Getting Your Pants All Toasty
Franchise founder Ed Boon and NetherRealm Studios came back in a big way with 2011's reboot of the Mortal Kombat series, treating longtime fans and newcomers alike to a refreshingly familiar behemoth of content. Delivering an intriguing package of minigames and challenges, alongside a cinematic story mode, it struck all the right chords that many reboots and fighting games just don't get right.
If you're a fan of fighting games at all, it was and still is a must play. The Vita version packs all of it's console-counterpart's features in (minus a few portions of the online features), and manages to throw in a bonus challenge tower that plays to the handheld's touch screen and gyroscope. It's a great port, falling a little short on visuals, but without any compromises to the physical gameplay. It works well in short bursts of gaming, and in essence, this is the same MK that won a lot of hearts and brought back old school fans last year.
Perhaps the bigger question is, if you already own it on a console, is it worth buying again? The Vita, though still a little unproven in other genres, has definitely shown to be a very competant fighting game machine and in some cases, I even prefer the feel of it over a PS3 or 360 gamepad. The Vita analog stick has a certain "clicky-ness" that lends itself pretty well for the genre and it works great with MK. Personally, the downfall for me is that some of my best experiences with the series is being right next to your opponent in the same room. The online multiplayer works just fine, and there is an AD-HOC multiplayer mode that's available, but it's just not the same as getting a few buddies together.
There is no doubt about it that we're definitely in a bit of a waiting period for high-quality Vita software, and Mortal Kombat has set the bar pretty high for what we can expect. If you're a die-hard fan of the series or if your Vita is begging for you to give it some loving, it's presently hard to recommend something with more bang for your buck, and sheer amount of content.
