MK hasnt been very good since they stopped making 2-D MK games. MK
A had promise, but it went put the window with MK
. And MK:A is a joke.
I am exited to finally see MK, "reboot." However, you are not giving credit to the 3D MK Games where you should. To be frank, the last, "MK," MK Game was MK4, (Gold,) and that game pretty much decimated what was left of the fan base. Mortal Kombat, ever after MKII, has fought a battle against creative story lines and intricate fighting systems; vs the fans' desire for the same old rut of a story and the same old HP, LP, etc.
Midway's worst enemy, and I do stand by this, is their own fans. The Mortal Kombat fan base is extremely hypocritical, un-decisive, and un-supportive of Midway's efforts to rejuvenate
their franchise. I think that is where most of the problem lies. Fans have been fans for so long that they somehow think that they now own the franchise, and that Midway somehow owes them something. So, whenever Midway takes tries to take the series in a new direction; the fans inevitably retaliate.
The Fans have not been truly happy with MK after MKII. The old adage seems to apply here, "You can't go home again," The old school fans, the bulk of the fan base, want MK to be nothing more than the storyline, 2D Graphics, and old-school simple fighting engine repeated again, and again, and again. The fans are trying to live in the past and get increasingly pissed off every time Midway tries to save the franchise by bringing it into the future. Here, let me cite examples.
The MK3 Generation of games made the series better by giving it:
A: Crisper Graphics.
B: A better, more intuitive, and more realistic combo system.
C: A Run Button.
D: Brutalities and Animalities.
E: A new storyline that frees MK from the stagnant nature of tournament battle and truly lays the foundation for it being a, "modern mythology." To be frank, MK 1 and 2's story lines look like nothing more than a blatant rip off of old-school Asian Karate Movies. Which is no surprise considering that's exactly what they were. The MK3 storyline was the first time Midway treated the game's story as original, something of their own creation. Not just a rip off of Martial Arts Movies.
F: By MKT of the MK3 Generation, we now have every 2D MK Kombatant that was ever in any previous game.
G: The Aggressor Bar adds even more fun and strategy to the game play.