Mortal Kombat 4
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A New Dimension of Kombat!
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Mortal Kombat 4 is a fighting game developed and published by Midway on October 15, 1997. This is the last Mortal Kombat game to be released on Arcade machines. An updated version of the game was later released on the Dreamcast as Mortal Kombat Gold on September 9, 1999.
Plot
Thousands of years before the setting of the first game, Shinnok, one of the Elder Gods who control the six realms in the Mortal Kombat universe, attempted to become the conqueror of them all. The thunder god Raiden fought and defeated Shinnok in a war that spanned hundreds of years, sending him to the Netherrealm, where he would be trapped forever. Now, Shinnok has managed to escape from the Netherrealm with help from the sorcerer Quan Chi, and seeks vengeance against the Elder Gods who banished him. In his plan, he first conquers the realm of Edenia, with the aid of a traitor, Tanya, while he prepares to attack the Elder Gods. In order to stop Shinnok's menace, Raiden requests help from the Earthrealm warriors who saved the realms from Emperor Shao Kahn in previous titles.
Elder God Qualities
- The graphics are great for a 1997 game; it's also got good character models as well as nice-looking backgrounds for 1997 standards. The Dreamcast version looks even better than the other version due to the more powerful hardware than the Nintendo 64 and PS1.
- This was the first 3D Mortal Kombat game to be made, and later there would be Mortal Kombat games released in 3D, starting with Deadly Alliance in 2002.
- It introduced Quan Chi, Tanya, Fujin, Reiko, and Shinnok as playable characters, which is a good thing for the fans of them if they want to play as them.
- Tight and solid controls, especially in the console versions.
- The game over screen is unique for the times where a character falls to their death in a pit of spikes.
- Mortal Kombat Gold brings back several characters from previous games, like Kitana, Mileena, Kung Lao, Baraka, Cyrax, and Sektor.
- The soundtrack is once again awesome, like a lot of Mortal Kombat games released out there.
- While the "Toasty!" easter egg doesn't appear, a "Toasty 3D!" voice appears during one of Scorpion's fatalities.
- Noob Saibot, Goro, and Meat are secret selectable characters on the PC and console ports.
- It was also one of the first Mortal Kombat games to have alternate costumes.
Bad Qualities
- Shinnok is considered a crappy antagonist and final boss, unlike his later appearance in MKX.
- The game dumps lots of characters that were previously in MKT, although some were later included in MKG.
- The Game Boy Color port of the game is truly awful.
- The camera can be bad at times.
- The endings can be a bit cheesy to begin with, but in the Nintendo 64 and original arcade version, they are a bit terrible.
- The game lacks secrets, rewards for completing the game, and various finishers, arguably due to some problems with 3D, which disappointed some fans of the series.
- The first release of Mortal Kombat Gold didn’t let you save, thankfully it was fixed in the second release.
- While the newcomers listed on GQ#3 are cool, few can be a bit divisive at times.
- Kai, while very interesting, can be bland at times. Also, his gameplay is somewhat more limited as he has two vertical projectiles, which, while a neat idea, have notable tracking problems.
- Jarek, which he’s clearly a copycat of Kano. Thankfully he got revamped in Mortal Kombat: Armageddon.
- Meat, who is the first joke character, can be very weird since he’s basically flesh and bones.
Reception
Mortal Kombat 4 received mixed to positive reviews by players and critics alike who praised the game graphics, the gameplay, and the soundtrack but criticized the controls of the arcade version of the game. Mortal Kombat Gold, on the other hand, received mixed reviews with a 55% on GameRanking.