- Mortal Kombat: Special Forces
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Mortal Kombat: Special Forces 
Developer(s) Midway Publisher(s) Midway Producer(s) Michael Gottlieb Designer(s) John Walsh Artist(s) Richard Ho Composer(s) Dan Forden Series Mortal Kombat Platform(s) PlayStation Release date(s) Genre(s) 3D action game Mode(s) Single player Rating(s) ELSPA: 15
ESRB: M
USK: 16Media/distribution CD Mortal Kombat: Special Forces is a 3D action game for the PlayStation. It was released in North America on July 30, 2000, and in Europe on September 29, 2000. The game stars the character Jackson "Jax" Briggs from the Mortal Kombat fighting game series.[1]
Contents
Story
Special Forces is chronologically the first game in the Mortal Kombat storyline, as its events take place even before Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero. The story of the game involves Kano freeing his gang, the Black Dragon (Tasia, Tremor, No Face and Jarek) from a maximum security prison and Jax, 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.
Special Forces-only characters
- Gemini is 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 is 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 flame thrower as a weapon. He has no nose, ears, hair and a pale complexion, based on his name.
- Tasia is 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.
- Tremor appeared as a muscular brown ninja who escaped from custody during a prison break orchestrated by Kano, to whom he is described as being blindly loyal.[2] He is a boss for one level, guarding a portal to Outworld. He has the ability to pound the ground with his fist to create earthquakes (similar to Jax) and shoots out three-dimensional fireballs. Tremor was originally planned to be in Mortal Kombat Trilogy at one point, but was replaced with Rain, who had already appeared in the 16-bit console versions of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3.[3]
Development
Although Mortal Kombat: Special Forces was only released on the PlayStation, it was also supposed to be released on the Nintendo 64, as evidenced by an IGN interview with John Tobias.[4] The plot of Special Forces (which originally included Sonya) was greatly revised following Tobias's departure and the game was rushed to completion.
Reception
Of all the Mortal Kombat games, Special Forces is considered by many to be the worst. This has much to do with the fact that many of Midway's staff, including series co-creator John Tobias, left the company in 2000 for various reasons while the game was still in production. Its sales were so terrible that Midway placed the series on hold in preparation for Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance (2002). Ed Boon even regarded Special Forces as the lowest point in the franchise, stating "The game had a pretty bumpy development ride and the game didn't turn out very good at all."[5]
This was the second Mortal Kombat game developed by Midway that was more of a platformer than a fighting game, after having tested the waters with Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero in 1997. Tobias intended to work on a series of platform games to expand the Mortal Kombat universe, including titles centering around 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.
See also
References
- ^ Mortal Kombat Special Forces for PS - Mortal Kombat Special Forces PlayStation - Mortal Kombat Special Forces PS Game
- ^ a b Mortal Kombat: Special Forces instruction booklet. Midway Games, 2000.
- ^ "Mortal Kombat Trilogy - In Development". Mortal Kombat Secrets. Archived from the original on December 11, 2006. http://web.archive.org/web/20061211224957/http://www.mksecrets.net/mkt/eng/mkt-development.php. Retrieved 2007-02-12.
- ^ "Interview: MK Special Forces". 1999-02-05. Archived from the original on 1999-04-28. http://web.archive.org/web/19990428124025/http://ign64.ign.com/news/6748.html. Retrieved 2010-04-04.
- ^ Walk, Gary (2008-11-17). "Interview: Ed Boon on the Ups and Downs of the Mortal Kombat Franchise". GameDaily. http://www.gamedaily.com/articles/features/interview-ed-boon-on-the-ups-and-downs-of-the-mortal-kombat-franchise/?biz=1&page=2. Retrieved 2009-09-20.
External links
Mortal Kombat series Fighting games Mortal Kombat · MKII · MK3 (Ultimate / Trilogy) · MK4 · Deadly Alliance · Deception · Armageddon · vs. DC Universe · Mortal Kombat (2011)Action-adventure games Characters Film and television Other Categories:- 2000 video games
- Action video games
- Cancelled Nintendo 64 games
- Mortal Kombat games
- PlayStation games
- Science fantasy video games
- Video games developed in the United States
- Video game spin-offs
- Video games with 3D graphics
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