Mortal Kombat Gold

by Sega

Product Details

• ASIN: B0000296NT
• Media: Video Game
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,378 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)

Product Description

Editorial Review

Exclusive to the Dreamcast, Mortal Kombat Gold is the latest rendition of Midway's arcade classic fighter. Running at 60 frames per second with high-resolution graphics--a first for this series on any platform--the game boasts the look and feel of a quarter- munching upright arcade machine.

The fighting system in this game is basically the same as it was in Mortal Kombat 3, with the addition of a few new characters and weapons and some subtle gameplay tweaks. There are several new gameplay modes that should excite Mortal Kombat and fighting-game fans. A new battle mode enables would-be combatants to select teams of multiple characters for team-based fighting. There is also a one- and two-player endurance mode, a traditional "versus" mode, two-on-two fighting, and a practice mode. The latter explains to players how to perform fatalities but, disappointingly, doesn't let you perform them.

With only minor updates, Mortal Kombat Gold falls back on its roots. It's a good game if you are an avid Mortal Kombat fan, though others may wish to consider starting their Dreamcast fighting game collection with Soul Calibur, Power Stone, Virtua Fighter 3 Team Battle, and Street Fighter Alpha 3. --Todd Mowatt

Pros:

• Classic Mortal Kombat characters with updated features
• High-resolution graphics at 60 frames per second
• Additional gameplay modes increase replayability

Cons:

• Not much different from Mortal Kombat 3
• Characters are stiffly animated
• Background detail scant

GameSpot Review

The Mortal Kombat series has been around for a pretty long time, and it's spawned lots of different spin-offs, including action figures, movies, and a TV show. We've even seen a spin-off game based solely on Sub-Zero. This ultra-violent fighting-game series has its share of fans, as well as its share of detractors. Regardless of your stance, Mortal Kombat Gold is sure to test even the biggest fan's faith in the line.

It's not that MK Gold is a bad game or anything. It's an outstandingly accurate translation of Mortal Kombat 4, with a few new characters thrown in for good measure. But the new characters don't really bring anything stellar to the lineup, and you're left with a game that you were finished playing around with back when it came out on the N64 and the PlayStation more than a year ago.

The game really does come across as a perfect port of the arcade game, though it also has all the extras the other console versions have, like the Ice Pit level and Goro, as well as the rendered FMV endings that had been featured on the PlayStation. Load times are next to nothing, and the graphics and sound are on par with the arcade version. Even though it's a perfect port of the arcade version, the graphics look pretty dated, especially when compared with some of the other Dreamcast launch titles.

The Dreamcast-specific features include the presence of some older MK characters, namely Cyrax, Mileena, Kitana, Baraka, and Kung Lao. All of them retain their older moves, though Kung Lao's hat toss is no longer controllable, and the moves for Cyrax's bombs are done slightly differently. Also, the 3D nature of this Mortal Kombat renders Cyrax's bombs nearly useless, since you can simply sidestep them and escape their blast. With the new characters come new endings, and like the other endings, they aren't anything special. The characters in the new endings have strangely elongated necks, and their heads seem to bobble around like those weird baseball figurines.

The game's AI is vintage Mortal Kombat, so it's chock-full of the same stimulus-response style that forces you to rely on the same cheap tactics to defeat the computer opponents. There's also a weapon-select menu on the character-select screen that lets you choose which weapon you want to take into battle, but between two skilled competitors, the weapons won't come into play very often. The game's generic combo system ensures that anyone picking up the game will be able to pull off three or four hit combos almost immediately. It also ensures that unless you're a huge Mortal Kombat fan, you'll get tired of the game pretty quickly. The Dreamcast controller does a decent job here, but some of the fatalities require you to hit multiple buttons, which can be a pretty finger-twisting feat on the gamepad.

Sitting down and playing MK Gold almost feels like a retrogaming experience - you really feel as though you've pulled out some old game that you haven't played in years - and it hasn't aged gracefully. If you're still interested in Mortal Kombat 4, then MK Gold should provide some sort of thrill. But the rest of the MK fans that have already moved on to bigger and better things will just have to wait patiently for Mortal Kombat 5. --Jeff Gerstmann
--Copyright ©1999 GameSpot Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of GameSpot is prohibited. GameSpot and the GameSpot logo are trademarks of GameSpot Inc.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mortal Kombat Gold is like a Mortal Kambat 4 for Dreamcast., March 6, 2001

By 

ben and josh (New Jersey) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mortal Kombat Gold (Video Game)

Mortal Kombat Gold is a very good game, but don't expect it to be a Mortal Kombat 5. They should have just called the game Mortal Kombat 4, because it is just like this one. Except in this one the graphics are better, the sound is better, there are more characters, and more levels. But it still has exactly the same plot as Mk4. The new characters aren't very good, and the modes are exactly the same as 4. While it has about 3 new levels, the rest are from Mortal Kombat 4. If you don't have Mortal Kombat 4, I would recommend getting this. But it is basically another Mortal Kombat 4 with some new features.

11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars The WORST Game Save your money, November 10, 1999

By A Customer

= Durability:5.0 out of 5 stars  = Fun:1.0 out of 5 stars  = Educational:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Mortal Kombat Gold (Video Game)

I am one of the bigest fans of Mortal Kombat and when GOLD came out for Dreamcast I thought It would be the best. But I have been playing Soul Calibur ever since I got my Dreamcast and I was expecting somthing great from Mortal Kombat. The graphics are the same as they where before the Dreamcast Midway did not waste any time on this game. Save your Money and buy "Soul Calibur".

(I can not give it zero starts so I guess one is enough)

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Just flat out disappointment, December 10, 1999

By A Customer

= Durability:5.0 out of 5 stars  = Fun:2.0 out of 5 stars  = Educational:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Mortal Kombat Gold (Video Game)

When will the makers of mk realize that you cant make an identical game to inferior systems and still expect people to buy it. If you're gonna make mk for the dc, make it spectacular. I got rid of the 64 because I wasn't totally pleased with the game selection and quality. I see now that there will never be another mk game that i'll be buying for a system. Oh yeah, and i'm begging someone to make the game just that much harder. It's not even fun on two player. But once again, thank the man upstairs for refunds and exchanges.