Mortal Kombat The Chosen One (PC) - Part 2

Previously Black Death gang on behalf of Shao Kahn, makes attempt on kidnapping 15 y.o Carolina that said to be The Chosen One. However, Raiden and Co manage to rescue her from the kidnappers. Not only that, but also Raiden unleashes true power of The Chosen One from Carolina. Together with Raiden’s group, Carolina slays Black Death gang that she met along the way to rescue teenagers that are kidnapped. Inside Hollywood Gym, Robocop defeats gang member and Balrog from Street Fighter, then rescue kidnapped teenagers there. However, there are more kidnapped hostages out there… 

Stage 4 takes place in red light district. These street mistresses don’t know what hit them. It’s my all-time favorite MK character: Scorpion. Naturally, he has the harpoon throw complete with “Get over here!” voice line. Although the harpoon doesn’t have much range, it’s viable special attack. If I successfully hit enemy with harpoon, I can follow it up with several knife stabs if I press attack button. If I don’t press any button after the harpoon hit, Scorpion will uppercut the enemy instead. Any seasoned Scorpion player must now this simple strategy: harpoon hit and then uppercut. The strategy can be applied in any Mortal Kombat.

 

I never though that Scorpion can do jumping slam after the harpoon!  Sniper_goodjob03.wav

 

Oh, wow! One of enemies can do German suplex. I should be more careful.

 

Scorpion’s bomb move is: he summons giant flaming skull and burn entire screen. I think the skull has accusatory look on me like Ghost Rider does the penance stare. “Look into my eyes!”

 

We all know besides the harpoon throw, Scorpion’s signature move is burning his victim to death with his breath after revealing there’s flesh less skull beneath the mask. Pyro_laughevil03.wav

 

The boss of this level is a couple of dominatrixes. They like to grab you and hard to grab. So selfish! I don’t know if they shared same health bar or not, but I manage to hit them with the super combo. The bomb move probably better in this situation but whatever.

 

I manage to execute one of them with “No Mercy” move and other enemies just die instantly. Heavy_taunts01.wav

Using “No Mercy” move certainly easier than Fatality because you don’t have to grab the sub-boss/boss first to perform it. But I kind of don’t like Scorpion’s “No Mercy” move. It just he spins his chained harpoon and his victim is shredded. I prefer more incineration finisher like Scorpion spits fireball and the opponent explodes. But that’s just my opinion as Pyro.

 

The bonus stage is: breaking 2 cars! I don’t know the reason behind this vehicular destruction maybe the cars belong to the dominatrixes. I expected 2 Brads cry over their car destroyed but there’s none. But I like Scorpion’s smug pose after destroying those cars. He looks very proud of it.

 

Next stage, I pick The Chosen One because curiosity. I like her play style because one of her grabs is make her victim become living surfing board like what Jake from Night Slasher, does.  

 

Another grab that she can do is drain life which can heal herself while hurting enemies. It’s pretty handy when the health restore item is scarce.  

After more night street cleaning later…

 

There’s branching path: construction site or subway. Subway is in older version so I’m more curious with the construction site. At this area, there’s this guy on bulldozer as sub-boss. You can’t just close to construction tractor and punch it. It will run you over, easily. During dialogue scene, Carolina suggests that we should just throw other thugs at the bulldozer and it works remarkably! On top of that, they will instantly die as soon as they get up on bulldozer. Amazing! If only the goons are smart enough and not come here, the bulldozer will be unbeatable. You can still use the bomb move or special projectile though.

 

There are construction platforms that I can fell to kill enemies. But the first time I fell it, it hits myself so my life reserve reduced to 1 unintentionally. Another distinctive feature compared to slightly powered Carolina besides more elemental power is: the ability to move while grab and do double grab.  

 

Then I encounter this bastard. I can’t take screenshot of this sub-boss fight because of bug or something. So, I just narrate how the fight goes and it really sucks. His name is Jean Pierre. He only has one move and that is: throwing stick grenade. The game wants me to counter his grenade throw much like knife throw, that is done by pressing block button at the right timing. I did it once successfully. However, once he gets hit by his own grenade once, he throws his grenade on the wall instead of over it. So, I can’t counter it. You probably think that if our hero can destroy car quite casually, they should not have problem getting rid of this concrete wall. Except, that what happens. The wall practically invincible. I try using bomb move to hit the bastard but it only reduces his health in small quantity.     

