Although Mortal Kombat 3 and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, released way back in 95, offer some intense fighting action, some hardcore fans of the series felt that it had lost some luster. Regardless, people continued to play them, ripping each other apart with fatalities and learning all kinds of combos to unleash on unsuspecting opponents. More than 10 years late, Midway resurrected with Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 for Xbox Live Arcade service, a revamped version that adds more characters, fatalities, and secrets.
The plot's pretty simple, really. Shao Khan has welched on his deal with the holders of the Mortal Kombat tournament and has begun an all-out invasion of Earth. This prompts fighters from both good and evil origins to rise up and challenge his rule, either bringing Earth back to its rightful place or sending it even further into despair. Many of the faces from Mortal Kombat 3 are back, including familiar faces (Liu Kang, Sonya Blade, Jax and his ridiculous metallic arms), robot assassins (Cyrax, Sektar, and Smoke), and some new additions, including a classic rendition of Sub-Zero, Rain, Ermac, Mileena, Human Smoke, and Noob Saibot. Not all of the character designs are winners (Stryker's pretty much laughable), but they are distinguished and have their own fighting styles.
Probably Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3's strongest suit is in its support of online play and support. Players can hop in to a match almost instantly against a hungry set of fighters, and it mixes things up and gives the game a much-needed edge. The AI opposition otherwise can get cheap, especially in later matches. Players can either have a normal versus match, engage in a 2-on-2 versus affair (sadly, only two fighters at one time, not all four), or an eight player tournament where only one can stand tall. There are the occasional lags, but nothing severe. These options can also be accessed off-line, in case players are in the mood for local competition. The game also contains online leaderboards, so you can see who's leading the ranks in Mortal Kombat.
The emulation is nothing special by today's standards, but it is on the mark thanks to the team at Digital Eclipse. The graphics are sufficient in portraying a war-torn world, with different backdrops that show the world in great peril. One has the fighters brawling on a rooftop as a glowing red portal looms in the background, while another takes place in a wasteland-like desert. There's also an underground subway station, several locales around the fallen city, and even a new pit stage, complete with spinning blades on the bottom that can tear a person apart easily. The music sounds just right in terms of being Mortal Kombat-ish. Some of the sound effects are off the wall, as there are too many mindless grunts, but that's just part of the tongue-in-cheek madness of the game.
What about the gameplay? It's here that players will find a lot of worth with Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. There's punches, kicks, special moves, throws, bloody uppercuts that knock opponents upward into another stage, fatalities, babalities, animalities, friendships (AGAIN?!), and other great moves that surface within the game, so that no two matches ever really feel the same. The run option i's slightly useless, aside from being able to do some cheesy, Tekken-esque run-in combos, but you don't have to use it all the time. The gameplay feels almost natural on the 360 pad, although some circular movements are a slight pain in the neck to pull off with an analog pad. As players get the hang of the gameplay, they can also access unlockable Achievements that help boost their Gamerscore.
As fun a game as Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 is, it still would have been interesting for Midway to consider putting one or both of the first two Mortal Kombats online. That's not to say this isn't a bad game, as it's loaded to the throat with content and gushing with online access aplenty. But there's still a layer of cheese spread thick across this game. Some players will dig to find the meat underneath, but others will probably skip it and go back to some real fatalities. It's worth a look for 800 points, if just to see what baby Smoke looks like. Aww, how cute...
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