Ah, Mortal Kombat.

The first thing anyone thinks of when hearing the words Mortal Kombat, is the iconic Scorpion throwing his wonderfully unique harpoon attack into the throat of his helpless opponent.

For those who are not the most hardcore of gamer’s, let me paint you a picture: imagine a ninja clad in yellow, which in itself is a contradiction because ninjas are supposed to be stealthy and secretive, shooting a rope out of his wrists and at the end of this rope is a sharp knife which he aims for the throat. After catching his opponent, he screams “GET OVER HERE” while pulling them in.

Scorpion and his unique move lit up arcades in the early 90’s when games like Street Fighter were the norm. A realistic, kung-fu movie like fighter with blood and guts brought so much delight to kids all over the world, including myself, your humble author.

Throughout the years, Mortal Kombat increased its already impressive line of characters with new favorites such as Mileena, Baraka, Kitana, Jax and one of my personal favorites, Shao Kahn. The game almost prided itself in how gruesome it was, breaking all traditional rules of video games and even spawning the ESRB, a board that rates video games based on its content to protect children from buying something their parents wouldn’t be too pleased to see.

Mortal Kombat’s history includes the finest action: Bruce Lee style fights with lots of martial arts and an immense amount of oriental culture such as dragons, temples, old chinese wizards with evil plots on destroying the world, scantly clad women with vicious attitudes [and even bigger killer instincts.] It was a male fantasy come to life.

Mortal Kombat X or MKX for short, recently released on Playstation 4, XBOX One, and PC. MKX brings a completely new generation of characters into the mix, with many old favorites getting… well old. Johnny Cage, the A-List celebrity playboy fighter, is now a grizzled old father who gave birth to one of the most delightful characters in Mortal Kombat history, a character who breaks the traditional mold of a Mortal Kombat character and feels like a product of our age. Her name is Cassie Cage.

Observe her for a minute, then go ahead and observe the two ninja ladies above. Cassie is wonderfully modern, rocking a contemporary haircut, normal proportions for a video game character and SHES FULLY CLOTHED! Cassie is a product of our time. Go ahead and play any Mortal Kombat game. All of the characters have an action movie like agenda, witnessing this can be awesome from a pure fantasy point of view, but can get tiring to those less invested in the lore of Mortal Kombat.

Cassie flips off her opponents at the beginning of every fight, she chews and blows bubbles with her bubble gum, and she curses up a storm when things get rough. While she puts up an obnoxious front, on the inside Cassie is a very sensitive person wanting to save the world to live up to the high standards of both her mother, (former leader of the Special Ops) and her father (an A-List celebrity). Cassie breaks barriers in Mortal Kombat by being a completely relatable character. Not only that, but also she takes SELFIES! Then, Cassie posts the photos on a fake social media site in game called Friendships!

Viewer Discretion is Advised….

I truly believe that for a game to be legendary, it can be looked back on and be a timestamp of the culture that was around when the game was released. Mortal Kombat X delivers on that front. I truly advise anyone with even the slightest vested interest to give the game a try. Its a Mortal Kombat game that retains the gruesome gore that made it popular, with a new set of faces that give it a contemporary appeal.

[DISCLAIMER- thgaffblog.com DOES NOT OWN ANY OF THE PICTURES PRESENTED IN THIS POST.]