9 Video Game Ideas We’re GLAD Got Cancelled

5. A Gritty, Realistic Mortal Kombat Inspired By Gears Of War

Mortal Kombat is currently on the form of its life. Yes, MK dominated the headlines in the 90s thanks to everybody discovering fatalities by accident down the arcade, but it's nothing compared to the guest star-filled roster of MK 11.

Back in the late 2000s though, the entire franchise was on the downturn. With enjoyable enough minigames filling out the disc and sales starting to suffer, Ed Boon noting to CVG in 2007 that the eighth Mortal Kombat would be completely overhauled.

Going with a "more realistic", "grittier" presentation, Boon said the team "[felt] no obligation to bring back favorite fighting styles or weapons", later saying to Game Informer that MK8 will be "unbelievably unexpected", and that it was largely inspired by Gears of War.

Boon went on, "We're not going to have three fighting styles, we're not going to have the same punches and kicks and the same kind of control scheme. Everything is getting trashed. We're reinventing everything from the ground up. We really think that's needed".

Well, if - like me - you were there at the time, all this talk had us MK fans mighty worried. The "grounded" version of Mortal Kombat was ultimately ditched, and following Warner Bros. stepping in after Midway folded, Mortal Kombat was soft-rebooted in 2011 and has only gone from strength to strength since.