Review: Mortal Kombat Komplete Edition

JohnApocalypse

For some reason they didn't include the movie in European copies of the Komplete edition. Its a shame because I've never seen the movie and was really looking forward to watching it

Stealth

fighting games never left

The Silent Protagonist

@Stealth - He was being facetious.

Matthew Williams

Not bad, but why do you guys seem to get the lesser deal? In my local independent you can get the game (maybe minus the DLC) for £20...

CalmGiant

If it doesn't have the DLC, it's not the Komplete Edition, what are you even talking about

Matthew Williams

it says in the review that all the DLC bar the movie is on-disc (unless I'm mistaken somehow...)

Zombie Orwell

I hate Jonathan Harms because he is a nice person.

Stealth

@silient

Really?

ctg867

This seems redundant. Not sure a repackaging of a game warrants a review, but whatever floats your boat, I guess. Also:

"Collections like this only work to train fighting game fans to never buy a new fighter when it's first released, and to instead wait for the "better" version of the game to come out less than a year later."

Calling bullshit on this. It's the same line that Jim tries to put out and it's completely false. GOTY/Complete/Gold Editions don't inherently "train" fans of a game to wait for them to come out. If a game feels like a product with enough quality and quantity to merit a $60 purchase, you should never feel burned about a re-release coming a year later. Period.

I bought Skyrim for $60 and when the inevitable GOTY edition comes out this year I won't feel "burned". Why? I got to experience Skyrim when it was new and fresh and everyone I knew was playing it. I got to compare experiences and talk about the game with other people who were just experiencing it like I was. The people who get it a year late will miss that. It's no different than the guy who spends $12 to watch a movie in theaters one time and the guy who waits 6 months to get it on Blu-ray with all sorts of bonus features he can watch as many times as he wants.

On the flip side, I missed Red Dead and Arkham Asylum when they first came out. I didn't have the time or money to play either. My friends were going through them, talking about the games, playing online with a large community of gamers, and I largely had to plug my ears and avoid the spoiler talk. Even still, I missed out on the *experience*. However, instead of giving my $30 to GameStop to get both games a year later, I spent $40 on each GOTY Edition and got some extra content to go along with them. Plus I'm supporting the developers.

But again, both all three of those games (Skyrim, Red Dead, and Batman) were worth the $60 when they came out. They had the quality and the quantity. Maybe Mortal Kombat didn't have that. *That's* the problem then, not the fact that a Complete Edition exists. I think this is a much better way to compete with used game sales and encourage new purchases than Online Passes, On Disc/Day One DLC, or pre-order bonuses, all of which actually are anti-consumer.

Faux Furry

I'm only Freddy Krueger away from the Komplete experience(I was waiting for a sale on the PSN...which I unfortunately missed,having realized it was there literally at the last minute or so) though at a much higher price than anyone who waited sensibly for this edition.

Having all of the characters and costumes(or their unlock keys)on the disc rather than needing to store them on a hard drive is mildly enticing,though. Not $60 worth of enticement,however. $20 is more than enough to pay for the convenience somewhere down the line.

The Silent Protagonist

@CTG - Skyrim is a different case. Its hard to argue a game with 400+ hours of content as "incomplete" by any game's standards. We're also five months in an no expansion in sight. When it comes it will likely be worth it.

But fighters and single player action games? They ARE indeed training gamers to not come out on day one for the original release. There was no reason for me to get SFXT with its disc-locked content when I could just get it several months down the road with all the characters for $20 or $30.

Arkham City comes out no later than six months with a GOTY edition? That's bonkers, particularly considering the fact that the DLC isn't all that terribly special in the first place and probably could have just been part of the original retail package. Instead it was whored out as pre-order bonuses for different retailers.

Nightwing and Robin should have been playable and had stories within the main game, not thrown away challenge maps.

PhilKenSebben

Did you just say Kenshi doesn't stand out? I'll fucking kill you Holmes. In a match of MK that is. Fucking love you man. Might grab this on sale since my MK was borrowed never to return. I miss it, but still have MKvsDC (fuck off, I enjoy it folks), Tekken 5 and SSF4ae for my fix. Plus VF5 is coming soon and TTT2 (drools)

JoeTheProYaKnow

@ctg

There is truth to what Holmes says, namely, GOTY editions do make some people wait to purchase games til a later date. I know I have waited for countless games to get GOTY updates, there is simply no reason to buy a new game and inevitably have $30 dollars of DLC released to only then have some players get all this and more for $40 bucks in complete editions. Of course some people will buy games new and Holmes is not arguing that. But the increase of complete and GOTY editions have probably staved off some people from buying a game they would have otherwise. The fact I can attest to that occurring means that the claim is true.