 

I restart the game from the beginning, this time I choose subway instead of construction site. You can probably guess that the subway area is taken from that stage in Mortal Kombat 3. However, the stage fatality only makes my victim electrified on the rail and there’s no train passing at all. There’s explanation to that: because of the official curfew, the train no longer operating in these hours.

 

We encounter a muscular woman in leotard. Not sure where she’s from. Probably from Guardian of The Hood. She claims that there’s a group of hostages being held in this train but she won’t allow us to rescue them before defeating her first. Tusk’s bomb move is: he summons meteor rain. Sounds plausible…on outdoor. But we’re in underground subway, how are this meteor rain comes here? Soldier_sf13_magic_reac03.wav

I manage to chop the sub-boss in half! Demoman_eyelandertaunt02.wav  

 

GOD DAMNIT! I went into construction site, again. Even though I get in the train back then. I’m very certain of it. I’m forced to fight the grenade sub-boss again.

After dozen minutes of agony, I found out that I can destroy the concrete wall but it takes so much time and spent several live because of time out. The wall eventually cracked after long, tedious, arduous, and boring attempt to break it. But there’s another problem. The sub-boss behind that indestructible ruin. Eventually, Tusk manages to slip in and can beat up the bastard. However, Tusk is stuck on the ruin and can’t get out of it. Oh, well. I just let the time runs out and Tusk died. On the bright side, he respawns on open space.  

 

Oh, come on! Do we have to redo the fight against the strong woman? Whatever. Let’s rumble!

 

Thanks God! Now, we’re actually inside the train. Apparently, the black death gang and the night street mistresses join forces to defeat us. Or so what Tusk said. From the looks of it, I think the black death dudes woo the night street mistress.  

 

This boss fight is quite bad. Not because it’s the combination of Buzz, dominatrix and the strong woman. It’s dull and boring combination. The main problem is the real boss fight is against that electrified door on the right. I get shocked if my attack range is too short. Plus, I have to destroy the door in time otherwise the hostages behind it will explode! There’s timer for the bomb just above the door’s health bar. It’s red bar with time bomb icon on the left end. I’m sorry to anyone who main Tusk in Killer Instinct but I feel like Tusk in this game is horrible. He’s too slow and his special attack is not good enough. So, he’s replaced with the OC: Carolina.

 

That was close. Once again, the fire drill move prove its worth. It’s great to deliver damage to that damn door within short time. There are the hostages and the bomb. They’re all safe and sound. Hold up! I just notice that this machinist’s room is pretty similar to the one in Final Fight. Don’t tell me that this train is imported from Metro City.  

 

Next bonus stage is another drum breaking but this time the oil drum falls randomly. Be careful not to get hit by it! It’s almost akin to that bonus stage in Warriors of Fate, except this one using normal oil drum instead of clay statue of Cao Cao that miraculously run away if left undamaged.

I’m glad that I can make progress. Hopefully, I don’t need to fight the grenade sub-boss again. Now, we’re back to beat and fatalitize evil goons. This time, I pick Raiden because he’s the boss of the group so he must dirty his hand right away!  

 

These Ducati riders are everywhere in any stage. As long as there’s stage with smooth ground, they will appear and run you over. I mentioned that using desperation attack is quite effective against this Road Rasher but using bomb move is even more efficient. I don’t feel bad using it right now because I can deliver damage to all of them including the biker.

 

Before we can enter into the place where they held the gang meeting, I have to fight this big guy wearing chain on his body and -naturally- his henchmen. I believe this guy is one of antagonists of Pit Fighter. As expected from Raiden, he can shoot the lightning bolt. There’s the torpedo push but I don’t like using it because it only targets single enemy and the duration is overly long. The overly long duration of the charge may lead to awful repositioning. I prefer Carolina’s Fire Drill move.

 

Of course, the meeting place is in disco club, that houses speaker box that you can use to kill enemy and strobing light. To those who have photosensitive epilepsy may want to skip this stage. I have to fight another chain guy that has nothing distinctive about him except his iconic yet idiotic bull charge. You can get Coca Cola ^tm from the vending machine there. No, not by putting coin on it but by beating it up. Of course. :)

 

Next room is a trap! There’s another guy with bulldozer chasing me and I must move to safety through these obstacles. Luckily, the torpedo charge is passing through obstacle instead making Raiden back flip upon contact.

