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[Popple]

It seems as of late that old fighting franchises are starting to make a comeback in both brand new titles and as downloadable games on all of the next-gen consoles, but Ultimate Mortal Kombat is the first portable attempt that a major franchise has attempted since Tekken for the PSP. Will the game still hold up to it's name, or will the constraints of the handheld pull a fatality on this title?

The first thing you should know is that Ultimate Mortal Kombat is two games, Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 and Puzzle Kombat. Puzzle Kombat is basically a Puzzle Fighter clone that isn't as fun or entertaining. That doesn't mean it's bad though, as it is a good substitution when you will like laying down the spear for awhile. It is a simple puzzle game where you match colored blocks to fill up a special move bar that can cause a variety of effects to the field. The loser is the one who's stack reaches the top first. It has several unlockable characters and has a fairly easy single player mode for anyone who has played puzzle games before.

Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 is where the real meat of this game is, but you will probably want a wifi connection if you want to enjoy it to the fullest. The game has 22 unique characters, three of which are unlockable with codes inputted into the game over screen. Some of the characters seem to be palette swaps of others, but they all have unique moves and animations. Some seem a bit more powerful than others, but for the most part they are balanced. The fighting is fast and fun, and fatalities are still exciting to execute. You can even still knock you opponents up to another floor, though the transition is not as smooth. One nice touch is that the button combinations are now on either the top or bottom screen depending on where you are playing so you will never have to remember how to do a move or fatality ever again. If anything negative can be said, it's that the single player AI is ruthless. The first few levels are a fairly easy once you get the hang of it, but the AI starts to react to everyone of your moves before you make it near the end. The bosses are particularly hard, and you will have to use specific strategies and tricks to beat them. It does take away from the game, but if you are looking for a challenge you will find no end in Mortal Kombat.

The look of the game is 100% retro. The graphics seem to be the exact same as their earlier counter parts as do the sound effects and music. Scorpion will still shout out "GET OVER HERE!" in a deep voice and the announcer Liu Kang will still yell in a stereotypical Asian accent when performing a bicycle kick. The funny touches are still here like the Animalities and a head coming out from the side of the screen and yelling "WHOOPSIE." The menu's on the other hand are generally bland and pretty lifeless. The one weird thing I noticed was that some of the fatalities or blacked out before completion, namely Sub-Zero ripping the skull out of his opponent. The game has an M rating, so I really don't know how the justified doing this. It is minor, but still it ticks me off as I'm not sure how many of the fatalities are like this and takes away from the experience a lot.

The game has quite a few extras a well. These include bios on all the characters, as well as other unlockables such as extra matches against special opponents or demonstrations of fatalities in the game. The best extra by far though is Wifi for both games, though it is much more valuable for UMK3. When you enter wifi, you will have several choices. Worldwide, ranked, and friends. Friends is obviously playing with people who have your friend code, but the other two are a little different. Ranked is where you play a match against another opponent for a rank on the leader boards, while Worldwide will match you up with a random person and you may play as many matches as you want with them. You can even put in Kombat Kodes before matches to activate special effects and stages. Overall, the wifi is what justifies the purchase of this game and makes it a steal at $30. I encountered little lag, except for one occasion when playing with someone from a different country, and it plays just as fast as in the single and local multiplayer. You can not chat with the person you are fighting in any way, but it is still extremely fun even if you don't know others who own the game.

In summary, Ultimate Mortal Kombat is a great recreation of a legendary classic. It may not be worth a purchase if you don't have wifi, but if you do it is the greatest fighting games on the DS and a great game for anyone who loves fast paced action and lots of gore.

Content: 8/10
The wifi and extras are great, but Puzzle Kombat is at best only a decent substitute for the fighting.

Gameplay: 8.5/10
It still plays great and the second screen is put to great effect. Some changes like altered fatalities though ruin some of the magic.

Presentation: 7.5/10
The graphics and sound during gameplay is great, but the rest of the game is as lifeless as it can get.

TOTAL: 8/10

[Weegee]

I never played the DS game, but I played UMK3 before, it was the best Mortal Combat game I played. It's way better than those 3D ones.