The infamous Mortal Kombat series is perhaps known more for the blood and gore it contains rather than its characters and gameplay. Mortal Kombat Trilogy is no exception. If you're looking for blood and violence in a video game, look no further because you'll see buckets of blood. In an effort to make blood the main point of the game, MKT perhaps tends to (over)exaggerate -- the character spills blood just about every time he/she is hit.

Graphically, this game is quite disappointing. Not only does it not live up to some of the graphical feats we've seen in other N64 games, but it also seems to fail to do anything not possible on a 16-Bit system. In fact, sometimes the graphics are so simple you'd swear they could be done on an 8-Bit system. Admittedly, the animation is pretty well done. Litter blows around one stage, while another has living trees. However, this game will only impress you in terms of graphics if you're looking for blood.

"Ah," "Get over here," "Waaah." These characters are always screaming. So much, in fact, that the music plays almost no role. Some of their screeching may get on your nerves after a while. On a positive note, punches and kicks sound pretty realistic. Some of the sounds in this game just make you stop and think (what there purpose is). From Shao Khan's constant laughter to the little guy who pops up in the corner of the screen and says "toasty", there is an array of seemingly senseless sound effects built into this edition of Mortal Kombat.

As far as the gameplay goes, first of all, I'd like to say that it would be helpful if the developers included a Free Play Mode that you could enable without a code. Getting the fatalities right takes some practice, and your time is very limited when you're put in a situation where you have to perform them. Half the fun of this game is being able to execute the finishing moves properly. (That is if you are able to figure them out.)

When I think of a fighting game with good gameplay, I think of the likes of Street Fighter or Fighters MegaMix, but this one falls short. The cheapness ruins the game: strategy is not as much a part of the game as is knowing the combos and special moves. Combos can take up to 51% of your opponent's energy away in MKT. Thus, a pair of powerful combos can end a match. When you turn the computer's combos off, you see just how reliant they are on those combos.

Jumping in this game is terrible. You can jump over a harpoon but still be hit by it. In addition, normally, you just jump straight into an uppercut. Avoiding your opponent is difficult to do if you're into strategically planning your jumps.

Variety is great on the surface, but when you examine it, you realize that it's not as varied as you may think. With 32 characters on its list, MKT has one of the largest totals of fighters out there. However, it seems that almost everyone has a near-clone. All the finishing moves seem like a great idea, but you can only get so many good ones. Some of the fatalities are good, but some of them are just thrown in there because the developers ran out of ideas. Babalities, animalities, and friendships may be good for a laugh at most, but are just plain stupid. Call me crazy, but I like the brutalities. Other features such as the ability to turn combos to auto (if you're looking for really quick matches), on, or off and the ability to toggle the Aggressor Mode on or off all add to the game to an extent, but it just seems like too much overkill. 2-on-2, 3-on-3, and 4-on-4 modes also add to the game, but they're just more of the same. Having the tournament mode set up the way it is seems pretty stupid. Two players fight, and the winner goes on to the next round. Then, the next two fight. This sounds okay so far. However, if you put your best character last (if you're Player 1) and win, your opponent takes over that player next time. Thus, your favorite player is only under your control for a short period of time.

The concept of this game is pretty simple: kill anything that moves. If you can't kill it, turn it into something. This follows the Mortal Kombat tradition and is really nothing new or anything to get excited over.

It can be fun for a short time but gets boring after a while. Discovering all of the fatalities without an outside source can be very frustrating and turn you off the game. Also, there's not have very much going for it in terms of graphics, and the sounds may get on your nerves.

Replay value is quite limited. You can only see so many fatalities before the concept gets boring. The additional modes are good, but I found little reason to continue to the Championship mode or the Very Hard difficulty level.

Overall, this game really doesn't fall short. I have never come to expect much out of Mortal Kombat, and this one doesn't add anything worthwhile (like solid gameplay) that can't be found in the others in the series, with a few exceptions. It may have gotten a better rating if it appeared on a 16-Bit console, which is where it probably belongs, but it's just not up to the quality in terms of graphics and sound of the next gen systems.

Overall: 5.0