Game review: Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection (PS5)

I'm old enough to remember what it was like playing the original Mortal Kombat games in the early '90s. While I did not get a chance to play the games at the arcades, my older brother owned the home versions on our old Amiga computer.

The Mortal Kombat games always created controversy amongst parents thanks to the inclusion of the gory fatalities that players can use at the end of matches. Despite the gory nature of the games, the fatalities are arguably the main reason why the Mortal Kombat franchise is popular in the first place.

It's now been over 24 years since the first Mortal Kombat game graced arcades worldwide in 1992. Generation Z and Alpha gamers may not have had the chance to play the older games in the series, but now they can with the Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection.

Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection includes many MK games from the 16-bit and 32-bit era. The individual games included are listed below

• Mortal Kombat
• Mortal Kombat II
• Mortal Kombat 3
• Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3
• Mortal Kombat Trilogy
• Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero
• Mortal Kombat 4
• Mortal Kombat: Special Forces
• Mortal Kombat Advance
• Mortal Kombat Deadly Alliance (GBA version)
• Mortal Kombat: Tournament Edition (GBA version)

The cool thing about this collection is that it also includes some of the console and handheld versions of each of the games listed above. The console versions include the Sega Mega Drive, the Super Nintendo, the 32X, the original Game Boy, the Sega Game Gear, the PSOne, and finally, the Game Boy Advance.

I'm going to say right off the bat that the original arcade versions of Mortal Kombat are the best ones to play. The graphics are nicer, and the games are more responsive. The worst versions to play are the original Game Boy and Sega Game Gear versions.

Not only do the Game Boy and Game Gear versions look horrible, but they have a lot of input lag too. For example, I try to use Sub-Zero's freeze attack, and nothing happens, no matter how many times I press the correct commands!

As for the other versions, developer Digital Eclipse has added many aids to make the games easier for newer players. You can save the game at any time you want, and you can now display special moves and combos on the side of the screen without needing to pause the game.

If you always hated pressing complicated button combinations to perform the fatalities, you don't have to worry about that anymore. Now, you can use a setting so that you can use fatalities by pressing only one button.

In terms of which games are the best in the collection, I am a huge fan of both Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 and Mortal Kombat Trilogy. This is because both games have almost complete rosters, while the latter also enables you to play as the four boss characters, too.

The roster in the original Mortal Kombat is quite small, but Mortal Kombat II features a better list of playable characters. The vanilla version of Mortal Kombat 3 is disappointing, though, because many of the popular characters are missing.

One thing that is disappointing about this collection is that it does not include the PSOne version of Mortal Kombat 4. This collection only includes the arcade version, which is missing alternate costumes and FMV endings for each character.

Another thing that will annoy some gamers is the inclusion of Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero and Mortal Kombat: Special Forces. From a historical perspective, it's nice these games have been included, but playing them is a nightmare!

Both of them are some of the worst beat-em-up games I have ever played. The Sub-Zero game is a 2D side-scroller, but it has horrible combat, crappy jumping puzzles, and unresponsive controls.
Special Forces is slightly better, although it's still pretty bad. Special Forces allows you to control Jax as he chases some criminals who have broken out of prison. Unlike the Sub-Zero game, this one is 3D, but the gameplay is still horrible and outdated

The only good thing about these games is that this new collection allows you to save anytime, rewind gameplay, and gives you the choice to have more continues and lives. Without these aids, these games would be super hard.

Thankfully, the gameplay in the actual fighting games is much better. As I mentioned before, Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 and Mortal Kombat Trilogy are the best games in this collection if you are a new fan of the series.

If you want to play the PS2 or PS3 generation Mortal Kombat games, it looks like you will have to wait until the next collection is released in the near future. Hopefully, this means we will see Mortal Kombat Gold, which is the superior Sega Dreamcast version of Mortal Kombat 4.

All in all, Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection is mostly good from a historical perspective because you get to experience some of the most influential fighting games in history. That being said, some content is sorely missed, and the beat-em-up titles are still rubbish to play.

Verdict: 8.0/10