The Mortal Kombat franchise has worn a few different faces over the last three decades. Mortal Kombat's most recognizable identity is as a 2D fighting game franchise, though it went through a lengthy 3D phase during the early 2000s, delivering both mainline 3D fighting entries and 3D adventure game spinoffs.
Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection is focusing primarily on the first era of Mortal Kombat's storied history, bringing together the series' arcade titles and a handful of their console and handheld ports. But in a rather surprising turn of events, two more titles have just been announced for Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection, one of which is an aforementioned 3D experiment and the lowest-rated entry in Mortal Kombat history.
Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection Is Adding One of The Franchise's Worst-Reviewed Games
Mortal Kombat: Special Forces - The Worst-Rated Entry in the Franchise
Released in 2000 for the original PlayStation, Mortal Kombat: Special Forces is a 3D action-adventure game that sees players take control of Jax on his hunt for Kano and his Black Dragon gang just prior to the events of the first Mortal Kombat. Players move through labyrinth-like levels, picking up firearms, grenades, and keys, and beating up waves of Black Dragon goons with Jax's cybernetic arms and explosive arsenal.
Mortal Kombat: Special Forces suffered from some severe issues during its development, most of which came about from a fracture within developer Midway Games. In 1999, many prominent members of Midway Games left the company, including Mortal Kombat series co-creator John Tobias. This led to a sizable rewrite of Mortal Kombat: Special Forces' plot, which in turn resulted in the game being rushed to completion.
Naturally, these development issues greatly affected the game's quality, and critics didn't hold back. Mortal Kombat: Special Forces received pretty dismal reviews across the board, with IGN giving it a 3/10, GameSpot giving it a 2.1/10, and Electronic Gaming Monthly giving it a devastating 1.5/10.
Mortal Kombat: Special Forces Is Getting Another Shot in the Spotlight
It's just been announced that Mortal Kombat: Special Forces is getting a revival in the form of Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection, which is adding the 3D PS1 spinoff to its roster of 11 titles, which consists of:
- Mortal Kombat
- Mortal Kombat 2
- Mortal Kombat 3
- Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3
- Mortal Kombat Trilogy
- Mortal Kombat 4
- Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance (Game Boy Advance)
- Mortal Kombat Advance (Game Boy Advance)
- Mortal Kombat: Tournament Edition (Game Boy Advance)
- Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero
- Mortal Kombat: Special Forces
Announced alongside Mortal Kombat: Special Forces, Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero is another poorly received franchise spinoff that's coming to Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection. Released in 1997 for the PlayStation and Nintendo 64, Mythologies: Sub-Zero is a 2D action-adventure game that was heavily criticized for its clunky controls and frustrating camera. Though, Mythologies: Sub-Zero did review better than Mortal Kombat: Special Forces, earning a 53% on GameRankings for its PlayStation version.
How Mortal Kombat: Special Forces' Metacritic Score Compares to Other MK Entries
Mortal Kombat: Special Forces is widely considered to be one of the worst video games of all time, and its Metacritic score of just 28 exemplifies that. To put that score into perspective, here's what some other Mortal Kombat entries are currently sitting at on Metacritic:
|
Metacritic Critic Score |
Metacritic Audience Score |
|
|---|---|---|
|
Mortal Kombat: Special Forces |
28 |
2.7 |
|
Mortal Kombat 1 |
83 |
6.5 |
|
Mortal Kombat 11 |
82 |
4.3 |
|
Mortal Kombat X |
83 |
7.7 |
|
Mortal Kombat (2011) |
86 |
8.3 |
|
Mortal Kombat Vs. DC Universe |
72 |
6.6 |
|
Mortal Kombat: Armageddon |
75 |
8.0 |
|
Mortal Kombat: Deception |
81 |
8.0 |
|
Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance |
79 |
7.3 |
|
Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks |
77 |
8.7 |
Both Mortal Kombat: Special Forces' Critic and Audience scores on Metacritic are dramatically lower than every mainline entry on the platform. They're also severely lower than the scores of Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks, which is another experimental 3D spinoff, but one that fared much better among critics and fans.
-
OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 83 /100 Critics Rec: 80%
- Released
- October 30, 2025
- ESRB
- Mature 17+ / Blood and Gore, Intense Violence
- Developer(s)
- Digital Eclipse
- Publisher(s)
- Digital Eclipse, Atari, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
WHERE TO PLAY
- Genre(s)
- Fighting