Androp

@JohnApocalypse
I was looking forward to the movie too, sadly it was absent from the Canadian copy as well.

Fugly Duckling

Imagine that. A complete edition that doesn't completely bone the original customer.

I don't really like the comparison of SSIV or MvC3, since both of those are completely incompatible with their previous versions. I never saw this as an upgrade, just a sidestep. It doesn't divide the player base, I don't have to buy a new version, so I'm really OK with this.

JQM78

already preordered and paid off my copy for Vita...

It was only $40... does that count?

indigit4l

I got this free when I bought my brand new $199 160GB (replacement) PS3 from gamestop last week (the other option was Batman AC but I played that on my PC.

It's a wonderful game. I really love the story mode as it unlike any fighter before it and I think others could learn from it.

SF was the first to "deluxe" a game w/ SFIITurbo am I right? Almost was about to say MK3:Ultimate was until I thought a little longer about it.

BestUsernameEver

No need for this one, I am getting the vita version with even more content for 20 dollars less. Good review though.

Here's Some Weapons

Jonathan Holmes never fails to reassure me that he has no idea what he's talking about. This is essentially a GOTY edition, not a glorified patch with new characters like Ultimate or Extend. Why even make the comparison?

Keith Treble

Comparing this to super sf4 or ultimate marvel vs capcom 3 is a little unfair as those games are basically sequals whereas mk:komplete isnt. Also both ssf4 and UmVc3 had to be purchased to get the additional content, if you owned either but wanted the additional characters you couldnt just download them capcom forced you to buy a whole new game. Whereas with mk if you already own the game and kinda forgot about it and stopped playing it and heard about this release, you could just download the new characters for $15 and if you dont own it well you may as well buy the one with all the bells and whistles.

Keith Treble

Comparing this to super sf4 or ultimate marvel vs capcom 3 is a little unfair as those games are basically sequals whereas mk:komplete isnt.

Also both ssf4 and UmVc3 had to be purchased to get the additional content, if you owned either but wanted the additional characters you couldnt just download them capcom forced you to buy a whole new game.

Whereas with mk if you already own the game and kinda forgot about it and stopped playing it and heard about this release, you could just download the new characters for $15 and if you dont own it well you may as well buy the one with all the bells and whistles.

killias2

Yeah, what others said. This isn't the same thing as UMvC3 at all. This is a repackage with dlc. That is an update that isn't accessible as dlc and which doesn't even include the dlc characters from the original.

HEL105

Picked it up a few weeks ago when GameStop had it for $30, and I'm enjoying the heck out of it. And this is coming from someone who had nothing but derision for Mortal Kombat post- MKII.

ME4Twaffle

To anybody saying that the multiple editions of games doesn't train gamers to wait, I'd argue that it does. I personally bought Street Fighter IV, then traded it towards Super Street Fighter IV, then skipped arcade, because it felt like a ripoff. I wanted Marvel VS Capcom 3 when it came out, but I have waited for that due to what happened with SFIV. Same with Tekken X Street Fighter. Waiting for that one to expand as well.

So, while it doesn't train us to do so with ALL games, I'd say it at least trained me to wait in regards to Capcom fighting games.

And you can't argue that there's that one guy who ALWAYS waits for these things.

Arttemis

I love this game. My favorite fighting game this generation!

BoomingEchoes

Okay, so probably a dumb question, but it comes because of Maurice's "How enhanced is the Xbox 360 edition of The Witcher 2?" article: Don't you guys not review the same things twice?

I'm just curious (in a genuinely curious way) what makes this different, because Maurice and Ryan really toted the line that we shouldn't be asking for a review scores for the console Witcher 2 because there was already a review done by Jim on the original release of the game.

Nick reviewed Mortal Kombat when he was still here and all this is is an "update" re-release with DLC content that really didn't change a whole lot other then add a few characters and provide more costumes. Meanwhile the Witcher 2 console release was a release on a whole different platform, with different controls, with -from what I understand- a lot of additional content that extends the game, that the game didn't have before this.

So it just seems fuzzy on why that Witcher article, which read like a review any way, wasn't allowed, or didn't get, a score that would have told readers that it was a worthy purchase or not compared to the PC release (and yes, I'm well aware that some people were simply wanting a score that was different from Jim's because they didn't agree with his, but is that really a good reason not to give it a score?), but this one does when the reviewed isn't all that much of a game changer.

All that said though, you can see theres no value to this package. Rereleases like this that come out at $60 are usually on GOTY games that had a shit ton of content that actually extends the life of the game.. For a fighter I don't think you get the same kind of mileage for the price simply because -while you'll be adding extended life- all your really adding is a few more characters to schlep around. I think this is why Capcom releases these things at $40 when they do them. So it seems pretty clear you should either wait for it to go down in price, or get the original release new or used and just buy the content piece by piece (or, better yet, find the Kollectors Edition for a reduced price -- I think its around $60 now-- and get the two awesome bookends that come with it, instead.)

