Mortal Kombat (2011 video game)

Mortal Kombat (2011 video game) is the working title for the upcoming new fighting game in the Mortal Kombat series, currently in development by the newly named NetherRealm Studios (formerly WB Games Chicago).

The game was first hinted at by developer Ed Boon on January 2009, shortly after the release of the previous game in the franchise, Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe.

On June 18, 2009, Boon confirmed in his Twitter page that they were performing motion capture for the game. He also revealed that the game is not related to the Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe game, and that they were again aiming for a "Mature" rating, contrarily to the "Teen" rating attained by the previous game.

Plot
In a most recent interview, more of the plot has been revealed. The story retells the events of the original trilogy, in an alternate timeline where Raiden receives a message from himself in the prime future where Armageddon has happened and Shao Kahn became the supreme leader of all the realms. Because of this plot, characters and scenarios present are the classic ones, bringing the old back to new and starting a new conflict.

Gameplay
The normal blows have changed a lot, instead of having a few punches and kicks divided between high and low, now there's a button for each limb: front arm, front leg, back arm, and back leg. This combines with most martial arts techniques and serves to let more fluid character animations, but does not change much the feel of the game for those who already have experience with 2D games. The player also can make many special moves and execute them without much effort. Also added with new gameplay is the intro and outro animations. Each character will have a diffrent intro and outro, depending if they decided to do a fatality or not.

thumb|300px|right|MK9 Scorpion combo exhibition 720p HD - Mortal Kombat 2011 MK 9

The controls also refer a lot to Mortal Kombat 3, with the clash limited to a single plane, the fastest pace of struggle, many movements that throw the opponent into the air, and several others that take advantage of aerial combat. The "run" button will not come back, but there will be a quick dash and paste to the player's opponent and inflict even more damage if they're quick in getting their combo. Also out is the infamous system "dial-a-Kombo", which was introduced in MK3 and used pre-defined sequences of buttons to execute "ready" combos. The combos are more akin to those found in MK1 and MKII, consisting largely of chaining regular attacks and special moves together. In the words of Ed Boon: "You're making your own combos. We aren't programming them in as much". This brings a lot of freedom to play and with the speed of return, as it is very easy to improvise a few effective beatings.

Another welcome return are the "real" Fatalities. Mortal Kombat: Armageddon used the infamous Kreate-a-fatality and Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe used far less violent versions of the finishers. Now violence is back with great pride, this time the team began creating the game for fatalities, an element that was before the end of the development cycle. From this process emerged ideas how to combine fatalities, "before, Kung Lao had a fatality in which he cut a guy in half and another in which he beheaded a person, now he has one where he does both," claims Ed Boon in an interview with Giant Bomb.

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One new feature that has drawn much attention and keeps very well the climate of brutality is the introduction of X-Ray Attacks. With them, the player can see the internal damage caused by the blows on the opponent. The player must wait until their special bar is full before they can use the X-ray moves for their fighter and this is not necessary to use combo breakers or versions of the special powers that cause more damage, since both use their special abilities bar. There is also distinct damage done to the characters during the matches.

On December 7, 2010 a leak from the official website released several audio files from the game. Those leaked files included voice overs for some confirmed and unconfirmed characters, music for arenas, and announcer voice overs (fight, finish him, fatality, etc). Among the Announcer audio files were "Announcer Brutality" and "Announcer Test Your Might". Thus leaking the inclusions of the Brutality finisher, a form of Fatality, and Test Your Might side game.

The game will feature three different one player modes: Story Mode, in which the player assumes the role of several different pre-designated characters and the main plot is told; a tournament ladder reminiscent of the earlier MK games which features a sub-boss, boss, and animated ending for each character; and a training mode which allows players to hone their skills with their chosen character.

Mortal Kombat will also include several mini-games, like the classic Test Your Might, and Test Your Sight, as well as the new Test Your Strike and Test Your Luck. The game also includes a massive 300 mission challenge in a new mode called The Challenge Tower.

Confirmed Characters
The game will feature at least 26 playable characters in addition to an unknown number of downloadable (DLC) characters.

