Mortal Kombat (2011 video game)

Mortal Kombat (2011 video game) is the working title for an 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 will not have superheroes in it this time around, thus ruling out a sequel to Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, 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 recounts the events of the first three games in an alternate timeline where Raiden receives a message from himself in the future where Armageddon has happened and Shao Kahn became the supreme leader of the worlds. Because of this plot, characters and scenarios present are the classics ones, bringing the old back to new and starting a new conflict.

Gameplay
The normal blows have changed a bit, instead of having a few punches and kicks divided between high and low, now there's a button for each member: front arm, front leg, back arm, and back leg. Those attack buttons are based on those from Namco Bandai's Tekken series. 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.

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 was to use pre-defined sequences of buttons to execute "ready" combos. 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."- Ed Boon in an interview with Giant Bomb.

One new feature that has drawn much attention and keeps very well the climate of brutality is the introduction of X-ray moves. 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.

Confirmed Characters
The game will feature 26 playable characters in addition to an unknown number of downloadable (DLC) characters. The officially confirmed characters, thus far, are:
 * Cyrax
 * Johnny Cage
 * Kano
 * Kitana
 * Kung Lao
 * Mileena
 * Nightwolf
 * Raiden
 * Reptile
 * Scorpion
 * Sektor
 * Shang Tsung
 * Sub-Zero (confirmed to be the original Sub-Zero by Ig.com)


 * Dana Lyn Baron, Sonya's most recent voice actress, confirmed that she lent her voice to the character once again. This, however has yet to be confirmed by any official sources.


 * In addition, Shao Kahn, although present in the debut trailer, was not shown in an in-game battle, and has yet to be confirmed by any official source.


 * In a recent interview, Ed Boon hinted at Ermac. In response to a question about balancing characters, using Ermac as an example, Ed Boon said, "His moves are really cool." It is uncertain if this confirms the red-garbed ninja or not.

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.
 * Kira and Li Mei are shown chained in Shao Kahn's Arena. (Only in the trailer version)
 * Tanya is also among those chained seen in Shao Kahn's Arena in her Deception attire. (Screenshot below in gallery)
 * Daegon is shown fighting Kenshi at a random time and Reiko at a different time in the background of the Pit 2 stage.
 * Shang Tsung on his throne.
 * Rain and a Shadow Priest are shown looking over a corpse of some sort 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 Bell Tower
 * The Bridge
 * The Cathedral
 * Dead Pool
 * Jade's Desert
 * Kahn's Arena
 * Living Forest
 * Pit II
 * Rooftop
 * Throne Room

Recent News
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.

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..."

Mortal Kombat was also nominated for Best Fighting Game of E3 2010 in the Game Critics Awards, but lost to Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds.

Release
Mortal Kombat 9 is expected to be released in Spring 2011.

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.