Ed Boon: "We think we’ve done Kratos justice"
Mortal Kombat creative director and God of War III director reveals more details about Kratos’ exclusive guest appearance in the PS3 version of Mortal Kombat.
Ed Boon and God of War III director Stig Asmussen recently sat down with the US PlayStation blog to talks more on how did the Kratos crossover in the series came to life.
“We kind of felt it was meant to happen,” Boon said. “We think we’ve done Kratos justice.”
“I remember somebody saying, ‘‘hey, there might be this possibility of Kratos appearing in Mortal Kombat,’” Stig reveals. “I said, ‘ You gotta be kidding me, we gotta make this happen! Let’s get on the phone.’”
Capturing “the real Kratos” in Mortal Kombat was the prime goal for Boon and his team, but it wasn’t always an easy one. “The God of War team set certain ground rules,” Boon says. “From the beginning, we were absolutely set on respecting the character.” Boon says they have a “receptive” relationship with Sony Santa Monica Studios – creators of God of War – during development of process, with Boon’s and Asmussen’s teams regularly trading feedback and ideas. Check out the video interview below to get a glimpse of Kratos and the developer's chat
In related post, Boon also revealed Kratos role in the game. Here's the summary courtesy of the US PlayStation Blog:
Yes, Kratos has an ending. But there’s a catch. “From the start, we decided we wouldn’t put him into the Story and have him interacting with Scorpion or things like that,” Boon explained. But when you conquer the Arcade ladder, you’ll get your just desserts. “We do explain what happens when Kratos wins the tournament,” Boon hinted, describing the endings as “a lot more elaborate” than in prior games.
Yes, Kratos has a fatality. No, we’re not going to spoil it here. “We had 10 fatality ideas we wanted to do,” Boon teased. “But the final versions are in line with all the crazy deaths you’ve seen in God of War over the years.” Boon hinted that Netherrealm Studios is making creative use of Kratos’ weapons in designing his kills, adding, “It’s probably over the top, but we’ve always been over the top.”
Yes, Kratos has a stage. And yes, it has a stage fatality. “It has the best stage fatality we’ve put into any Mortal Kombat game ever,” Boon said excitedly without further elaboration. The stage itself was inspired by the end of God of War III, when Kratos battles Zeus in the Chamber of Flame. “That fight had an almost fighting-game mechanic,” Boon said, “so when we saw that we thought, “It’s writing itself!”
Yes, Kratos is being carefully balanced. How do you balance a character who is practically omnipotent? Not an easy question. “Kratos is interesting because his God of War fighting style is so long range – it’s designed for crowds,” Boon said. That approach won’t necessarily fly in a one-on-one fighting game, so Mortal Kombat emphasizes Kratos’ close-range brute strength and reserves the long-ranged attacks for special moves. “Anyone who loved MKII or MK3, which are particulatly combo-centric, are going to be happy with Kratos.”
Yes, Kratos uses X Weapon. “He has more weapons in this game than any of our other characters by a factor of two,” Boon confirmed. We spotted the Bow, Cestus, Blade of Olympus, Icarus Wings, Helios head and, of course, the Blades of Chaos.
No, Kratos won’t participate in Test Your Might. “We’re not too shy about putting our Mortal Kombat characters in silly situations,” Boon said. “There’s just no humorous side to Kratos,” Boon said. “You’re not going to see Kratos do a Friendship … we kept him out of those situations out of respect.”
Mortal Kombat will be available on April 19 in North America and April 21 in Europe.
