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Mortal Kombat: Special Forces

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Mortal Kombat: Special Forces
North American PS1 cover artwork featuring Jax
Developer(s)Midway Games
Publisher(s)Midway Games
Director(s)John Walsh
Producer(s)Michael Gottlieb
Programmer(s)John Walsh
Jonathan Murfey
Daniel Markham
Artist(s)Richard Ho
Carlos Pesina
Herman Sanchez
Composer(s)Dan Forden
SeriesMortal Kombat
Platform(s)PlayStation
Release
  • NA: June 29, 2000[1]
  • EU: September 29, 2000
Genre(s)Action-adventure, beat 'em up
Mode(s)Single-player

Mortal Kombat: Special Forces is a 2000 action-adventure beat 'em up video game developed and published by Midway for the PlayStation in 2000. A spin-off of the Mortal Kombat franchise, it is the second installment to not be a fighting game and the first 3D spin-off. Set before the first game Mortal Kombat, players control Jax as he pursues criminal leader Kano and his gang.

Special Forces endured a difficult development due to series co-creator John Tobias and other staff members leaving Midway before the game was completed. The departure of Tobias led to a significant trimming of content, including the removal of Sonya Blade as a playable character. Upon release, the game was panned by critics for its poor level design and tedious gameplay, and is considered one of the worst video games of all time.

Gameplay

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Mortal Kombat: Special Forces is a third-person view action-adventure game. The protagonist is Jax, who uses not only hand-to-hand combat techniques but also firearms and explosives. There are five levels set on Earth in Netherrealm, with a boss battle at the end of each of them. Exploring the locations in the search for keys, the players solve puzzles, find the codes to unlock the doors, and blast hidden passages in walls. Jax can ascend to higher-level platforms even as he cannot jump, but he can push large blocks.

The player can restore Jax's health meter using first-aid kits. The player also has a limited energy reserve: whenever Jax performs one of his special techniques, he spends energy that can be replenished by performing certain combos. Jax can attack with his hands and feet, as well as block counter strikes. Although there are no Fatality systems, the combo system allows finishing off the opponent with the final blow in case the enemy's health line is exhausted by this moment. The experience points that a player gains by defeating enemies allow one to get new combos. An in-game menu displays the presence of items in the player's inventory, and also contains information on the purpose of the current mission. After completing the game, the player can activate the cheat menu to start a new game with additional bonuses.

Plot

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Mortal Kombat: Special Forces is chronologically the first game in the Mortal Kombat storyline, as its events take place 4 weeks before Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero. The story of the game involves Kano freeing his gang, the Black Dragon from a maximum security prison. US Army Major Jax Briggs, seeking revenge for the slaughter of his Special Forces comrades at the hands of the Black Dragon, undertakes a mission to stop them from retrieving an artifact of great power, the Eye of Chitian. The true power of the artifact is shown in the ending that it can open portals to other realms when Jax uses the artifact to teleport himself and Kano back to Earthrealm after defeating him.

Characters

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Main article: List of Mortal Kombat characters

Besides Jax, Kano, and Kano's Black Dragon subordinates Tremor[broken anchor] and Jarek, the game features three characters exclusive to this entry in the series:

  • Gemini: Jax's base operative, relaying information and messages to him from headquarters. The two share a friendship, and Gemini worries excessively about Jax. Operating over radio only, she is never seen in-game.
  • No Face: A member of the Black Dragon organization led by Kano, who freed him from a high-security prison. He is described as only having knowledge of explosive devices, he wears sticks of dynamites strapped to his chest and uses a flamethrower as a weapon. He has no nose, ears, hair, and a pale complexion, based on his name.
  • Tasia: An expert swordswoman and deadly ninja master who is a member of Kano's Black Dragon organization.[2] Like Tremor, No Face, and Jarek, Kano freed her from a high-security prison. She wields two ninjatō swords and has an ability to teleport. She appears along with Jarek to capture Cassie and Jacqui by the orders of Black Dragon in the Mortal Kombat X comic book.

Development

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This was the second Mortal Kombat game developed by Midway that was not a fighting game, after having tested the waters with Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero in 1997. Series co-creator John Tobias intended to work on a series of platform games to expand the Mortal Kombat universe, including titles centering on Baraka and Liu Kang; only the latter was actually released by Midway (2005's Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks) despite having sat on the drawing board for many years.

Although Special Forces was only released on the PlayStation, it was also supposed to be released both on the Nintendo 64 and Dreamcast.[3] Many of the Midway Games staff, including Tobias, left the company in 1999 for various reasons while the game was still in production. The plot of Special Forces (which originally included Sonya Blade[4]) was greatly revised following Tobias's departure and the game was rushed to completion.[citation needed]

Tobias said about the final version: "You know I really never played it, I saw it at E3 and I maybe played it for like five minutes and never really played it after that. So I'm not really familiar with how it ended up."[5] Ed Boon later recalled: "I didn't work on Special Forces. The game and project were riddled with all kinds of problems. I could write a book on that."[6]

Reception

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The game received "unfavorable" reviews according to the review aggregation website Metacritic.[7] Blake Fischer of NextGen said of the game, "Don't let the cheap price fool you. This isn't even worth a trip to the store."[16]

