Monday, December 26, 2011

Mortal Kombat Review Updated a Second Time

Two weekends ago I decided to treat myself and I picked up the Mortal Kombat Kollector's Edition, and as such, I've updated my review for the game.

For those who've already read my review of Mortal Kombat you can check out the update itself below. For those who have yet to read it, feel free to do so right here.


Several months after release I caved and bought the Mortal Kombat Kollector's Edition. For those unaware, it comes with:

- A copy of Mortal Kombat
- Scorpion vs. Sub-Zero Bookends
- The Art of Mortal Kombat book
- A downloadable token for the Ermac Retro Costume
- A downloadable token for the Xbox 360 Avatar Scorpion Costume
- A downloadable token for the Xbox 360 Avatar NetherRealm Studios T-Shirt

It was the bookends that I really wanted, though I must confess I loved the Art Book and my Avatar is looking pretty slick dressed up as Scorpion.

Now the box for the Mortal Kombat Kollector's Edition itself is, of course, quite large to properly hold the bookends, and they're packaged in there securely to prevent them from being moved around and damaged. There was actually an extra bit of padding where Sub-Zero's right hand touches the inside of the box, which is a really great packaging thought, as this hand could easily have been hit and broken. The box itself also sports a very cool Goro's Lair theme, enhancing the overall look of the package itself.

The bookends are simply fantastic, and I absolutely love them. Made out of plastic, they are gorgeously painted and extremely detailed and worth it for any collector and fan of the franchise. Scorpion's Spear is tied to a rope like in past titles as opposed to a chain like in the current game, but this is a minor knit pick. My original intention was to place these bookends on my mantle once my place is built, but since they're plastic I'm worried they might get damaged when the gas fireplace is on for too long so I'll place them elsewhere when the time comes.

Having bought several collector's editions for other games in the past, I can say that I'm quite used to included art books and what many say is true, you look at them and read them once and then never again. This won't be the case for me with The Art of Mortal Kombat. The book is filled with excellent information and nostalgia and comments from the designers on how they tried to model everything new while retaining the spirit of the original trilogy. I know I'll be leafing through this book a few more times just to take it all in. Regrettably some of the ink appears to have run during printing, and one page in particular is hard to read but there's not much on that page that I know I'm missing. Manufacturing defects are unfortunate, but I'll take this over a broken bookend easy.

The Ermac Retro Costume is a Mortal Kombat (1992) red ninja outfit, which I find amusing since Ermac was not in that game 0utside of rumour, and the Avatar items are, like any other Avatar item, a nice bonus but nothing I'd buy on their own.

Overall, I'm very pleased with the Mortal Kombat Kollector's Edition. Several collector's editions that I've picked up recently have been disappointing or filled with items that I considered useless, but I don't regret picking this one up one bit, even though I already purchased the core game back at launch. Of course like any other collector's edition the worth of the bonus content is all in the purchaser and how much a fan he/she is of the franchise, and me, I've really, really gotten back into Mortal Kombat.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Mortal Kombat is back... When I first heard about this game I didn’t really care. Because of how MK became lower quality over all the years, so I was just thinking another MK with the same boring stiff style. Then I was over at a co-workers house from DISH and saw him play and watched some videos too, and I liked it. Then I played the demo a bit and now I'm in love with it. This is the best MK by far, for the longest I said MK3 was the best but this here outdoes it all. Just looking at the awe inspiring graphics and thought to myself how much I wanted to play this game at home, so I added it to my Blockbuster@Home queue. For a flat monthly fee I can rent this and any other game, and keep much needed money in my wallet by not buying every game I see or want. Even if you are not competitive, the single player mode is still fun with plenty of features to keep you occupied for some time to come.

Juxtapose said...

Ha, either you really like Mortal Kombat or you're advertising Blockbuster@Home :p.