I’ve never been a huge fan of fighting games, but this video makes me want to embrace whatever is planned for Mortal Kombat. The video is a stark change to the series every gamer knows. There don’t seem to be any ninjas, no magic, just gritty, blood soaked and vile Mortal Kombat characters in a new more realistic setting. The video is too high quality with too many(well, two is enough) actual actors in it to be a mere fan project.
A lot of of the characters are retooled to either be more believable for a real world setting, such as Reptile being a survivor of Harlequin ichthyosis, Baraka being a plastic surgeon who snaps and horribly mangles himself, Sub-Zero having some twisted looking contraption and Scorpion being a bad ass with white eyes.
There are two common beliefs with what this video might be related to. One is a Mortal Kombat movie, which has been said to be in development for years. The inclusion of Michael Jai White, from Spawn and Black Dynamite, and Jeri Ryans, from Star Trek: Voyager and Leverage this could be distinct possibility.
The other big possibility is that this is a teaser for the announcement of a new, grittier, Mortal Kombat game to be announced at the E3 this next week. This also seems highly likely, with some past reports saying the series was going to take a direction towards Gears of War with it’s style.
Personally, I think it might be both. Midway is dead. They only had one game and the best way I can see for Warner Brothers to bank on the properties they bought is to utilize both of it’s popular routes at the same time. Dark and gritty is popular in the movie industry right now, and people love gore in games. We won’t know for another week, but I want to see more bad.
Best video based on a video game yet! Let the tournament begin!