Mortal Kombat Trilogy

Ah, Mortal Kombat Trilogy. It's a game that had multiple chances to fix a big issue with the game it's based on - Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. That big issue is the AI. Good lord, it is very annoying. In order to beat this game, and UMK3, for that matter, you have to basically study the AI's behavior, and make it so that the AI opens itself up for a beating. Otherwise, enjoy having the AI directly react to your actions. It will feel like you're playing rock paper scissors with an evil mind reader that knows what you're going to pick. Now, I get it, UMK3, and even MK2, were designed to get people to dump coins into the arcades until they beat the game. That said, there was no good reason to keep the AI intact for console ports of those games, or for MK Trilogy.

You might notice that I said "multiple chances" - yes, this game came out across multiple consoles and none of them really fix the AI. Hell, the N64 has an even tougher AI since it's a little harder to get it to open itself up for damage, but that version has other problems of its own.

The PS1 version has a different set of problems. For starters, the loading times. I know, this is something that gamers simply had to put up with on the PS1. It's still bothersome to make your choice of game mode, then wait. Pick a character, then wait. Pick a tower of opponents, then wait for your fight to load. Win a match, then wait some more. That's the routine for this version of MK Trilogy. Another problem is that the sound was mostly butchered. Most of the soundtracks have this strangely lower pitch than they should have, it's really easy to tell with the songs from UMK3, and strangely the MK2 songs in this game are fine. The voices are modified, especially Liu Kang's and Sheeva. My goodness, the increased pitch of their voices make them sound so terrible. On top of that, during the Endurance fights (i.e. where you face multiple opponents, one by one), the wrong voices play for male fighters. As if that's not enough, the sound cues for Fatalities and the like are messed up as well.

Or should I say Kombatants? Moving on.

Basically, the core gameplay took some significant hits here. Graphically, it's fine, and though it's weird to not have the MK1 soundtracks here, I am fine without them, given how the MK3 songs turned out. The roster is nicely sized, but again - when the AI is so annoying, what's the point? You have to basically plan around the AI to win. Otherwise, forget it. And besides, it's not a balanced roster, either.

I know, shocker. An old Mortal Kombat game suffers from balance issues, but MK Trilogy shifts into maximum overdrive. Rain can set up some easy infinite combos, and his super roundhouse kick is such bait for that. How did this get past playtesting? Noob Saibot's cloud projectile gives him a very unfair advantage, and he has a kick combo that is laughably easy to pull off. I was able to do it when I was less than 10 years old.

Yes, I played Mortal Kombat at a very young age, I promise you, I turned out fine.

A trick against the AI that works well for me is to jump backwards and then throw a kick. The AI will likely throw a projectile, and thus, if you timed your kick right, you'll just land as the projectile is about to be thrown, and basically, you have a free hit against the AI opponent.

The sub-bosses and Shao Kahn will require a different bag of tricks. They are even more annoying to deal with, but here's the funny part. The game lets you play with those characters from the very beginning, so if you want to give the AI a taste of its own medicine, you can.

Motaro has a hilariously lazy ending. Shao Khan has an ending as well, but Goro and Kintaro do not, which is a bit disappointing. They're the only two characters in the game without endings. Chameleon is a secret character and he's basically an excuse to have one more male ninja. He simply takes the moves from the other male ninjas, and changes color throughout fights. Meh.

Overall, there's a decent amount of content, the bells and whistles are kinda there, but the core gameplay needed some fixing. Instead, nothing was fixed, but hey, old stages and soundtracks, am I right?

I should mention that there's also a 2-on-2 Kombat mode, an 8 person tournament mode, and no practice mode, which is a very strange choice. You can unlock one-button fatalities with a cheat code, but laughably, this breaks MK2 Kung Lao's fatality with the hat throw. I've also noticed that in certain Endurance fights, the game will lock up for what feels like a long time if you dare to top off your win with a Fatality (or the alternative fancy finishing moves - Brutality, Animality, etc.)

Unless you are already used to UMK3, don't play this. MK4 gets rid of the cheap AI, and MK Gold injects MK4 with some nostalgia via returning characters. That's not to say that those games are great, but I find it easier to replay those.
LATE EDIT: I realize I made no mention of the Aggressor meter. That's because it's kind of pointless, and only exists to give the gameplay a hint of difference from UMK3. Basically, it's a meter that increases as you hit your opponent, and once AGGRESSOR is fully spelled out for a character, said character gets to do more damage with attacks. Meh, at least you get to end fights faster with it.