Here's the funny thing about continuing to play video games nearly 30 years after you picked up a joystick for the first time.
Mortal Kombat
From: Warner
For: PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
As good as modern games are - and, in basically every aspect, they are vastly superior to the pioneering stuff - they often fail to recapture the magic of the good old days.
Perhaps it's a theme replicated in sport, literature, drama and other sectors. Sometimes, things just ain't what they used to be.
My glasses turn a particularly vibrant shade of rose whenever I play a new game based on something that was a part of my gaming childhood.
The latest "reboot" - for this is the word du jour in the industry - of a former favourite is Mortal Kombat, a fresh take on the classic, blood-spattered fighting game.
Few games, with the possible exception of Pac-Man and Sensible Soccer, meant more to me in my younger days.
Some preferred Street Fighter II but I was a Kombat man. Many hours were spent at my buddy Reece's house, mashing the buttons on his Amiga 500.
We chained skills, we learned "fatalities", we wallowed in gore and, if we were sharp enough, we ripped beating hearts out of chests.
And yes, we both grew up kinda normal.
There were multiple MKs, some of which retained the two-dimensional format and at least one of which tried to become more of a platformer.
But none came remotely closeto sparking up my interest in the great old game.
More years have passed and now there is ANOTHER attempt to draw fresh oil from the Mortal Kombat well.
And, to my surprise, it actually works.
Mortal Kombat is a vibrant, playable and entertaining update that is a genuinely worthy addition to the franchise.
It finds a perfect balance between honouring the spirit of the original and injecting enough bells and whistles to keep the modern gamer entertained.
All the original characters are back - Johnny Cage, Sub-Zero, Kano, Scorpion, Shang Tsung and others.
The controls are obviously expanded, given the greater options available on modern accessories, but not made stupidly difficult.
Combos can be easily learned, and wickedly enjoyable super moves can be unleashed sparingly.
Recognising that the thing that turns people off fighting games often isn't the violence but the repetition, there is enough kontent (had to slip in at least one) in the new Mortal Kombat to sink a ship.
There are training modes, tutorials, a massive story mode, mini-games and vast online options.
And it all looks STUNNING.
Memories of the old 2-D sprites are eclipsed by the sumptuous sights of these great gladiators in HD.
I might be an ageing gamer but let me get excited once in a while when an old title is dusted off and shined up.