The officially confirmed characters that have been seen in play, thus far, are: The characters that have not been seen in play, but have been officially confirmed, thus far, are:
 * 1) Baraka
 * 2) Cyrax
 * 3) Ermac
 * 4) Goro
 * 5) Jade
 * 6) Jax
 * 7) Johnny Cage
 * 8) Kano
 * 9) Kitana
 * 10) Kung Laothumb|300px|right|MK9 Liu Kang combo exhibition 720p HD - Mortal Kombat 2011
 * 11) Kratos (Playstation 3 exclusive character).
 * 12) Liu Kang
 * 13) Mileena
 * 14) Nightwolf
 * 15) Noob Saibot
 * 16) Reptile
 * 17) Scorpion
 * 18) Sektor
 * 19) Shang Tsung
 * 20) Shao Kahn
 * 21) Sindel
 * 22) Sonya Bladethumb|300px|right|Mortal Kombat 9 Noob Saibot trailer
 * 23) Stryker
 * 24) Sub-Zero
 * 1) Kabal
 * 2) Quan Chi
 * 3) Raiden


 * On September 10th, Ed Boon' updated his twitter with an image of the leg of an unknown, red-clad, female character. Speculation has abounded that this might be a redesign of Sareena, or Skarlet. Boon had initially promised to release the full image should Shao Kahn win against Gears of War's General RAAM in Gamespot's "All Time Greatest Villain" Contest. However, since Shao Kahn's loss, no additional information as to the identity of this character has been given.
 * In the official Playstation Magazine, a preview of the game states, "It's expected that the roster will be rounded up with Kombat's usual assortment of gods, creeps and weirdos, including Raiden, Sonya, Jax, Smoke, Kitana, Liu Kang and others."
 * On December 7, 2010, a series of audio clips were leaked onto the official website. Although no longer available from their original source, the leak is still available elsewhere online due to fans.
 * Amongst the audio clips are a series of character intros titled after the following characters: Ermac, Goro, Kabal, Kung Lao, Noob Saibot, Quan Chi, Sektor, Shao Kahn, Sindel, Smoke, Stryker, and Sub-Zero.
 * One intro, titled after Shao Kahn, says "Your soul is mine." It is assumed that the audio clip was mislabeled and was intended to refer to 'Shang Tsung (though Shao Kahn was capable to claim almost all the souls in Earthrealm without the intervention of Shang Tsung in MK3/UMK3/MKT).
 * Additional audio clips titled after Mileena, Jax, Scorpion, Shao Kahn, Shang Tsung and Johnny Cage were also included in the leak.
 * One audio track was ominously titled "Sektor Human."
 * On December 7, 2010, Ed Boon updated his Twitter with "TMLT: BoRaiCho's X-ray is hilarious !!!" The "TMLT" is likely a play on the "TMIT" (Too Much Information Tuesdays) on his Twitter meaning "Too Many Leaks Tuesday." At the time of the update, there has been no indication that Bo' Rai Cho is in the game, so the seriousness of the tweet is in question. Bo' Rai Cho has also been seen and mentioned in Liu Kang's character video, but not as a playable character.
 * On January 10, 2011, Ed Boon updated his Twitter asking for fans to weigh in on which characters they'd like to see as DLC: "Seriously guys. Tell me your order of preference for a DLC character. Rain, Shinnok, Kenshi, Robo-smoke, or new character?" "Ooops...forgot one. Or Tanya. "
 * On January 16, 2011, The Mortal Kombat team, aka MK_MortalKombat updated their Twitter with ":) RT @JLU51306: @MK_MortalKombat Please, please, please show some gameplay of new characters at PAX East, *cough* *cough* Sheeva *cough*." This is a possible hint indicating Sheeva gameplay at Pax East 2011 in March, therefore hinting a possibility of Sheeva being added to the roster in the game.
 * On February 19, 2011, Ed Boon on Twitter once again hinted of the possibility of Master Bo' Rai Cho as a playable character and also feature the Dragon King, Onaga: "OK, back to work. Gotta go balance Onaga's parry move and BoRaiCho's friendship. So much to do !!!"
 * On February 25, 2011, the Australian Classification Board posted details as to why the game was declined for release in Australia. While quickly removed, this document confirms the inclusion of both Quan Chi and Kabal by describing their fatalities, along with those of Shao Kahn, Jade, Baraka, and Stryker.
 * On March 2nd, 2011, A video was released on IGN detailing a new feature of Mortal Kombat called the Challenge Tower. In this video, Shao Kahn is shown combating Scorpion and Sub Zero.

