MORTAL KOMBAT!

Mortal Kombat is a great game. However, it’s also a frustrating game. I’ll admit this up front: I don’t play fighting games all that often, and I’m not necessarily very good. That being said, I feel like I’m in a position where I can’t have fun with the game. I’m not really someone who wants to dedicate hours upon hours struggling to get better. Hell, any time I’ve TRIED to get better, it never seems to help any. I always hear from fighting game pros that the way to get better when you are new is to repeatedly get your ass kicked, but honestly, that doesn’t seem to do much except aggravate the situation. Getting beaten into submission when you don’t really understand why doesn’t exactly help you learn anything except how far you can throw your controller down the hall.

Another suggestion I’ve seen tossed around is playing the arcade ladder as a way to practice. But to be honest, playing against AI is probably the furthest thing from helpful.The AI doesn’t function like a player; it just tends to rattle off combos constantly. I had to turn the difficulty all the way down just to beat the story (on a side note, I would love to sodomize Shao Khan with that hammer of his for that last boss battle).

I don’t know, I guess what I’m trying to say is that the game is very frustrating to play online, and I feel that the reason for that is there is no skill segregation. There are many open multiplayer rooms that are labeled “beginner” or “rookie”, but more often than not they seem to be filled with veteran players looking to beat up on people who identify themselves as not very good. I’ve always thought fighting games could use a Starcraft II style ranking system so people who aren’t very good don’t get subjected to repeated beat downs. It’s also really hard to get better when you can’t play people of similar skill level.

That brings up my last major annoyance. Whenever you do find people who don’t just stomp you into the ground, it’s usually people who just want to turtle in the corner and spam projectiles. It seems like I can’t catch a break.

I’m rambling now, so I think I’ll just end it here. What do you guys think? Am I on the right track, or are fighting games just not for me? Do you think there is a better way to group players in fighting games, or does it just come with the territory?