The folks over at IGN have gone ahead and released their review of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 for the Xbox Live Arcade! While the reviewer from IGN noted that it was an almost perfect arcade port, unlike the GameSpot reviewer he tended to consider it to be more of a fault than a feature. Moreover, the reviewer had slightly more lag problems than the GameSpot reviewer, and tended to gripe about features that weren't included. From the review:
You get the sense that the computer cheats, and it's a terrible, hollow feeling that eats away at your stomach like an acid spit-ball from Reptile. After continuing enough times, you'll get to the boss characters, the biggest cheaters of them all: Shao Kahn and Motaro. Switch characters enough and continue enough times and you'll beat the game, watch Shao Kahn explode in a green fireball and enjoy the final scene of your character. Still, you're too angry at the CPU to enjoy it.
That's not the 360s fault, of course. This has been a problem for, like, ever with Mortal Kombat. The 360 does add a bit, most notable online play and leaderboards. Multiplayer and Xbox Live is where this game really shines as your friends don't cheat, and all those hours of memorizing move lists and fatalities finally pays off. Lag is an issue, though most of the time the game doesn't slow down; instead, it pauses for a second or two, interrupting the flow of the match. This is better than slowdown that ruins the timing of combos and special moves, and a necessary evil, I suppose.
The graphics and sound are identical, although you do have the option to stretch the dimensions of the game into widescreen. Other than a healthy dose of achievements, things that should have come with this $10 game are sorely missed, and make you question the value. Not only does the game not come with a practice mode (perfect for, um, perfecting combos and special moves), but there are no control options and not even a move list (quickly remedied with a simple Google search). If any fighter needs a practice mode, it's UMK3, thanks to the hundreds of combos waiting to be discovered and mastered.
In the end, though, IGN gave Ultimate MK3 a score of 7.0 out of 10, saying that longtime fans will "probably love this game and the online play". To read the review in its entirety, click here.
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