 

I reach the end of this dark murky corridor and there’s nothing I can do here. Luckily, the bulldozer falls as soon as it goes to flimsy plank that I must go through it carefully because how narrow it is. Falling to the chasm or getting hit by the bulldozer will instantly kill you and you must redo this section from the beginning. I begin to question the prowess of our heroes here. I believe protagonist of Street of Rage 3 and Final Fight 3 has no problem with bulldozer. Ok. That’s not entirely true. I mean they don’t get instantly killed by bulldozer. They just punch the heck out of the bulldozer in the front unlike these Mortal Kombatants, Killer Instinct Fighters, and 90s crossover characters.

 

What’s this? Suddenly the game gives me tutorial for math puzzle. I played Googol Math Games. I can do this.  

 

I try my best to describe how the puzzle works here. So, there are 6 columns of number. There’s relation on numbers of same column or rather there’s equation on it. The number on bottom is the result of math operation between number on top and number on center/middle. The math operation could be anything from: add, subtract, multiply, or divide. Thankfully, the math operation is same throughout the columns of number. So, it shouldn’t be that hard to guess what’s the hidden math operation. However, you have to take note that if equation has result more than 2 digits, you add the tens number on result on the right next column. I can see the reason behind this weird rule: because each column only has space for 1 digit. But it can convolute you when analyzing the columns. Your main task is to guess what’s the number for the result in the rightest column. Once you know the number, you hit the switch until it shows the number of your answer.         

Here's the example. I believe the math operation is: subtraction. So, the answer to fill the yellow “?” is: 5. So punch the button until number 5 shows up. But I also need to solve the math puzzle on the right, in order to open up the portcullis.  

 

Next room is trickier because there’s moving bladed pillar while I’m solving the puzzle. Luckily, it moves in fixed pattern so it isn’t hard as it looks.

 

Solving the last puzzle, drops me into ring with Zangief from Street Fighter the Movie! We shall see who would win between Russian Red Cyclone and Thunder God.

 

The boss fight went well and honorable until Zangief gets reinforcement. BOOO! Mother Russia frowns upon this. Real Zangief will stick to honorable 1-on-1 fight until the end. Even it’s the last thing he does. On the bright side, there’s more hostages so we’re on right track.  

 

After defeating Zangief, the goons on the back who are the audience of the fight, spill the information about hostages. They tell about Doomtroopers gang which could be potential lead. It said that Doomtroopers like to use firearm, which can be challenging. I like that Raiden tells these goons to call the cop to pick these hostages and repent. I’m not sure about the last part, whether Raiden tells them to turn themselves in or just go home and be family man quit as gang’s member for good. Either way is better than being bloody mess by Raiden and co.   

Bonus stage this time is breaking colorful crates. They’re cute and I kind regret to destroy them.

 

OH NO! NOT AGAIN! I hate this sub-boss. I skip the detail of this awful fight. Count this blessing on your end. You don’t like to see how it goes in real time. It goes almost half an hour. 

I encounter and defeat some -so called- Doomtroopers. They look like fans of Kiss band what with their white paint face and black shirt. No firearm so far. They’re push over. I guess I will beat more member of Doomtroopers…but the game doesn’t allow me to do that. The camera refuses to move forward to reveal more part of the stage. Is it bug or is this where the current version ends? That’s too abrupt. Maybe I will retry the game again off screen or wait for next update. Anyway, let’s wrap things up here.