Also, Kung Lao looks like he could be a Chang Baby, you know.. From Community.. Those Chang Babies are said to come out fighting, so I wouldn't doubt he is and was simply put up for adoption.

KingSigy

I really hate downloadable codes for complete/collector's editions. The whole reason why I'm buying such a luxurious package is so that I can have physical crap.

BomberJacket

TYPOTALITY! Holmes loses!

getroramer

"Final Verdict" is redundant you tards.

BestUsernameEver

Comparing this to semi sequels is completely off, and Holmes should probably fix that part, this is the same exact game with added content, hence the 'komplete' title. The score seems right though, since it is just an updated version of a one year old game.

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Garlador

This isn't a new products. It's just a bundle. A great value for late adopters. It's the same thing as the GOTY editions of Oblivion, Fallout, Arkham Asylum, Borderlands, etc. This is nothing new and nothing to scoff at. It's the EXACT same game as the one people bought just with all the DLC included. That's fine.

And that's MUCH better than Capcom's tactic of releasing a highly superior version a few months later that is totally incompatible with the $80 Collector's Edition of SFIV/MvC3 you just bought. That's a scam.

This is a bundle deal.

Adam Duffles Duffield

Dont own this game but I love it, been needing to get another vita game
this should do nicely

Jonathan Holmes

So you guys are saying it's better to release the same game again with 4 "new" characters and some "new" skins for $60 (Mortal Kombat Komplete Edition) than to release the same game again with +10 new characters, new modes, etc. for $40 (Super Street Fighter 4, Ultimate Marvel Vs. Capcom 3)?

More new content for less money is worse?

How about if they released the game again with 1 new character for $80? Would that be really great?

BestUsernameEver

No, we're asking you to get your story straight.

Jonathan Holmes

@ BestUsernameEver- Are you talking to me? Didn't you just say this was a good review? I thought that meant that my story was "straight".

This is the weirdest comment section ever! Not that that's a bad thing!

NaturalKi

I'm glad I just bought the komplete edition, with the peso-dollar exchange rate it cost only about $45, cheaper than buying the original and DLC separately. It's a fantastic game with a deep fighting system. The 4 DLC characters are fun and best of all I don't need to wait to download any patches. The online community is still going strong, now is really the best time to get into mortal kombat if you haven't started yet!

PS i'm never buying a new capcom game at launch, except maybe DmC. i regret not waiting for RE5 Gold and SSF4:AE :(

BestUsernameEver

No no, very sorry, I was responding to Ariessiren

Rammstein

@Jonathan Holmes: The "Komplete Edition" is for people who missed out on the original game or could not(for bandwidth limit reasons) download the DLC and wanted to pickup the base game and added content.

Crapcom does things like release a minimal version of a game, knowing full well that they are going to release crazy amounts of extra content and charge more for each piece of content individually.

That said, the "Komplete Edition" is nothing more than a "Game of the Year" edition akin to Borderlands where they released the base game plus all of the DLC, same with Oblivion, Fallout 3, etc.

Now, that's my stance, however, I'm sure many would agree that Nether Realm Studios are just giving people added options/what they want/convenience, as opposed to nickel-and-diming the way that Crapcom does. However since the developers of Mortal Kombat don't have slim/thin eyes, they're not respected by the overall Fighting Game Community and the evil "round eyes" will never be as beloved to the point of blind-faith fans as the Street Fighter franchise.

TL;DR: Fuck you, read my shit, it's leaking with truth juice.

ctg867

@Faux Furry

And what about Half Life 2? That was a completely linear single player action FPS. No multiplayer, no open world, no sidequests. Just Half Life 2. Do I think I'm entitled to EP1&2? No. Was I burned by Orange Box after buying HL2 for $50? No. Half Life 2 was worth the money, so I bought it and I don't feel bad about buying it.

Value isn't genre specific. If the value is there, both in quantity and quality, the product is worth it. If you have a fighting game with dozens of unique, balanced characters, great single player and multiplayer modes, character creation and customization, and a ton of replay value, the game should be worth $60 on its own merits. If substantial DLC comes out down the line that takes in fan feedback, I don't feel entitled to it, and I don't feel burned when a GOTY Edition comes out with them.

Notice how I said *inherently*. Complete Editions CAN cause that problem. They don't have to. I'm not making judgement calls on MK or Arkham City. I haven't played either of them. But I think Jonathan is being foolish by making a judgement call on Complete Editions by claiming that they inherently train people not to buy new games at launch, which flat out isn't true.

