Ultimate Mortal Kombat

It's hard to believe that just a decade ago, the Mortal Kombat fighting games were lambasted for their extreme violence and graphic blood. Ten years on and here we are playing one such game on the same dual-screened handheld that boasts cutesy Petz games and Animal Crossing: Wild World, amongst others. The bright red pixels of Ultimate Mortal Kombat might no longer be stirring up any controversy, but you can be sure the series is making a mark as one of the best handheld fighting experiences around.

All of the bloody action takes place on the touchscreen. You won't go hands-on with fatalities though, as Ultimate Mortal Kombat keeps strictly to the face and shoulder buttons. It's all in good form since a lack of touchscreen controls is far better than haphazard ones.

The top screen displays a list of moves specific to your character, along with the button presses needed to execute them. This is incredibly helpful when jumping into the game for the first time and remains a great reference if you're already familiar with the original. Utilising the top screen in this way not only makes it easy to learn moves, but it also does away with the need for a practice mode since you can just as well hone your skills in the single-player game.

Amongst the game's three modes of play – single-player Arcade, local versus, and online versus – it's multiplayer that grabs the spotlight. Support for online bouts via Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection boosts Ultimate Mortal Kombat from being a decent handheld brawler into best of breed pedigree. Matching blows with a buddy makes for an infinitely more exciting match, and while this can be said of any fighting game, it's particularly noticeable here.

Predictable enemy behaviour prevents the single-player game from achieving its full fun potential, whereas the opposite is true for the two versus modes. In the former, opponents fight according to rigid behaviour patterns based on their win-loss record. Beat an enemy into a messy pulp and the computer responds by upping the difficulty.

Naturally, fights get progressively harder the more blood you spill. Really hard. Hard as in 'angrily shake your DS in a fit of rage so that it closes on your fingers' hard. We've got the bandaged knuckles as evidence of all the time this reviewer invested in learning how to grapple against the DS.

Let our hard lesson be a guide for you: the reactionary behaviour of the computer is largely predictable. Computer-controlled opponents will come at you with devastating combos when threatened by a blow of your own. But tricking them with a feint leaves them vulnerable to a follow-up attack. Once you get this pattern down, you're untouchable. Unfortunately, it makes the single-player game a total drag, reducing matches into a digital game of cat-and-mouse that is easily won once you know the trick.

But it's worth stressing the problems with single-player combat lie in the artificial intelligence, not the fighting engine. In other words, the game's combat system isn't inherently flawed or imbalanced; on the contrary, it's nicely tuned and works smashingly in multiplayer. Ultimate Mortal Kombat compiles all of the series' best 2D moves in one complete package: fatalities, babalities, and the bizarre animalities.

These super moves top a well-balanced assortment of basic attacks. Specific actions differ amongst the huge roster of characters, but a careful balance prevents any particular pugilist from having an advantage over another. That said, of the game's 20-plus personas, there are definitely a few that could be ditched simply because they share too many similarities with another combatant.

Complementing the main fighting game is Puzzle Kombat, a simple mini-game that pits you against classic Mortal Kombat characters in Tetris-influenced match-'em-up battles. Coloured blocks descend from the top edge of the touchscreen, moved by taps on the D-pad. The goal is to group like colours in order to clear them from your board and dump them on your opponent's field.

As a distraction it's fun, although it doesn't offer enough depth to entertain for marathon-length sessions. But then you're picking up Ultimate Mortal Kombat for some good-natured pixellated bloodshed, not a brainy puzzler.

That's not to say its inclusion is unwelcome – far from it. Indeed, when paired with the ingeniously reworked version of console title Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 that makes up the core of the experience available here, the combination results in what is easily one of the best handheld fighting games available on DS. Sure, the single-player game has its problems, but the multiplayer more than makes up for it.

Not perfect, then, but certainly fun enough to pull a fatality on your wallet.

Ultimate Mortal Kombat

A kompelling combination of a klassic bloody brawler and spin-off mini-game, Ultimate Mortal Kombat's few flaws are dealt a good kicking by the game's awesome online multiplayer
Score
Tracy Erickson
Tracy Erickson
Manning our editorial outpost in America, Tracy comes with years of expertise at mashing a keyboard. When he's not out painting the town red, he jets across the home of the brave, covering press events under the Pocket Gamer banner.