Mortal Kombat Fans Unite! Warner Bros Studios and NetherRealm, creator of the recent Mortal Kombat 9 game, have released the first three Mortal Kombat games in an all new arcade collection and we got our chance to review these classic titles. How well have these classics aged? Hit the break for our verdict.

First off, if you're a new comer to the series then I suggest you start on something easier like Mortal Kombat 9; as I personally believe this collection is more for the hardcore fans. This is not a great way to start out and you'll probably end up leaving in anger do to the difficulty of the game. It's a game specifically for those who want a challenge. Now, starting off with MK1 and working my way up to MK3 I can tell you guys this game is not friendly at all. The CPU opponents are still very cheap and by cheap I mean they are able to counter your move the moment you push a button. Even with super easy selected they still offer a good challenge. Working your way through the challenge tower becomes very tedious as your opponent becomes more and more difficult as you make your way up.

The CPU gradually begins to do higher combos, even at some point making it impossible for you to land an attack. Strangely, for this very reason is why I feel in love with the game many years ago. However, we are in a new age of gaming and these types of gameplay experiences become very annoying and frustrating very fast; even for an old fan of the series. A few tweaks to the A.I wouldn't have been too bad, just as long as the game was more balanced out, rather then starting players in such an hard place. The fatalities are also still there along with all the classic friendship, animalities, and babality finishers. These are actually still quite fun to perform and watch as they give you an alternative route instead of all the blood and gore.

Graphically speaking the games are exactly how they were when they first released. Nothing hugely different has been changed other then a new menu and some a better resolution. There's a filter option that allows you to select from either klassic look, arcade style, smoothing option, or either of the two paint options. Other wise it's exactly like it was back in the 90's. I had no issues with this as I knew right away that the game would be a simple port with a few added options. One downside is the fact that it's being displayed in a 4:3 Ratio. Even with HD settings set on the console the game will always play in 4:3.

Another issue I found annoying with the game was the sound. At most times it was alright, but dialogue cut or sound clipping would occur randomly throughout the game. This happened frequently with Scorpion's Spear Attack. My favorite line in whole series always seemed to get cut-off at "Get Ov" every time I used his special. For certain stages the music would seem to become mute, leaving the player to fight with no audio. In most cases though the sound is pretty good in this port transfer. All the original tracks are still intact and enjoyable as they were so many years ago.

Finally the online mode for the collection. All three games are playable online, but sadly it was unplayable (for me at least). A lot of general lag and fighters seem to be moving in slow motion. My Playstation 3 also froze randomly (a lot) when playing online. This was the part I was most excited about and to find out that I can barely even play it was a huge disappointment. I did manage to get in a few matches that weren't completely bug filled. These were pretty exciting. If a patch could be made to fix these errors then online would be the part of the collection.

Overall, I thought NetherRealm Studio could have done a lot more then just tack on an online mode, and insert a few new menus. The collection could have been great weren't for all the issues. Maybe a patch could be worked out to resolve some of the issues, however I wouldn't count on it. Either way it's only $10 on both PSN and XBLA and supplies a good amount of fun time along with bringing back some nostalgia memories that many MK fans grew up with. If your looking for a fun Mortal Kombat game with at least a working Online and not so many bugs, then I suggest you go and play Mortal Kombat 9 as you'll probably get a better gaming experience with that.

Score: 6.5/10

This review was written by Jimmy Lara of TheParanoidGamer.