@JoeTheProYaKnow

"there is simply no reason to buy a new game"

I just gave you a handful of reasons why you should buy a new game if the value is there. Please read my posts before you respond to them. Thank you.

Garlador

This is just a re-release, Holmes. It is nothing like Capcom's semi-sequels.

All these characters are old. All the content is old. There is NOTHING in the game for this package. This is 100% NOT for people that already own the game. This is just a bundle of old content, not an upgrade like Super/Ultimate Capcom fighting game #whatever.

Would you re-review Fallout 3's GOTY edition, which was just a bundle? Would you re-review Bordlerands GOTY edition, which was just a bundle? Would you re-review Oblivion's bundle, or StarCraft's bundle, or Arkham Asylum's bundle?

It's the exact same game with the exact same code and the exact same features. Nothing new. Nothing extra. No tweaks to the gameplay, no extras in the challenges or costumes. It's just all the old content in one place in one package.

Capcom's semi-sequels are entirely new products that, for better or worse, are heavily tweaked, upgraded, and incompatible with what you just bought a few months ago. They punish you by making your prior version obsolete.

This is the same game as MK2011 in every conceivable way. Just all the old content is included so you can save yourself the $20 DLC fee and disc space. It is not meant to replace your prior version of the game like Capcom's semi-sequels are prone to do. Someone like me who bought the game day 1 has the same game as someone who buys this Komplete Kollection. We have all the same content and none of it is any different.

Again, think of it like the GOTY version of Mortal Kombat and not like the Super version of Street Fighter IV.

Kyousuke Nanbu

I think what people are saying, is that comparing this to Capcoms shit is unfair because it ain't the same thing.

You have to buy Ultimate Marvel 3, there's no choice to download the extra chars, you have to buy the DLC to turn Super SF into AE.

This MK is just something for those who missed it but if you own the base game you can get all the content, plus you get the movie which is a cool bonus.

timtheterrible

"Collections like this only work to train fighting game fans to never buy a new fighter when it's first released, and to instead wait for the "better" version of the game to come out less than a year later."

Yep, that's what I was waiting for.

Fugly Duckling

Holmes, I really don't understand your argument. It's not a new game or an upgraded version, it's a compilation of all the DLC. How can you expect a game to be what it clearly never intended to be?

We're not saying upgrades are better than compilations, we're saying keep your expectations in check and don't expect a game to be what it clearly never intended to be, and then complain about lost potential that never existed in the first place.

The Average Guy

I don't think you seem to realize that this game was only for people who didn't buy the original Mortal Kombat. o.O Why the heck was this even reviewed? It's basically just a GOTY edition, as I'm sure others comments have said.

The Average Guy

Not to mention that the comparisons to UMvC3 + SSFIV are beyond unfair since people who own MK9 lose nothing by not buying the Komplete Edition so long as they buy the DLC, unlike owners of MvC3 and SFIV that cannot in any way play with people who own UMvC3/SSFIV AND cannot obtain the new content UNLESS they buy the upgraded disc.

JoeTheProYaKnow

@ctg

"I know that *I* have watied for countless games to get GOTY updates, there is simply no reason to buy a new game and inevitably have $30 dollars of DLC released to only then have some players get all this and more for $40 bucks in complete editions."

I am speaking for myself notice the *I*. Not every single gamer, for myself I wait to buy games as the value is NOT there. Notice the "I know that I have waited..." Nice piece quote. Please read my posts before you respond to them AND do not pick out a single line to make me look like I am the one at fault. Thank you.

JoeTheProYaKnow

Also, you failed to make any response to TSP and myself. You simply ignored TSP point and picked out a single line from mine in straw man. I am not saying that I am entitled to shit, frankly companies can release hundreds of dollars worth of DLC for all I care, but when they turn around and bundle it for cheap and I KNOW they do this, why would *I* go and buy the non-bundled edition? You may be okay with doing this and you would be justified in doing so. For some of us, we have limited funds, consequently, if I am pretty certain a game is going to have a complete edition, I wait. It does not matter if Bobby down the street gets the game before me and has that wonderful experience that I am waiting on. I will get the game cheaper and "all bundled up". Surely you cannot say that if one is wanting to spend money wisely that this is not a bad course of action?

AlucardsQuest

Good idea, but a damn pricey one for a game that's been out for over a year. Yes I know the downloads and extras would make the original cost more, but this is akin to a greatest hits or game of the year version. The WB are some greedy mother fuckers for wanting full price for this. Now watch how fast the price drops when the realize $60 is a mistake. Does that make it redundant to complain about? No because if people don't point out problems issues don't get solved.

heyricochet

Holmes, what is KoF's retail packaged upgrade? KoF 13 hasn't had any ultimate edition, and its only had a few dlc characters added.