Wikipedia:WikiProject Video games/Peer review/Mortal Kombat

Mortal Kombat

This article has the potential for B-Class but I really don't have the objective perspective to see anything wrong with it (besides the tags). I'd really like someone to look at the tagged sections: Overview, Storyline, and Easter Eggs. If you see any blantly obvious mistakes please point them out as well.

Subzerosmokerain (talk) 00:48, 25 March 2010 (UTC)

• Comments: This article would be a big endeavor. It has potential—organization is ok, and good coverage—but a lot of more technical, nitpicky things come up:
  • Unreliable sources, mainly YouTube, IMDB, Arcade-history, and several Mortal Kombat-specific fansites. They're mainly used for gameplay stuff; I find individual game reviews can be very helpful.
  • The introduction needs a complete rewrite. Do a summary of the article in order; Final Fantasy's introduction is a very good example of how a series article's introduction should flow. Also, the word "best-selling" should leave, but the thing about selling 26 million should go in there.
  • Section "Easter eggs and secrets" looks kind of bloated, and the notice at the start of it don't lie.
  • Section "Other media" is unsourced except by an external link that looks like a fansite. For "Movies and television", get sources from the individual articles of the two films and television series. For "Other merchandise", you can use the individual pages of the items on Amazon.com to show that they do, in fact, exist.
  • Also in "Movies and television", change "sparked 2 TV series" to "sparked two television series". This may sound like an insignificant thing, but formality is a pretty basic ideal.
  • Attribute the quote at the start of "Reception". Tezero (talk) 03:51, 29 March 2010 (UTC)

I'm grateful for your comments on the article and I will work on the issues you've raised but I would also like comments on the Storyline. I am not sure on whether or not the Storyline is already written out of universe or still has some obvious in-universe issues. Subzerosmokerain (talk) 22:42, 31 March 2010 (UTC)

• Comments: I'll try to look more closely at the Storyline prose tommorrow, but here's a few things:
  • Consider the following sentence: "By Mortal Kombat 3, Shao Kahn revives Sindel, the Edenian queen in Earthrealm who committed suicide, combining it with Outworld." What is "it"?
  • In the phrase "Protection of the Thunder God Raiden", "Protection" is not a proper noun.
  • Consider the following sentence: "The series takes place in a fictional universe that consists of six surviving realms which, according to in-game backstories, were created by the Elder Gods: Earthrealm, home to such legendary heroes as Johnny Cage, Sonya Blade, Liu Kang, and Jax, and also under the Protection of the Thunder God Raiden; Netherrealm, which fiery depths are inhospitable to but the most vile, a realm of demons and shadowy warriors; Outworld, a realm of constant strife and where Emperor Shao Kahn claims this realm as his own; Seido, The Realm of Order, whose inhabitants prize structure and order above all else; The Realm of Chaos, whose inhabitants do not abide by any rules whatsoever, where constant turmoil and change are worshipped here; and Edenia.[34][35]" That's one sentence. It could easily be split up into several.
  • Quotes are good for citing plots. If you don't own the games covered in the section, try to find YouTube videos of integral cutscenes whose plot implications are covered in the section. That's what I did with some of the later stuff in the Plot section of Sonic and the Secret Rings that I hadn't gotten to in the game yet; it works, just make sure to cite it verbatim. If you can't do this for all of the things, again, reviews. If a plot element is prominent enough to be featured in the section, chances are that a review will also have picked up on it. Bob's your uncle. Tezero (talk) 03:12, 1 April 2010 (UTC)
  • All right, here I am. The section's all right, I think, in terms of perspective. Just make sure that it has a neutral point of view; for example, in "Shao Kahn's sinister plan", remove "sinister". Tezero (talk) 21:50, 1 April 2010 (UTC)

Thank you for an in-depth review. I'll be working on this over the next week but I have one question, is the fansite that you mention Mortal Kombat Online? If that is the case, it removes a bit of substance from other articles. (One character article that comes to mind in particular). I'm not sure it is goes under WP:SPS, I would like to know because other similar "fansites" have the same coverage and I might need them for the earlier Mortal Kombat games. Subzerosmokerain (talk) 19:15, 2 April 2010 (UTC)

Unfortunately, I don't think it would pass; very few fansites would. I think the information on it is almost certainly true and reliable; it just seems like something that might come up at a GAN, should you choose to pursue one. Tezero (talk) 20:28, 2 April 2010 (UTC)

Comment in Titles --> Video games --> Fighting games the citations go majorly nuts. I realize this is to point out all of the systems it's on, but it's very overbearing. Find a better way to list the systems, such as here. If you're simply listing the platforms, a search would suffice as one listing instead of 10. --Teancum (talk) 23:11, 13 April 2010 (UTC)

• Also reference 80 cites "Major Nelson" as the author, and not Major Nelson's real name. --Teancum (talk) 23:19, 13 April 2010 (UTC)

Thanks for the comments, as you can see, after I added the first 20 I stopped, seeing that it was very ugly. However, the Gamefaqs source, I'm not too sure on the reliability. However I will fix the Major Nelson reference. SincerelySubzerosmokerain (talk) 00:34, 15 April 2010 (UTC)

GameFaqs can be used as a source for release dates, so I'd say proving the existence of the game on [x] platform would work as well. --Teancum (talk) 16:29, 19 April 2010 (UTC)