Believe it or not, there was a time where Mortal Kombat was at a very low point. Before the 3D PS2 era, there was a time when Ed Boon and John Tobias parted ways because the franchise was holding on by a thread. This was brought into clear focus when Annihilation hit a box office crater and Mortal Kombat: Subzero met with overall mixed to unfavorable reviews. They tried to bring this title into the new era of 3D by putting Special Forces on an isometric view and added combos via Jax's metal arm attacks and even gave him guns and explosives. Try to hold your surprise when I tell you: It didn't pan out well.
This game was included in the Mortal Kombat Legacy Kollection, thankfully, giving me a chance to play through it. I say "thankfully" because it gives me a chance to review it. What I wasn't so grateful for was the game itself and how it played. This game is beyond boring. The levels are whirly and nonlinear, which isn't always a bad thing, in fact it can be a very good thing when you look at Doom. With the implimentation of keys and elevators, Special Forces pads out its runtime by making you explore every room and look for ways to unlock the way to the next section of the level.
The combat is one of the worst parts about the game. Trying to avoid damage is nearly impossible in several cases, especially when the opponents have guns. The combinations you receive through leveling up are hardly worth the trouble when you have three or four opponents all at once. You get better results from just using the heavy kick attack and causing them to pause from pain. This grows especially tiresome. The hits lack any sort of impact and the blood is not plentiful enough to make it a rewarding experience.
This was brought about in the very early era of 3D gaming, so the lack of graphics can be excused. The highly mundane backgrounds and uninteresting levels just add to the woes. When you're stuck in a certain part of the level and are forced to look through every single nook and cranny, you start to think about how awesome another MK title is. This is especially true when this came with titles like the arcade original Mortal Kombat and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. That menu to turn off the game starts to look very attractive, as it can let you escape this horrid title.
It's obvious that they were wanting to explore different avenues in the series. Like Subzero's N64/PS1 title, this game wanted to give you a different experience and a vehicle to introduce new characters. This is the introduction of both Tremor and Jarek, before Jarek was in Mortal Kombat 4, which is its own can of worms. Even with some influence on the series, it's obvious that several things went wrong in the development. John Tobias did his best with what he had, trying to bring about technology which was still in the experimental stages with a group that had very little experience in 3D game programming. In their duct tape and bubblegum, they tried to paste together a good game and sadly, the good intentions did not create a banger.
Sadly, this was the title that caused Tobias to leave the franchise entirely. Boon carried it on and brought about the trainwreck they eventually made the series, but there were several titles that came along the way. Some of those titles included Mortal Kombat 9 and X, so it's hard to say that they weren't working. They were obviously doing what they could to make the franchise a success again. The experimentation may have brought about little gems like Shaolin Monks and Deception, but the road can hardly be considered smooth by any meaning of the word. Jax's character suffered for it, but all can be forgiven. Tobias lost out on a grand old time because of a rough patch and it is to lament. Still, at least he didn't have a hand in making Mortal Kombat 1. Virtua Burn!!!
