I think that Virtua fighter pulled off the fantastic graphics award....if only their gameplay was as fun as their graphics.

And Gears of War's graphics truely are boring, the people are drawn well, but meh....not too interesting. But surely with fireballs and electricity or purple spit, it'll still looks nice.

I'm going to agree with you two. Gears of War looks technically brilliant but artistically dull.

But they should be mostly using the artists from MKDA - MKA, so there should be some of the MK flair in there.

It should be interesting to see how MK8 compares with VF5 and SCIV.

I like that their doing it like gears of war I think it fits perfect of what mortal kombat should look like. I was getting tired of the stupid cartoony graphics.

yeah couldn't agree more!

MKDA - MKA did have a cartoony look, which is why I think a more realistic look would be better but still using the same overall style and coloring, etc.

I love Call of Duties graphics lately. I think they're obviously the standard for realistic graphics presentation. At the same time, I still am pretty appreciative of MK2-T's and MKdA's character designs

However, I love what Soul Calibur 4 is doing on the fantasy art direction side of things.

So, if I tied those together, We'd get characters absolute of MK design, and close to CoD4's realism. Then, arenas as real as CoD4's but with a heavy influence from Sc4's graphics.....Or whatever the equilibrium is between all that.

I think the Ue3 Engine is sufficient to accomplish this...

Mortal Kombat is using the Unreal Engine, which powered Gears of War, so it will look remotely similar; however, the art style can vary greatly depending on the developer. For example, Mass Effect, Lost Odyssey, and Bioshock all use the Unreal Engine 3.0 that powered Gears of War, and yet their art styles are so very different. It's not hard to imagine the next Mortal Kombat having its own unique style but with the framework of the Unreal Engine. I can't wait. No more plastic, ugly characters!

I would love to see a more realistic MK. It will definitely make the fatalities seem a lot sweeter. However I did like the various colors in past MKs. Gears of War is an excellent game but keep the dull color scheme away from MK Please. The colors don't have to be bright, just varied.

It doesn't matter what game I look at, they always look plastic to me... just some more than others. The only thing I've seen that doesn't look plastic are those bad-ass 3D Modelers who make humans look so damn real, but of course no piece of hardware that the average person can afford would be able to handle a game with that much detail.


No point in using bright and fruity colors if you're going to have a storyline and setting that follows Gears of War. Ya know? I don't know WTF Ed Boon meant when he said he "that's the look we're looking for" or whatever... I'm sure the MK Artists will do what they're paid to do. I've been happy with the majority of the look and feel of the fighting arenas and character clothes/design (Mokap being one of few exceptions).

You JUST now are seeing gears of war for the first time? Weird.

Although, i do partially agree. I want realistic graphics, but and MK1-2ish theme with more Japanese and Asian influence mixed with fantasy.

No they didn't say they were going to make it look identical to Gears in every way,
they said pardem me Ed said he was inspired by Gears with how gritty and dark it was.
Though They are using the same graphics engine as Unreal 3 and Gears of War that does not mean it will look identical to the Gears of War with character models and environments.
I mean look at strangle hold they used the unreal 3 engine ( though modified)
and I do not see any one looking like Marcus Fenix

Yeah, weren't any quotes just a reference to another game popular with the same demographic [and, obviously, engine build]?
I think a lot of people are over estimating the effect an engine has on a game.

Everyone has their own views here but honestly the GOW looks dark, creepy and realistic so MK should use it for their "style" it fits well IMO

Once it comes out, I think personally it'll blow any other fighter(lookwise) away honestly.

The shadows, graphics, faces, details with the engine are "unreal" no pun intended.

I think it's appropriate indeed for a game like MK

SF=3D cell shade/anime look fits well

SC=Same look virtually in every game that doesn't change that much but fits well for them

Tekken=same as SC, improved but same style and look as previous titles

VF=Realistic in their own fashion, nice details, crisp backgrounds and characters with the PG13 element, lots of sun and brightness

MK=The darkest fighter hands down, thus why the UR engine fits MK8 perfectly in lots of ways

I'd just like to point out that: Just because most of the games that the Unreal Engine 3 is using are dark and sinister, it doesn't mean that the engine can only do dark and sinister games.

It is just a graphics engine all be it a really good one and should be able to do colourful, vibrant worlds as well.

I don't want MK8 to look extremely dark and gritty. Not all of it, anyway.

I think they need to look back at MK1 and 2. They were fairly dark and serious games, but yet still bright and colourful - if you get what I mean? They just had the right feel to them. MK3 and so on don't have that. Very dull looking games.

Ive checked a couple of pics and im impressed, but not much. Altough...like others said..its just the engine..the way you use it determines the outcome.

But I would like to see MK with this engine, because GOW looks dark, somber and gritty. With a more realistic and serious feel. I think that would suit MK very well. I don't know what the MK 8's scenerio is...but with the scenario of a mortal kombat after an Armageddon, it could do well.

I agree.

On the topic however I think people put way too much faith in games that are using the Unreal Engine. It's really not that awesome of an engine as everybody believes it to be. There's better stuff out there. Midway also has a very shaky track record with it (Hour of Victory, Blacksite Area 51, etc) so... I don't know.

Who knows though. Maybe they'll pull off something incredible.

The only thing MK8 will have to worry about is selling more than other fighters that will come out soon. Tekken 6, Soul Calibur 4, Street Fighter 4, etc. All of them will be released around the same time as each other.

Yeah Gears of War...Bleh.
The graphics are good but...But the Art and crap... =/

Perfectly said.

I absolutely agree.

I see what you're saying as well as others here that agree with you on the "more colors" gig but MK people is a "dark game" agreed?

Thus, no need for colors like you see in SC or VF. I mean there have been stages in MK games with sun or twilight effect but still has that "dark-hard edge" to it.

Me, personally as an MK fan feel that MK shouldn't alter their style with colors. Colors are important, being an artist and I'm sure others here who paint, sculpt or draw will understand what I'm saying here. The colors you implement in your work whatever it may be, art, game or movie represent a lot of what it's about. The atmosphere of it and the charisma. MK's in this case is dark, gritty and serious. No need for that to change otherwise it's not MK anymore...and that IMO would be a bad thing. MK is dark and should stay dark.

Now, on the Unreal Engine thing. Well, I suppose it could be used for more "PG13" like games instead of Mature rated but let's admit every game that has used this engine so far has fit perfectly for the game's character. Unreal, GOW and now MK. All Mature rated games, dark and the engine fits it well.

I'm sure they could use more colors within the engine itself for future games but just no MK. It looks very realistic and serious regardless and that's what counts here when it comes to graphics, shadows, frames, movements etc all look great on the UR engine.

I have a hard time seeing/imagining lighter -brighter colors with the UR engine overall. It could be a coincidence that every game that has had it thus far has been "dark" overall but it's also worked very well for the game overall.

I would have to say that the art style in Shaolin Monks was perfect and they should stick with that, except slightly improved as far as next gen graphical quality goes.