In my honest opinion, the best looking characters are:
-Jade (BOTH costumes.Her Alternate costume brings back that nostalgic feel from MK2 and UMK3, with her hair rolled into two buns and braided from those buns down, a hairstyle I've never seen before in a video game, and would like to see again. And this time around, she looks more Hispanic than Black, because her hair doesn't look like a black person's hair for some reason. Come to think of it, the only time her hair really did look like a black person's hair was in UMK3, so for that reason, I've always thought of Jade as being Hispanic, and I still do think of her that way. I like Hispanic chicks anyway!)
-Kenshi (Primary costume. Though his Alternate costume is cool, I think it looks a little outdated, since it's the exact costume he wore in MKDA, with no changes to him)
-Scorpion (Both costumes. Still like the swords worn on his back for his Primary costume, and that nostalgic feel of his Alternate costume)
-Mileena (Alternate costume, because it shows Mileena like we've never seen her before. It looks as if she shaved off one side of her head. Mileena's voice sounds as deranged as her face looks. And if you thought her face couldn't get any uglier without her mask, think again. You need to take a very close look at Mileena's face AFTER she is done with her "Ozzy Osbourne" fatality, even if you have a Flawless Victory in both rounds of the match. It is stained with BLOOD! How cool is THAT?!)
-Baraka (Both costumes. His Primary costume makes him look more savage, and like Scorpion, Baraka's alt brings back that nostalgic feel)
-Sub-Zero (Primary costume. Though I like his Alternate, I think the Shredder helmet looks cooler on him, and the fur on the collar of his outfit kinda makes him look different, and that's cool. The chainmail he has on his outfit, mask included, also makes him look cool)
-Sindel (Both outfits. Her Primary outfit sorta brings back that nostalgic feel from MK3, and she shows off her hair very gracefully without it tied back. Her alternate costume covers up more skin than her primary, and she has her hair tied back into two ponytails, thus keeping her from showing off her hair in its full beauty, but that tiara just gives her the look of a queen, which is what she really is. I really like the dots on her forehead)
-Havik (Alternate costume. Skull face with rotting flesh, a hood on, no mask over the mouth, and a ninja-type sash. Sound familiar? It was originally supposed to be an updated version of Noob Saibot)
-Raiden (Both costumes. Like MKDA, Raiden's alt costume brings back the memories of the MK movie. Of course, his Primary costume is basically your classic Raiden costume with all the upgrades to it and shit. Even cooler is his darker appearance and those red eyes. I think he's still good, but may start losing his sanity sooner or later because of his growing anger, and that's cool)
-Li Mei (Both costumes. Take both of her MKDA costumes, cover only the clothed areas with armor, put on an armored helmet on her head in both costumes, and switch the Alternate to her Primary, vice versa, and you have her MKD costumes! Kicks ass, doesn't it?)
-Kabal (Primary costume. This exact costume was the entire costume that was originally planned for Kabal, but the trenchcoat and backpack were scrapped because those two details of his costume got in the way of Richard Divizio's movements when they still used digitized actors, and to enable the digitized actors to move more freely during the shooting for their moves, they had to limit the costumes; speaking of which, it should be obvious that the hair was fake because Richard Divizio was BALD, and had mostly played BALD characters. Now, with Motion Capture being done and pasting the texture maps on the images shot by Motion Capture, the MK team are now free to create virtually ANY costume for ANY character, so when the team planned to bring back the "nostalgia characters" who didn't appear in many MK games, they finally had the opportunity to bring back Kabal with the costume design they originally planned for him. Thanks for a job well done, Steve Beran/Tony Goskie/whoever did Kabal's character design)
-Ermac (Both costumes. His mask in BOTH costumes was so cool. At first, it looked like he bandaged his lower face to make the mask. Now, it looks like a belt wrapped all around his lower face and the top of his head, then tied back like a headband. His green eyes look cool. Hey! I have green eyes in real life, but not THAT kind of green! His green eyes glow too...hmmm...Could that be the souls that make up this character? Where have I seen or heard about this kind of thing before? Shang Tsung? No, his eyes were only glowing green in that MK: The Journey Begins animated movie, and MAYBE in MKDA in a render...hmm...oh yeah! Final Fantasy VII! Cloud and Sephiroth's eyes glowed because of exposure to Mako energy, and Sephiroth's eyes were green...Mako energy of course, being the processed form of a planet's souls. Come to think of it, I think FFVII's storyline is somewhat based on the MK storyline, these huge power plants stealing souls from the "Lifestream", Sephiroth wanting to steal all the souls of the Planet to rule it and become a God...Sound anything like MK to you? His primary costume has no sash, and that's the first time we saw a character in a ninja outfit without a sash. His alt costume with the red sash brings back that nostalgic MK ninja feel, plus his ears are not covered in his alt costume. The multiple voices sound so cool!)
