Mortal Kombat. Then and Now.

            Maybe parents will remember the Mortal Kombat game found in arcades and on their Sega Genesis. Terrible graphics, over the top characters, ridiculous finisher moves with neon red “blood” effects.

            After nine iterations the game hasn’t really changed. But the graphics and gaming platforms have. Now instead of playing as a poorly rendered cyborg fighting a ninja girl, the gamer will play as a semi-realistic scantily clad ninja woman who is quite busy dismembering her opponent.

           The blood effects haven’t gone away but they certainly appear more real. The over the top characters are numerous and some are even disturbing. And the female characters are depicted with, um... generous proportions and little clothing.

            And if you recall the over the top but comical end moves (FINISH HIM!) I want to warn you they are back. But instead of being amusing these moves are beyond violent and gory. Tearing a character literally to pieces and then stabbing him repeatedly, tossing a character into an acid lake and then holding him under in full detail, or dragging a woman over a buzzing saw so she’s cut in half vertically are just a few examples of the gore in this game.

            These are just a few of the gruesome and disturbing finishing moves the player gets access to. I cannot recommend this game to any parents of gamers and even adults should be concerned about putting this much gore and violence into their heads.

            The game is rated Mature (17+) for Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Partial Nudity, and Strong Language.

            Parent Gamer Recommends: If you’re looking for a good fast paced fighting game I would recommend Street Fighter IV or Soul Caliber V. Both fun fighting games, both rated Teen.