Graphics: 9 out of 10. The arenas are absolutely amazing. Too bad the characters (especially Tanya) still look so darned plastic and cartoony. But as others have said, the projectiles look cool, and while there are a few graphical glitches here and there, they don't interfere with the game too badly.
Gameplay: 7.5 out of 10. I know, that looks low in comparison to other scores, but hear me out. I am honsest to god sick of the canned combos. They simply leave you with no options. There are hardly any combos that allow you to fake out opponents. Going low for the last hit instead of high for example. All and all, there's just so little variety in the fighting styles (yes, dragon and leopard still look too similar and yes, many styles have been recycled from the last game etc) to make them seem unique. It feels more like you've got these standard moves that everyone has, evne though the title under the character says Xing Yi or Val Tudo. That, and the others are also right, the timing on the dial a combos doesn't always feel quite right. But, with all of this said, there is still fun to be had here. Just don't expect to play this with your friends unless they have the game as well. It degenerates into who can pull off the one combo they know way too quickly.
Fun Factor: 9.5 out of 10. I love collecting stuff, and this game has it in spades. Now, I can honestly say that I dislike having all of these time specific treasure chests, but it's not that big a deal. It's also unfortunate that getting the secrets means having to go through the konquest mode, as it's pretty hideous to look at and the voices acted by what had to have been the creative team. Still, there's such a wide variety of things to do here, including the fun puzzle mode, the sweet chess mode, and a solid though not perfect fighting engine. Plus you get this all online. It adds up to a great experience, but not the best fighting game ever. For me, that title still goes to MK2. But that's just my humble opinion.
Overall: 8.5 out of 10 A very solid fighting game, but not quite on the same level as Soul Calibur or Virtua Fighter. It's unfortunate too, because I love the story aspects (heck all of the creative aspects) of MK sooooo much more than the feeble attempts those games have at plot and intrigue. The fatalities are better, but they're still a look at once and forget kinda thing for me. I personally think that once the MK team gets off of this 3 fighting styles per character thing, and starts focusing on one style per character, but fleshed out and completely unique with plenty of combo options that mix up high low attacks, etc, MK will once again be the king. The MK team is already better at storylines, characters, backgrounds, special moves, etc, they just need to tweak the fighting engine and it'll be there. All and all, like I said, a solid game.
