Sean Akizuki's Fantasy Critic

Shang Tsung is one controversial character. I remembered one of the reasons why Mortal Kombat was rightfully bashed was due to the lack of balance. One of them happened to be where Shang Tsung who started out as the FINAL BOSS of the first game became a playable character along with Reptile. Reptile was given his own moves and was toned down. However, Shang Tsung wasn't exactly toned down. Sure, Shang Tsung's fireballs were now less damaging but one attribute made him that OP - it's the fact he could morph into ANY playable character. That imbalance just got worse during the PSX's version of MK Trilogy where bosses were playable. Fortunately, it came with a price that there was the lag. The 3D era of MK just gave a better balance by removing the morphs altogether since MKDA except for the crap handheld version. The morph ability, however, was somewhat returned in MK9 . The boss version of Shang Tsung could morph into any character at will but NOT Shang Tsung as a playab...

As I love to say it, Mortal Kombat (2011) or MK9 will probably be one of those games where it all came together. There are really some obvious references to the movie such as the boat found in the Courtyard, Shang Tsung uses the phrase "YOUR SOUL IS MINE!" from the movie, Liu Kang meeting Kitana at the first tournament, and not to mention Kano himself. Kano had the late Trevor Goddard's look in MK vs. DC though the references were made clearer in MK9 . Not MKX or MK11 but MK9 gave a portrayal that felt like Goddard never died at all. Goddard's performance as Kano was so good it caused Kano's background to be changed from Japanese to Australian.  What fans may not notice is that Kano's knives vary from game to game. In MK9 , we see that Kano himself has nearly the same set of knives he had from the MOVIE back in 1995. Yup, it's really a very welcome nod. One of his tag combos is called Ear to Ear - a reference to the movie line where Kano described the brut...

One character who is always mentioned but never played or fought against is the GREAT Kung Lao. Why I'm putting Great is because there are two Kung Lao characters - one is the original Kung Lao and the second is the Kung Lao who serves as the Ken to Ryu's Liu Kang. So, it's questioned how in the world did he have descendants? The first Mortal Kombat game or coined as MK1 had this introduction screen. It was just the start of a new game and it was a pretty low budget game. You could see the caption "GORO LIVES" followed by this narration. So the Great Kung Lao was a Shaolin monk? Wait, aren't they supposed to be celibate? A cross-cultural study will reveal that some countries do have the tradition (that is, if you're a Buddhist) to have a time in your life to serve as a Shaolin monk until a CERTAIN PERIOD in time. Either you pursue the life of a monk or choose the life of an ordinary man after some time. Probably, after the tournament, the Great Kung Lao ch...

I could remember back in 2011 before we got ourselves a PS3 back in 2013 - I could remember the time I was still canvassing with games. I didn't want to get a game for the hype - I wanted the game because it's good and Mortal Kombat (2011 ) was winning a lot of good reviews from casual games to critics. One thing I noticed in the Story Mode is that not only is a huge portion dedicated to MK2 but also to the Mortal Kombat (1995) film which can be evident with the boat. A lot of designs were taken from the movie such as Kano looks a lot like the late Trevor Goddard (though said design was used in MK vs. DC Universe ) or how Shang Tsung carried out his trademark phrase, "YOUR SOUL IS MINE!" Wait, where did we hear that phrase? Yes, it was from the MK film which Shang Tsung used it to steal the souls of individuals used to steal the soul of some non-canon characters.  This would be an interesting old tweet by Ed Boon himself... Way back in 2011 - Boon admitted that he act...

  The death of the Sega Dreamcast (and fortunately I NEVER had one) sure changed Sega's direction. Some games that were Dreamcast exclusives ended up going into Sega's former rivals in the console market. One of those games was Marvel vs. Capcom 2 - the first arcade game I was able to "take-home" for the PS2. Though, Capcom was already getting douchy in many ways. Remember when the Dreamcast had the near-arcade perfect translation of the first Marvel vs. Capcom game? The PS1 owners had to settle for the cheap EX mode because the hardware couldn't handle it. The PS2 could handle true tag-team play. At first, I enjoyed MVC2 and just understood why Capcom didn't give individual character endings - TOO MANY CHARACTERS. Then I really remembered how I really missed MVC at the arcade where true tag team play was really giving excitement. Time passed when the PS2 was dying and it was time to get a PS3. Yes, a PS3 and I played through Mortal Kombat (2011) . One of the ...

  Personally, I don't really care if people keep saying that MK11 or MKX is the best of the reboot trilogy for the franchise. For me, the honor will still go to MK (2011) which is fondly called MK9 by the fans. I feel this game needs to be REMASTERED at all costs especially since its tenth anniversary is arriving. I was thinking about this game made me drop almost every MK game ever made in the past except for MK Shaolin Monks . Shaolin Monks was a good adventure game that made MK Mythologies Sub Zero feel it never existed and was possibly a retcon of MKII . However, after MK9 came in - I didn't even bother playing MK Deception a game that I did praise so much. MK Deception actually fits its title with deception very much - it would be better to play MK9 instead . It's because MK9 is the franchise's entry that nearly brought everything together. The nostalgia the game has is rather heavy since Netherrealm was aware that some children snuck away to play the game. The gam...

I was thinking about how MK11: Aftermath was shown and it's really HIGHWAY ROBBERY. Overpriced, incomplete, and not to mention it already shows why I actually regret buying the game. At least, MKX gave us a complete edition in MKXL which served as a beautiful compensation package since the last gen consoles were impossible to make. Something worth thinking about that MKX wasn't exactly as grindy though some requirements were actually grindy. I mean, I hate the whole idea that I need to win 30 online matches with Liu Kang to get his Revenant costume. Meanwhile, the complete package gave all the paid DLC characters together with Goro. Yes, Goro was a pre-order bonus. Then I thought about  MK11 in itself is starting to TICK ME OFF. So, I guess games today have become highway robbery because of MICROTRANSACTIONS for hidden characters. Sure, Aftermath does give us free Friendships and free Stage Fatalities. What ticks me off is that we have to BUY AFTERMATH to play as the new set of...