Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 iPhone

Do not get over here.
Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 is not ultimate. Electronic Arts' iPhone edition is lacking in so many key areas, from the number of fighters to the iffy controls, that it's impossible to recommend, even to a Mortal Kombat diehard fan. In fact, I think that core group will be the most disappointed with Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3.

I appreciate EA's desire to update Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 for the iPhone and its ultra-crisp display, but the decision to completely redo all of the fighters is a tremendous loss. The charm of the digitized live actors is one of the reasons the early Mortal Kombat games are such goofball rushes. Now, the fighters are just 3D models (operating on 2D planes). I know that recent MK entries have left behind human actors, but that's not the point here. EA is selling Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. The cheese of the digitized actors is one of the reasons it remains one of my favorites in the series. But the loss of the digitized actors is hardly a grievous offense. No, that's reserved for the unfriendly controls. The virtual stick is the toughest part of the equation. Ducking and diagonal jumping are too hit-and-miss for a game that uses them for special moves and combos. The action buttons are a bit better, though I'm not a fan of how they are so crammed together. There are multiple control schemes, including one with a button for special moves (like Scorpion's hook), but none of them really worked well enough for me.



I encounter a bizarro glitch whenever I reach Motaro, the centaur. Both characters just bounce back and forth on the screen, rendering the fight a total crapshoot. Sometimes I can get a move in before the flip and score some damage. But for the most part, my ascent up the tournament ladders stops with Montaro. Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 includes a lot of Fatalities and Babalities, but the violence has been toned down a hair. There are 10 arenas brought over from the arcade game, too, including some of the multi-tiered stages. But the number of fighters has actually been decreased to 13. There are over 25 in other versions of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. I hope EA's plan is to release them for free over time. Capcom has done a fantastic job updating Street Fighter IV for the iPhone to add free fighters to the growing roster. Considering EA is charging $6.99 for this port, a free fighter pack or two would be a nice present to fans.

Closing Comments
Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 is just not much fun. The personality of this particular entry has been stripped away by redoing all of the visual elements. Worse, though, are the difficult controls and the occasional bugaboos that ruin fights. I hope to see a great Mortal Kombat on the App Store one day as I actually have fond memories of the series. I’m just sorry Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 isn’t that game.