Today marked the final day of
E3 for
2002. Today was spent playing the game, going over it some more, and getting a final impression of what we can expect. As we said before, if what we have seen here is an indication of things to come, then the fans will not be disappointed.
One of the first things we did this morning was speak to a gentleman from Midway's marketing department and with Ed Boon concerning the possibility of a Mortal Kombat C(K?)ompilation collected game for the next-gen systems. The answer was that while it was a very good idea, and Ed had actually tossed it around before, but there were currently no plans to produce one. HOWEVER, once we mentioned the interest the fans had been showing in such a release, the gentleman from marketing (and please forgive me, I should have gotten your name) told us he would bring the idea up at the next meeting. So, it's POSSIBLE the Kompilation may become a reality.
The main menu of the game, even unfinished, gives a peek into what is in store for the fans. Even though the only option that was enabled was Versus mode, there was a little window at the bottom right of the screen which explained each mode. The modes (and a brief explanation) were:
- ARCADE: This apears to be the standard one-on-one single-player mode like the classic games.
- VERSUS: This was the mode we played in at E3. It appears to be the standard two-player matchup.
- KONQUEST: This appears to be the quest mode mentioned earlier, where you embark on a mission to earn money (called "kurrency" in the game) and overcome obstacles and challenges (Test Your Might and/or Sight?) as you proceed to your journey's end... whatever it may be.
- PLAYER PROFILE: This might be where the settings for specific players could be stored, if the game is played with a memory card or (in the case of an X-Box or possibly the Playstation 2) used with the hard drive.
- OPTIONS: This is where the system and game specific settings are configured, including game options such as ring-outs, memory card usage in general. Also, it mentions an option called "VIEW WORLD RECORDS", though that may indicate system-specific records as Midway has already made it clear MK:DA will have no online capability.
- KONTENT: The only thing this one says is"THE MAKING OF MKDA CONCEPT ART". This probably is where non-video or static bonus materials such as pictures would be located.
- EXTRAS: This section will probably host the videos. The only information shown about this option is "THE MAKING OF MKDA THEATRE VIEWER". It's also possible this will hold the same kind of "theatre" that the home versions of MK4 had, where one could see completed characters' endings and the like.
Combos in the game are measured in the same way as in
Mortal Kombat 3 and
Mortal Kombat 4. While there were none of the "dial-a-combos" present in MK3 (and to a lesser extent MK4) in MK:DA, the system would still show you how many hits your combo did, and the percentage of damage. One thing we did notice on the
Playstation 2 version (but not the
X-Box version; it may not have been enabled yet) is that when a character is hit by 50% damage combo, the letter size on the "50% DAMAGE" notice in the combo pop-up is significantly larger. Also, on the same subject of the fighting system, the attack buttons usage would be different between fighting styles; what would be a kick in one style would be a punch on another, simply due to the particular focus of that fighting style. (A fighting style that depends on kicks would need more kick buttons than punch buttons, for example.) This is another example of the amount of attention to detail that the design team has put into the differing fighting styles.
The question of whether Flawless Victories would be counted has been resolved as well; a perfect win would bring up the standard "FLAWLESS VICTORY" message, plus the announcer stating it. We have a screenshot showing the "FLAWLESS VICTORY" message that we will upload in a few hours. As in Mortal Kombat 4, characters share some win poses. However, the characters are not limited to one victory pose; at the end of one round, a character may flex his/her arms and stand rigid, while at the end of the next he/she may kneel down and look down at the camera. Some characters have unique win poses; Quan Chi would twirl his "butterfly" blades with his arms crossed in a victory stance, and Jax would kick the camera away when it got too close in one of his poses. The victory poses show the characters up-close, and reveal the level of detail went into making them.
Tonight we will be uploading images taken from the menu options, and select screen images for each character, and later on we'll have some screenshots for you kindly provided by our friends at Midway. Tomorrow, we'll also be providing actual video taken on the show floor of actual in-game fighting and screens.
This is D'Arque Bishop and ]{0MBAT, reporting live from Los Angeles. We thank you for your support while we've been out here, and remember:
Mortal Kombat has been reborn.
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