Game analysis Mortal Kombat

Genre

Mortal Kombat is in the fighting genre, a sub genre of the action genre, where you control a character that uses different moves based on what buttons pressed, and has different combos. Generally fighting games are done in a side-view style, and Mortal Kombat is no exception. It shows other conventions of the genre such as health bars at the top of the screen, a timer, super moves and combo moves. Also characters with different skins and play styles. Mortal Kombat sits well in the genre as being one of the most played modern fighting games along with street fighter VII.

Narrative

The story of Mortal Kombat is that earth has been invaded by another "realm" by a man called Shao Khan, and has killed all the heroes of Earth. However on the brink of defeat Raiden, a defender of Earth and God of thunder, sends a vision to himself in the past saying "he must win". It is then that we follow the story of the past  Raiden, who is participating in a tournament known as Mortal Kombat, a tournament that pits fighters against each other for the fate of the world. The game then progresses through different stages as you follow various different characters, as they either fight to save Earth in the tournament, or pursue their own agendas. The story informs gameplay by each character having different moves based on who they are and their pasts. For example Scorpion was killed and raised from the dead, and so has hellish like powers.

Produced

The game was produced by NetherRealm Studios, which is owned  by Warner Bros. It was made as a reboot to the original Mortal Kombat in 1992. Things that were developed to enhance gameplay was the combo moves in the game, where if you press certain buttons in a specific order it would do a special move. This makes it so there are more options than just the default High punch, Low punch, High kick, Low kick.

Characterisation

The characters are relevant to the target audience as they might have an attachment to them from before the game, as it is a reboot of the original franchise. Also they are relevant because of the stories they have and how they act in game. For example a character like Raiden would be relevant because he is the God of Earth defending it from attack and is presented as a character who is very moral and good, while they would hate a character like Shao Khan who is trying to take over and destroy the Earth and has a very brutal fighting style and even taunts players when he fights you. The characters are appealing because of how different each one is to each other, each with a different style and something that sets them apart from the others. For example Sub-zero uses ice attacks and his style of gameplay is based around that, while someone like Stryker, a police officer, would have a style based around police weaponry and ranged attacks.

Gameplay

The gameplay revolves around using the different attacks; High punch, Low punch, High kick, Low kick to defeat your opponent. Through the use of jumping an ducking, while doing these attacks in different order create a diverse combat style where you can use different moves depending on your situation. The challenge of the gameplay is that you can't mash different attacks throughout the entire game, sometimes you will have to a use a certain tactic or take advantage of an enemies weakness. For example a lack of range. Also against higher difficulties and better players you will have to learn when to use certain moves and combos as well as learning how to chain together certain attacks to get the most out of your damage. What sets Mortal Kombat apart from the other fighting games is its brutal nature and the infamous fatalities. A fatality is where if you win the fight, at the end you can do a certain combo that starts a small cut scene of your character killing your opponent in a gory fashion. This can range from ripping your enemy in two, burning them alive or just eating their face off. Because of this the series has gained some infamy with parents, as they do not want to expose their children to such extreme violence, however it also serves to advertise the game itself.

Target audience

As stated before, the game would not be appropriate for a younger audience because of the extremely violent nature of the combat. This means that the target audience would be 18+. The game appeals directly to the target audience by being a game that focuses on the gore and violence, while keeping the game competitive. This means it would attract a more competitive audience rather than a casual one, as the learning curve for the game is quite high and can become frustrating if you don't know how to play, especially against someone better than you.

Platform

The game is available on PS3, Xbox360, Ps Vita and windows PCs. The game works well on consoles as there is only 4 different attacks, and movement can be done fluidly by the analogue sticks. For PC its a little different compared to consoles, as sometimes the controls can be a little strange, as the gameplay controls do not work as well on a keyboard compared to a controller. This means it is more suited to consoles than PC, however you could always use a Xbox360 controller on the PC to play the game that way.