Dantedevil’s Mortal Kombat – The Chosen One (2026) is very elaborate OpenBoR game though lack of finesse. Let’s talk about the bad thing first. I think it lacks the smooth experience of Beat em up game. Especially if I compare this game to Final Fight LNS. I feel like the stages are overly long beyond level 1. I finish 6 stages but I haven’t fought any Shao Kahn’s henchmen yet. Not even Kano that mentioned in early cutscene. I barely encounter the root of the problem. So, the game will have 10 stages in total or maybe even more. That sounds too many for me. I did rescue 2 or 3 dozen of hostages and also fight Balrog and Zangief from Shadaloo though. Even though Shadaloo in this is treated as city gang instead of terrorist organization, which I say it’s understatement. It’s like calling a broadsword, a knife. Sure, they’re both sharp weapon with sharp long edge and handle but they have different blade profile and size. Then the super combo that’s pretty hard to connect. Even it connects, the result is quite unsatisfying and monotonous. It’s just long string of punches and kicks. There’s bigger finisher on the super combo which is done by pressing block button in perfect timing but I can’t get it right. Compared it to super move in Final Fight LNS where you can unleash devastating projectile right away, or summon T-Rex besides of just string of punches. My biggest complaint is the grenade-throwing schmuck. That guy kills the fun totally. I expect developer will fix his grenade throwing behavior. But I prefer if the developer reduce the concrete wall’s health by 60% or so. I don’t have strong feeling with the roster but that’s just me not so attached to MK roster. There’s only handful number of MK character that I like and I only play MK up until 4. They’re Scorpion (definitely), Stryker (questionable taste, I know :P), Johnny Cage, Rain, and Kai. If I can make suggestion, I want the roster expanded with anyone in Blood Warrior, maybe Jackie Chan in that fighting game. I can imagine him throwing jar of wine around, decimating those thugs. If Claymation character can be included, perhaps roster of Clay Fighter can be added. Isn’t there Velociraptor on Killer Instinct? I want him in this game! The music barely exists.  

On to the good things. I really like the creativity of the developer on developing the move for the character. The editing of Mortal Kombat character’s animation feels well done. The main gimmick of this game is definitely Fatality. Though I’m not sure the functional value of it besides to satiate your violent pleasure. I wish successful fatality will earn me some health or mana restore. But I can use it to dodge enemy’s attack during fatality animation. I feel like this game has the best attack on downed opponent. Though the detection is bit finicky, but when it connects it’s satisfying in both visually and damage power. Then there’s “No Mercy” move where you finish off downed opponent. Then there’s the opposite: get-up attack where you attack around while getting up. I’m really impressed with how big the moveset. There are various special moves. Most of them are free to use while some use MP. Usually, projectile move use MP to execute, like Robocop’s handgun or Tusk’s ground blaze. However, Liu Kang and Raiden can fire projectile without MP cost. Kind of unfair to me. The best way to use your MP, is the bomb move. It looks interesting and clears enemies on the screen well. Probably the best way to implement bomb in Beat em up game. Even better than Street of Rage 1 and The Death and Return of Superman with their limited number of bomb. Then the grab. There are grapple/throw for each direction: forward, backward, up, and down. Like in Irem’s Ninja Baseball Batman. Then there’s intermediate grab executed with “jump” button while grabbing opponent. Then there’s heavy throw usually involves jumping first and slam opponent to the ground executed with down, up, and then attack button. So, there are 6 throws altogether. Since fatality done by grabbing first, you can count all 4 fatalities as throws. Then there are 10 throws in total! That means this game is beat em up game with most grab that I ever played! I'm totally on board with it. There are 2 combo finishers but I can’t control which one that I like to execute or maybe I miss something. Some stages allow you to do special stage fatality. The game gets big positive credit from me because I can throw someone to that stage river in MK 3 where in the original game I can’t. There’s normal stage fatality, executed with down, down, and the fatality button when grab opponent. But it’s only enemy thrown into foreground and makes glass breaking effect which is barely brutal and satisfying but I kind of like it. Then there's safe fall when get thrown, combo break, counter parry (using fatality button alone), and dodge sideways. There are not many weapon in this game: knife and barbed bat. But again some characters have weapon on their own so it's kind of moot. Besides Tusk sucks at using the bat. Throwing knife instantly kill lesser enemies which is nice. If you kill enemies with barbed bat, either you rip their stomach and their guts pour out or their head get mushed. So, there's weapon fatality. They story kind of absurd but I’m curious how it is until the end. The sound effect is taken from Mortal Kombat mostly. I notice that the pause menu sound is from Street Fighter Alpha 3. Not that I mind. It’s cool to me. 

  

Mortal Kombat – The Chosen One (2026) is pretty well-made OpenBoR game. But I think it overstays its welcome with how long the stages are. Good thing there are bonus stages and math puzzle thrown into the mix to keep the playthrough interesting. I also like the fight with bulldozer where I have to throw enemy at it until explode. And obviously, the fatalities. There are some beat em up game where you can perform fatality but this game is more elaborate about it. I mean of course it’s Mortal Kombat game after all. Correction: Mortal Kombat game with many crossover characters and Carolina, to be more accurate.