Ultimate Mortal Kombat DS preview

17 August 2007

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Posted by:Ferry Groenendijk

Ultimate Mortal Kombat combines the arcade classic Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 and the addictive puzzle action of Puzzle Kombat (a game mode from Mortal Kombat: Deception) in one DS cartridge. With new record-keeping capability, and Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection multiplayer, players will be able take the game anywhere for fighting action on the go.

When you start Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, you’ll be booted to an emulated version of the arcade running on the lower screen of the Nintendo DS. Small visual sacrifices have to be made mainly due to the Nintendo DS system’s lesser resolution. The game looks, plays, and sounds spot-on to the arcade original, and works extremely well using the standard D-pad and button configuration – the Nintendo DS matches the amount of buttons of the arcade game: high and low punch, high and low kick, block and run, all mapped to a button on the handheld system. All the blood, violence, and fatalities are in there. Don’t worry, no tacked on touch screen controls.

So far only the bottom screen is being used, but the game is still in development and won’t be out until its November 12 U.S. release date.

Local multiplayer is a simple matter of hosting a game and letting someone join, or joining a game that someone else is hosting. You’ll get a full experience if both players have a cartridge, but the developers managed to squeeze in single cartridge multiplayer where you’ll get a taste of the two player combat. No problems with the gameplay speed, but the sacrifices in this Download Play option are that you’ll only get to fight in one arena, and only four characters (including Scorpion, Jade, and Liu Kang) are playable. Online multiplayer wasn’t tested yet.

Puzzle Kombat is the second mode in the game, it’s pretty spot-on as a conversion. Unlike Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, Puzzle Kombat is a port and not an emulation – the developers converted the console game over to take advantage of the dual-screen setup on the Nintendo DS. In Puzzle Kombat, you match falling colored tiles and try to arrange and group them together as they drop into play. The only way you can remove them from the bin to make room for other tiles is to drop a same-colored MK logo onto the grouping. Once they’re gone, the rest of the tiles shift into play.

While the puzzle’s happening on the lower screen, the chosen combatants are duking it out on the top screen to represent the Versus fight. It’s just icing on the cake… it’s not integral to watch what’s going on up there. Puzzle Kombat also supports the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection service as well as multi and single cartridge multiplayer, and the local versus play is just as smooth and seamless as the fighting game is. More details at IGN.