Theme - Mortal Kombat II (Arcade)

Cyril: With the exception of last year's excellent reboot, there's always been something unfinished about Mortal Kombat. It's as if the game shipped a few weeks too early and you can still see the temporary placeholders. You can almost year Ed Boon screaming from a distance about how they didn't have time to tweak this or add that Toasty guy as a playable character. There's something about this Mortal Kombat II theme that doesn't sound quite right. This sounds like somebody's first stab at a theme song. The tribal drums and short notes don't lead up anywhere, and the abrupt ending undercuts what could have been a good intro. Considering how good the rest of the music is, this Mortal Kombat II theme is a real disappointment.

Kevin: Despite its brevity, I had a hard time figuring out where to start with this theme. But I've got it now: it feels like it was just slapped together. It's not cohesive. It took me a few listens to realize it, but the melody doesn't actually repeat the second time. They cut off half a measure right in the middle of it. Compositionally speaking, this can be done to great effect and really make a song stand out, but here it's very jarring. In addition to that, the ending just feels tacked on. There's no transition there at all. Top that off with the fact that this theme barely clocks in at fifteen seconds, and you've got a complete dud on your hands. The melody does not achieve its potential at all.