My thoughts on the MK franchise:

The reason that I liked the original Mortal Kombat game is because it displayed digital graphics that appeared to be not only 10 years ahead of every fighting game out there (Street Fighter 2 especially, which was the king at that time), but basically 10 years ahead of any other arcade game that was out there, period. So the realism was certainly an important key factor in my fascination with it, but the fact that it was so shockingly gory and sick (in a good way) was even more so important. "Oh my God, did you see that? That was crazy! How did you do that??"

The reason that I liked the second MK was because it had everything that a good sequel should have - more [interesting] characters, more content (2 fatalities per character, plus friendships and babalities), special/secret content (hidden characters, PONG game after 250 wins, 3rd fatality for Shang Tsung), improved sound and visual effects, tighter gameplay. And while it was a bit of a disappointment that the second game started to go with a more cartoon-ey look, the awesome and highly addictive gameplay more than made up for it. The best part about it though was that everything just seemed so brilliantly and disgustingly "over the top." And it was a beautiful thing.

Now the reason that I liked the third MK was.. well.. because it was simply another MK game. Again, there new characters and improved sound and visuals, but where they really went wrong with MK3 is that they basically threw out a lot of the great new fighters from MK2 and included some rather forgetable characters in their place. While some of the most hardcore MK fans will agree with me that the cyber ninjas (Cyrax, Sektor, and Smoke) were a great addition to this game and the series, the addition of lackluster characters such as Stryker, Nightwolf and Sheeva are what made the game kinda suck. Surely, Scorpion, Raiden, and Mileena or Kitana would have been much better to have simply brought back in MK3 since they were so widely popular amongst the then 'MK elite.'

Enter Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. Allegedly whispered to have been "the game that MK3 wanted to be, but wasn't due to certain time constraints," UMK3 really did bring the series back on track. However, the damage had already been done. MK3 had disappointed me and many other MK fans, and with the addition of many new and more interested fighting games (Virtua Fighter 1 and 2, Tekken 1 and 2, Killer Instinct) hitting the scenes and making a lot of noise, Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 would only enjoy moderate success and fairly minimal playing time by me in both arcades and on home cosoles (SNES and Sega Saturn for me).

Then of course came the inevitable, Mortal Kombat 4. And while it had its share of moments (mainly due to the shock of it appearing somewhat third-dimensional), overall this game left an awful lot to be desired. And it was at this point, that the Mortal Kombat series had now appeared to have undoubtedly seen its best days and it was a sad time indeed. MK all of a sudden really sucked and was no longer incredibly innovative nor as much fun!

Years later: after what seemed like eternity, finally a new Mortal Kombat game is released and this time it is actually developed for the home consoles as opposed to the old method of shelling out hundreds of dollars at the arcade for a year and then dropping another fifty or sixty bucks on a half-assed port a year later. And guess what? Mortal Kombat has been totally revamped and is now in true 3D. And you know what else? It doesn't totally suck! Sharp graphics, deep gameplay (includes all-new ability to switch between 3 fighting styles during match), solid AI, improved sound, la ton of special unlockable content.. FINALLY! Yes, Deadly Alliance brought me (and probably a helluva lot of other MK fans) right back to the world of MK. All of a sudden Mortal Kombat mattered again.

2 years later, Mortal Kombat Deception is released to mixed emotions. Some loved it, some hated it, some didn't have a clear opinion. Myself, I did enjoy it. But I have to say that somehow I ended up spending a lot more of my time immersing myself in the Konquest mode rather than playing the actual fighting game this time around, which more or less does speak pretty loudly about how much more time and detail probably went in to creating the Konquest mode and the story this time around rather than concentrating on trying to add a lot of new features and whatnot to what had already become a fairly decent new fighting system with the prior game, MKDA. But nonetheless, it was MK once again and it was decent.. so I suppose in that respect my feelings for this game are in actuality quite similar to the feelings that I had towards MK3 - good, but more of the same.

Now, after waiting another 2 years, the final Mortal Kombat game for this generation of home consoles is released and this time the reaction by MK fans and I is even more divided. At times, it feels like this is in fact the game that I have been waiting for - the greatest MK ever. Other times, it feels like this could be the cheapest and laziest re-hash ever made and that it once again leaves a lot to be desired. Mortal Kombat Trilogy 2 it is not. With the incredible cast of characters you would certainly think that it is, but that is only until you suddenly come to deal with the fact that all of the characters have been scaled back and downgraded from the last two games. All the characters have only two fighting styles instead of three, all characters no longer have their own special fatality, many of the characters do not come complete with some of their classic and most popular moves (Cyrax's net, Liu Kang's mid-air fireball, etc), and for some stupid reason.. stages that are unlocked in the game seem to be virtually unplayable in Arcade mode (probably an unnoticed programming error). So all in all I gotta say that the game is pretty disappointing and it does feel very unfinished. As much as I'd like to be sitting here praising this game for all that it's worth, I simply cannot. It wouldn't be the truth. Because the truth is that I bought this game a week ago and I've already grown bored with it and have instead felt compelled to pick up Deadly Alliance again so I can finally finish Konquest mode and unlock Blaze (something I never ended up doing before since I mainly just wanted to play in Arcade mode all the time).

So do I think that Mortal Kombat should come to an end? Not exactly. But if they don't continue to innovate and deliver what feels like a finished fighting game, then yes.. they should hang it up. Either that or just stick to the Konquest Mode/Shaolin Monks-style of games.