Cameo Appearances
Throughout the trailers and the promotional images, numerous, unconfirmed characters were seen in the background of certain arenas. It should be noted, however, that it was hinted that some of these characters are merely placeholders, and might not even make it into the background of the final version of the video game itself.
 * Daegon, Kenshi, Reiko, Frost, Havik, and Sareena are shown fighting in the background of the Pit II stage.
 * Kira, Li Mei, Tanya, Kitana, and an unknown red female character are shown chained in Shao Kahn's Arena.
 * Shang Tsung on his throne.
 * Rain, Shinnok, Shadow Priest and an unknown male character are shown looking over Meat on The Cathedral stage.
 * A broken rock statue of Sindel's head and hand can be seen in the background of the Desert stage lying in the sand (Screenshot below in Gallery)

Confirmed Arenas

 * The Armory
 * The Bell Tower
 * The Bridge
 * The Cathedral
 * The Courtyard
 * Dead Pool
 * Goro's Lair
 * Graveyard (with Soulnado visible)
 * Jade's Desert
 * Kahn's Arena
 * Living Forest
 * The Netherrealm
 * The Street
 * Pit II
 * Pit Bottom
 * Rooftop (with Outworld Portal visible)
 * Shang Tsung's Gardens
 * The Subway
 * Throne Room
 * Wasteland
 * Training Room
 * Kratos' Stage (Playstation 3 exclusive)

Additional Information
Midway, along with the Mortal Kombat franchise, has now since become part of Warner Bros. Many former Midway employees are now employees of Warner Bros. It was confirmed on Ed Boon's Twitter that Chameleon and Hsu Hao will not be returning for Mortal Kombat 9. There will be many other unpopular or "clone" characters not returning along with them.

In June 10, 2010, the first official information, along with a trailer, was released. Amongst the new gameplay features was a Tag Team mode, shown in the trailer. At E3, GameSpot interviewed with Ed Boon. The gameplay is said to be a mixture of everything well-received concerning Mortal Kombat. The simplified gameplay engine with the addition of the Tag Team features will allow for a plethora of custom combos. Regarding the game's position within the canon, Boon confirmed that the game takes place shortly after Armageddon, the story involving a time-travel element that takes the characters back to events between the first three games, but with added twists.

In July 1, 2010, Hector Sanchez was interviewed, he said Konquest will not be in this game and says Raiden will actually be playable and Shang Tsung is heavily rumored to be playable. He also says he knows all of the characters that are going to be in the game but he can't say who they are right now.

On September 27, 2010 Ed Boon updated his twitter with the message ''"Sitting @ Starbucks in LA with free wifi & some time to kill. Maybe I'll sketch out some of our last fatalities & frien--- um, fatalities." ''hinting at the inclusion of friendship fatalities in the game. It has yet to be officially announced that friendships will be featured in the game, so for now it could be some playing around with the the fans on Ed's part.

Keeping the thread of the Friendships, Ed Boon updated his twitter on February 13, 2011 saying "2 fatality moves and 1 move for peace. Its all for love. L.O.V.E."

In a recent interview with Game reactor, Ed Boon said that "Toasty!" is back, but no other word has been said on the subject[]

Reception
PC Magazine called this iteration of Mortal Kombat one of the most anticipated titles of E3. The 2010 Electronic Entertainment Expo showcase version received the Best Fighting Game of E3 and Best Stage Demo of E3 awards by GameSpot, and the Best Fighting Game of E3 award by GameTrailers. GameSpy called Mortal Kombat the "Fighting Game of Show" in their "Best of E3 2010". Game Informer also rated Mortal Kombat eighth in their "E3 Hot 50" calling Mortal Kombat "...the most violent game ever made..."

Many sites welcomed the return of the series to form: praising it not only for returning to the roots, but taking them to a totally new level.

Release
Mortal Kombat (2011) is to be released on April 19th, 2011. Mortal Kombat is available for pre-order in three different editions: "The Standard Edition", "The Kollector's Edition", and "The Tournament Edition". The Standard Edition consists of a copy of Mortal Kombat with no extras. The Kollector's Editions consists of a copy of Mortal Kombat, Sub-Zero and Scorpion bookends, an art book, and a "Klassic" DLC skin for Ermac. The Tournament Edition is the same as the Kollectors Edition but instead of bookends and an artbook, it contains a fight stick controller. In addition, PS3 owners who purchase a copy of either Mortal Kombat or Mortal Kombat: Annihilation on Blu-Ray (which are also released April 19th) will receive a code to unlock Jade's "Klassic Kostume". The game has been denied a classification by the Australian Classification Board, which means the game is effectively banned from sale there.



Trivia

 * This is the first fighting game in the franchise to include battle intros for the characters, something that has been a mainstay in many other fighting games. However, Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks had battle intros for the characters in the game's "Versus" mode, although that isn't one of the fighting games, and is classified as an adventure game.
 * The in-game announcer is voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson, the voice of Ermac in the animated show, and Goro in the first movie.
 * The developers' first Mortal Kombat game to be made as Netherrealm Studios.
 * Although commonly listed as the first Mortal Kombat to have a tag team mode, this is not strictly true. Mortal Kombat: Tournament Edition also had this feature.