources:

Greg Miller, "GDC: Mortal Kombat Meets Back to the Future", IGN
Mortal Kombat , "game information", mortalkombatonlilne.com
Mortal Combat for PlayStation 3, "release date", gamestop.com