Of all the Mortal Kombat games, Special Forces is considered by some to be the worst.[18] Its sales were so low that Midway placed the series on hold in preparation for Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance (2002). Ed Boon himself stated: "The game had a pretty bumpy development ride and the game didn't turn out very good at all."[19] In 2011, GamesRadar+ ranked it as the second most absurd Mortal Kombat offshoot (behind only Mortal Kombat: Live Tour).[20] In 2013, the website also ranked it as the 41st worst game ever made.[21]

Conversely, some of the reviews have been more positive. Video Games: The Ultimate Guide gave the game 7 out of 10,[22] GameVortex gave it 79%,[23] and The Electric Playground gave it 7 out of 10.[11]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Midway Press Release: PR 2000-06-29 A". 2006-11-09. Archived from the original on 2006-11-09. Retrieved 2023-03-19.
  2. ^ Mortal Kombat: Special Forces instruction booklet. Midway Games, 2000.
  3. ^ Casamassina, Matt; Devidas, Arun (February 4, 1999). "Interview: MK Special Forces". IGN. Ziff Davis. Archived from the original on December 21, 2021. Retrieved December 21, 2021.
  4. ^ Mortal Kombat Secrets - MKSecrets.Net (February 5, 2017). "Mortal Kombat 4 - E3 1998 Developer Interview (John Tobias, Ed Boon, David Michicich)". YouTube. Google. Archived from the original on December 13, 2021. Retrieved December 24, 2018.
  5. ^ McCarron, Patrick (March 19, 2003). "TRMK Features - Interview Taofeng John Tobias". TRMK. Archived from the original on October 27, 2018. Retrieved December 21, 2021.
  6. ^ Ed Boon [@noobde] (March 12, 2010). "@djSergi I didnt work on Special Forces. The game & project were riddled with all kinds of problems. I could write a book on that. :(" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  7. ^ a b "Mortal Kombat: Special Forces for PlayStation Reviews". Metacritic. Red Ventures. Archived from the original on November 20, 2017. Retrieved February 6, 2014.
  8. ^ White, Jason. "Mortal Kombat Special Forces - Review". AllGame. All Media Network. Archived from the original on November 16, 2014. Retrieved December 22, 2021.
  9. ^ Steinberg, Scott (July 24, 2000). "Mortal Kombat: Special Forces". Gamecenter. CNET. Archived from the original on August 15, 2000. Retrieved December 22, 2021.
  10. ^ MacDonald, Mark (October 2000). "Mortal Kombat: Special Forces" (PDF). Electronic Gaming Monthly. No. 135. Ziff Davis. p. 186. Archived (PDF) from the original on April 23, 2022. Retrieved December 22, 2021.
  11. ^ a b Conlin, Shaun (August 28, 2000). "Mortal Kombat Special Forces". The Electric Playground. Greedy Productions, Inc. Archived from the original on November 14, 2003. Retrieved December 22, 2021.
  12. ^ "Mortal Kombat: Special Forces". Game Informer. No. 89. FuncoLand. September 2000.
  13. ^ The D-Pad Destroyer (August 16, 2000). "Mortal Kombat: Special Forces Review for PlayStation on GamePro.com". GamePro. IDG Entertainment. Archived from the original on December 13, 2004. Retrieved December 22, 2021.
  14. ^ Gerstmann, Jeff (August 4, 2000). "Mortal Kombat Special Forces Review [date mislabeled as "May 17, 2006"]". GameSpot. Red Ventures. Archived from the original on August 7, 2016. Retrieved December 22, 2021.
  15. ^ Nix, Marc (July 11, 2000). "Mortal Kombat Special Forces". IGN. Ziff Davis. Archived from the original on October 24, 2014. Retrieved December 22, 2021.
  16. ^ a b Fischer, Blake (October 2000). "Mortal Kombat: Special Forces". NextGen. No. 70. Imagine Media. p. 117. Retrieved December 22, 2021.
  17. ^ "Mortal Kombat: Special Forces". Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine. No. 37. Ziff Davis. October 2000.
  18. ^ Miozzi, CJ (April 15, 2011). "The Convoluted, Blood-Spattered History of Mortal Kombat (Infographic)". GameFront. GameFront Ltd. Archived from the original on April 23, 2016. Retrieved December 22, 2021.
  19. ^ Walk, Gary Eng (November 17, 2008). "Interview: Ed Boon on the Ups and Downs of the Mortal Kombat Franchise (Page 2)". GameDaily. AOL. Archived from the original on December 30, 2008. Retrieved December 22, 2021.
  20. ^ Antista, Chris (April 12, 2011). "The Top 7… Most absurd Mortal Kombat offshoots (Page 3)". GamesRadar+. Future plc. Archived from the original on January 24, 2013. Retrieved December 22, 2021.
  21. ^ GamesRadar staff (April 15, 2013). "The 50 worst games of all time". GamesRadar+. Future plc. Archived from the original on April 26, 2013. Retrieved December 22, 2021.
  22. ^ "Video Games: The Ultimate Guide" – via Internet Archive.
  23. ^ Paddock, Matt (2000). "Mortal Kombat Special Forces". PSIllustrated. Archived from the original on 2020-12-04. Retrieved 2018-09-20.
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