flash-hammer's Full Review: Mortal Kombat Special Forces for PlayStation 1
To be honest, I'm unsure if Mortal Kombat Special Forces was released prior to, or in the wake of Mortal Komnat 4, but I do know that it was released around the same time, and was designed to tie-in with Midway's attempt to take the franchise into 3 dimensions, given that one of that game's new characters, Jarek, appears. Exactly what Midway's aim with this game was is pretty unclear, when they released Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub Zero, the general idea was that they planned to release 2 further 'Mythologies' games, which were adventure games, based on Liu Kang and Baraka. When Sub Zero bombed, they clearly got cold feet, and it wasn't until 2000 that another non-fighting game to feature the franchise appeared on the shelves, in this PlayStation exclusive release, featuring the character of Jax, trailing his exploits it fighting the criminal Kano.
I do remember seeing the game on sale at the time of it's release, but I didn't have a PlayStation at the time, so I didn't pay much heed to it. It was only in the last year or so, when I started to look for older games, that I realised there was a Mortal Kombat title I was missing, and this was it. The game has become quite rare, and I've read relatively few reviews of it, so when I did finally see it for sale, I instinctively purchased it, even though it cost a bit more than I would usually pay for an original PlayStation game.
Before I even get started on the game, I would like to get to an issue that may seem unimportant to some gamers, but done correctly could have been one of the redeeming features of this sinking ship. The MK series had a fairly silly, but at the same time intricate and entertaining storyline, which is why it, more than any other fighting game franchise, would have lended itself so well to adventure games, where the story could be developed further. Even with all of Sub Zero's problems, the game still managed to weave an entertaining tale that fleshed out the back-story of the members of the cast it involved, making it an interesting play for the MK fan. I went into Special Forces expecting much the same thing, only to come out with the story being probably the thing I hated about the game the most.
The game follows Major Jackson 'Jax' Briggs on his mission to recapture his arch nemesis, the Black Dragon crime syndicate member Kano. This will probably set a minor alarm ringing in the heads of MK fans, because Kano was never Jax's arch enemy, his main foe was Jax's partner Sonya Blade. Don't tell me a game starring Sonya wouldn't have sold, because this was post-Tomb Raider, so this was just sloppy on Midway's part. Come to think of it, I can't even remember Sonya getting namechecked in the game.
To further heap insult upon the series fan, the game is set before Mortal Kombat, yet Jax has his metal arms, first seen in Mortal Kombat 3, and none of the characters are younger than they appear in Mortal Kombat 4, which was the better part of a decade after the first game.
Inconcistancies aside, the plot still sucks. At least Sub Zero could claim to have an interesting plot that involved events directly linked to the games, all Special Forces does is have Kano and some of his Black Dragon mates escape prison and Jax chase them. Sub Zero charted the death and rebirth of Scorpion, the rise of Shinnok and Quan Chi and more, this doesn't even seem to realise there are other games in the series.
Ok, so the plot sucks, but what about the game? it sucks even worse. The game is a Third-Person 3D adventure, viewed from a raised-behind position, as you make Jax run around, punch, kick, shoot guns and look for keys to open doors, before occasionally fighting the odd Black Dragon member. Not only is it incredibly unoriginal and dull, but it plays dreadfully, trying to incorporate the series much maligned 'Canned-Combo' hand-to-hand attack system, badly I might add, and some shooting controls, which not only take too long to get ready, often meaning you are dead before you fire a shot, but are near impossible to aim with. A basic rundown of your gameplay experience would be running around a dark building/sewer/other generic locale, punching some enemies, finding a key, opening a door with the key and getting gunned down by some off-screen enemies. And it's at least a quarter as fun as I'm making it sound.
The game's controls respond decently, with Jax controlling like he is in one of the series fighting games, with Light and Heavy punches and kicks and a block and run button, but there is also the Draw Weapon control that brings up an hour long weapon drawing process, and on the Sniper Rifle a pointless zoom feature that will see you get killed more than it will serve any useful purpose. You also have an inventory of medpacks and stuff, which you can access via the select button, but chances are you will lose interest in the game long before the need to use any items.
Graphically speaking, the game is a debacle. Seriously, it looks like a first generation game, despite the fact it was release in the year 2000. The characters are blocky, the backgrounds bland, it is, for lack of a better word, disgraceful. It's also too dark to see on many occasions, and many of the enemy sprites are identical. This brings me to another point, the new characters designed for the game are dreadful. The earthquake causing Ninja is basicaly Scorpion on steroids with pupils. It's that lame. To further heap on the insult, the camera is dreadful, managing to maneouvre itself into the worst position possible at any given chance.
What deserves special mention, just for immediately highlighting how bad the game's graphics are, is the intro video, which tries to make itself look like the start of a 70s cop show. Midway couldn't even be bothered coming up with decent visuals for this, which just goes to show how much of an embarassment this game is.
The soundtrack claws a little ground back, but not much. Most of it sounds like tired attempts to recapture the spirit of old MK music, and while most of it is decent...it still doesn't hit the same nerve as the music in the early games do, and in general the game doesn't capture the atmosphere of Mortal Kombat like even Sub Zero managed.
And that last comment should be the final nail in the coffin for the game. MK titles have always had a crutch to rely upon that other games lacked, as well as the story, they also had a wonderful atmosphere, it was like playing an old Martial Arts movie. It just shows you how desperate the series had become, that this entry doesn't even have that feel going for it. Mortal Kombat Special Forces is just another lame action game for the PlayStation, which Midway have tacked the MK name and characters to in the hopes of making a quick buck.
I'm actually glad this game is rare now, because it means fewer people will have the opportunity to have this complete and utter shit violate their TV screen. I would not recommend this mess to anyone, for any reason, and it should tell you something that this is, undisputabley, the worst Mortal Kombat game, and it will probably never be surpassed in this field.
**This auction is for a hard to find PS1 game still new in wrapping Factory Sealed never opened! **This game is in nice and clean wrapping,with no cra...More at eBay
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