Powet @ PAX – A Look at Mortal Kombat

Warner Bros was a solid presences at this year’s PAX East in the grandiose Expo Hall, sporting their large logo just above an equally large dragon logo that is the mainstay of the Mortal Kombat series – WB’s product through NetherRealm Studios.

I managed to mosey my way over to the collection of arcade cabinets that had been customized to accommodate the new game, due out in April. Competition was tough for spots to play the games, that had several cabinets back-to-back, and although I didn’t get to play myself and taking video of gameplay was forbidden, I managed to watch a significant amount of matches and garner information and pictures.

Gameplay is surprisingly smooth and combos seem easy to achieve. Sixteen characters were available for play during the demo, with 10 characters blacked out and two DLC slots.

I managed to talk to Brian Goodman; the Marketing Games Managers for NetherRealm, who was available at the booth area. Although he was very tight-lipped about revealing any additional character information beyond what’s already been revealed, he did say there are a few more characters that will be revealed before the game’s release. I also witnessed firsthand the return of the signature “Toasty” shout-out, though when asked if it could be achieved by the usual means of uppercutting, Goodman remained coy.

Regardless, I saw some Fatalities performed in their wonderfully gorey fashion. Sektor’s fatality started with him shooting a missile at an opponent, then homing in and shooting 4 additional missiles at the resulting flying body parts. Scorpion’s “Split Decision” fatality had him use his newer weapon of the katana to slice through his enemy’s waist, again through their neck, and then kicking the now dismembered torso away, resulting in the opponent’s head flying into the air and Scorpion bisecting it down the middle.

I then had the pleasure of watching Mr. Goodman play a one-on-one game with a very well-done Ermac cosplayer. All-in-all, a very productive experience.

The Start Screen with Scorpion and Sub-Zero

Close-Up of the VS screen

FIGHT!!!

Close-Up of the arcade cabinet

Brian Goodman vs Ermac?

Ermac - aka: Eric Todd of EnforcerMP.com