-Nightwolf (Primary costume. His Alternate costume makes him look more like Chief Thunder from Killer Instinct, ESPECIALLY in his weapon stance, although the Mohawk is cool. His Primary costume is basically a HUGE improvement over his MK3 costume. Though he still looks like a bad-ass, the most bad-ass look I've ever seen on Nightwolf is when I saw the digitizing shots of Sal Divita doing some poses as Nightwolf. You could tell he was going to be a major bad-ass just by the look in Sal's eyes)
-Noob (Both costumes. The alt costume brings back the nostalgic feel of the shadowed Noobie we all know and love. However, there is one small detail about Noobie's primary costume I like, and that's the marking on his mask. It looks like evil teeth or some shit like that)
-Smoke (Primary costume. Smoke's voice sounds awesome, and every detail about this costume perfectly flows well into the cyborg thing that his main costume is. Those two things on his shoulders that connect to his mask through a couple of tubes make it look like he's wearing a gas mask. It looks so sweet)
-Shujinko (Primary costume. Though this reminds most people of that Kill Bill old guy, I beg to claim otherwise. It reminds me more of MK1 Shang Tsung and Gen from SF1/SFA2. The goatee, the hair, and the robes give it away)
-Hotaru (Primary costume. Samurai outfit, with the two flags there. Too bad Kenshi has the weapon to make the outfit complete and Shao Kahn has had the helmet to go with it since MK2. Then again, if a plain Samurai helmet was put on Hotaru, the n00bs would be claiming that Hotaru was Shao Kahn a lot)
-Ashrah (Both costumes. Her primary costume tricked us for a LONG, LONG TIME into believing that she was a "female Raiden," "Raiden's replacement," "Raiden's sister," blah blah blah...all because of her outfit. White formal office wear and a white Raiden style hat with a wedding-dress veil attached to the back. She's only the second female MK character to actually not show so much skin on her outfits, making her stand out from the rest of the MK female cast. Her alt outfit is also cool. This time, it looks like a cross between formal office attire and a prom dress. No hat to go with the outfit, and I like the way Ashrah's hair is tied)
-Kobra (Both costumes. Once again, these costumes bring the nostalgic feel to MKD, but not MK-type of nostalgic feel, unlike the rest of the classic costumes...Ken Masters, anyone? SHOURYUUKEN!!!!!!!!)
-Kira (Both costumes. Beautiful, but bad-ass at the same time. She appears to have a Sonya-style outfit on her primary outfit, and she has her hair tied back. Here, she kinda looks like Angela Gossow, the German-born lead singer of the Swedish metal band, Arch Enemy. If you've heard of them, Kira's primary costume should look familiar to you. But switch to her alt outfit, and she's showing more skin, and her hair is not tied back, making her look like Bloodrayne. Plus, she's a redhead, and I can relate to her hair, as both my mom and my little brother are redheads)
-Liu Kang (Both costumes. His primary costume gives him that undead kind of look. Plus, he has chains locked on his arms. His alt costume, his form from before he died. Although you would most likely rather see his undead form, his alt costume still brings back that nostalgic feel of the arcade days of Mortal Kombat...the days when he was still alive. He still wears the same pants and same headband with both of his costumes...only his flesh is changed from the two costumes. Do his Fatality 2 on various characters with either costume and you'll have all kinds of funny results. And although we are all sick of his voice, Liu Kang just isn't Liu Kang without the turkey sounds produced by none other than Ed Boon)
There is only one costume I really HATE, and that is...
-Smoke (Alternate Costume), and here's why:
This is supposed to be his classic ninja outfit. However, unlike most of the classic costumes in this game, this outfit fails MISERABLY at bringing back the nostalgic feel of this particular character. One reason he fails at this is because of his sash. Another reason is because of the helmet...it just doesn't fit the "human" smoke look. Yes, the smokey flesh looks cool, but that is clearly overshadowed by the crappiness of the rest of his outfit. His sash doesn't even look like a sash. It looks too much like the MK3/MKDA unmasked Sub-Zero sash or the MK4/DA lizard Reptile suspenders. Maybe that outfit would've cut it had Smoke's face been exposed, or had he been given a better mask. That helmet, combined with those SUSPENDERS, totally throws off the "ninja" look it's supposed to give. The helmet would've gone a LOT better with the costume in his original render; the one shown in the trading card video. And though I like Noob's alternate costume over his primary costume, I am unfortunately stuck with not being able to choose both of my favorite costumes for those two characters at the same time. Fans have been asking about Smoke for a long time, and MKD's goal was to bring back some of the classic characters people have been asking about for a while that have not been in many MK games. And since there were lots of fans of both Human Smoke and Robot Smoke, it was essential that BOTH versions return to MKD. Though I hate to admit it, even I preferred human smoke over robo smoke. However, I feel that the Human Smoke fans have not been done justice with MKD, because of how the helmet and the suspenders mess up his entire alt costume. It just doesn't go well with the human feel it's supposed to give. If I saw that alternate costume in a costume store, I wouldn't buy it even if it costs only five cents! My fashion tip; either replace the suspenders with a traditional ninja sash (different from the other ninja sashes, of course), or lose the helmet completely and make him UNMASKED!
