Mortal Kombat 9: Now 20% More Fatal

Last time, we talked about Marvel vs Capcom 3 and how I would've given it a higher score if I hadn't played something else that made me realize some of it's shortcomings, particularly in the single player content area. Well, if you were wonder what game that is, look no further. Netherrealms Studios' new Mortal Kombat is that very title.

Now I never cared too much for Mortal Kombat as a whole. Sure the early games were fun to an extent and had enough silliness to keep gamers entertained and even after the shift to 3D, Mortal Kombat 4 was fun enough, but afterwards I just lost interest. I played Deception and enjoyed it to an extent, but it didn't have a deep enough system to keep me entertain, or at the very least, I just didn't care enough about it and Armageddon.... oh boy, Armageddon. This particular title left me skeptical at first too and even when the demo was released, I was unsure, but then I played it and was surprised to feel something: Fun. So I looked more into the game and the more I heard, the more I like. It's been about a month since the game's release, so how is it?

Kicking Your Ass: Balance Changes

Hello and welcome to Fighting February!

Elena vs Makoto, by Genzoman

There's no simpler way to say it: I love me some fighting games of all shapes and sizes, from Street Fighter to Guilty Gear to even Tekken every once in a while. I've even began my series to Fighting Games 101 a few months back and while I don't consider myself pro, if there's one genre of game that I love following, it's fighting games. Even what some could consider to be small things that wouldn't change anything ends up being so much a difference that it can completely change how effective a character is, but that's a discussion for another time.

This month on the Nerd Sanctum, we're going to discuss some of the recent history in Fighters. Most of this is old news, gathered from sources like Shoryuken.com, Dustloop.com, and Eventhubs.com but this is something of my own personal opinion of the events and changes. Firstly, we'll be discussing the balance updates to two of my favorite fighters, Super Street Fighter 4 and BlazBlue: Continuum Shift. With both changes coming out around the same time and both having been extensively played, I have to say I'm really happy with the changes thus far.

Forced Continuation Disease

So after my article on the best of Metal Gear Solid, I got to admit that I had a bit of trouble thinking about what to review next and while I have a good number of ideas, one movie in particular came to mind. I won't say specifically which, but lets say it has to do with some old series that I used to enjoy, but as it went on, my love for the series deteriorate at a great rate. It doesn't help that I'm thinking about this in the shower of all places, but nevermind that.

The reason the series seemed to deteriorate was after it contracted what I like to call the 'forced continuation disease'. What is force continuation disease or FCD for short? The concept centers around a fairly good and enjoyable series, such as for instance, Naruto, that starts off fairly strong, only to be controlled by a demand by the fans for more and as a result, it goes down in quality.

Spoilers abound for a few series, so readers beware.