At times it's surprising how good Mortal Kombat looks on the Vita, which makes those times when it looks bad all the more shocking. The caveat for the game's port is that the characters all got a downgrade. In motion it's not so noticeable, as you're too busy hurling fireballs and teleporting to examine faces. But before and after each match, when the camera zooms in on your character, it becomes very apparent that everyone's polygon counts took a dive. It wouldn't be so big of a deal, except the story mode switches between cutscenes and game engine scenes on the fly. What used to be a near seamless blending of cutscene and gameplay becomes a series of jarring visual back and forth sequences where Johnny Cage goes from looking like a suave Hollywood socialite, to a burn victim, and back again.
The biggest downside with Mortal Kombat is the same problem every portable fighting game has: cumbersome local multiplayer. If you love playing MK with a buddy at your side, it's way easier to get the console version than both of you getting Vitas and copies of the game. Thankfully, the online mode is still included, and while King of the Hill didn't make the cut, you can still play 1v1 and tag matches, ranked or unranked. As with all fighters, lag is a make or break issue. Our experience with Mortal Kombat was good (with some occasional, minor lag), though as with all online games, the real test to the servers happens when everyone jumps on.
When it comes to gory fun on the go, Mortal Kombat is a fun, silly fighter that is entirely inappropriate to play in public spaces, which actually makes it even more fun. Your enjoyment of Mortal Kombat on Vita will depend on whether or not you've already played the identical console version, and how much you like tapping the touch screen to make people's heads explode. Mortal Kombat remains faithful to its console counterpart, and is an equally entertaining, albeit sometimes uglier, addition to the family.
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