Watch the US presidential election retold as a Mortal Kombat parody

There are several different ways you can keep up with important political issues these days. You could read the newspaper, watch it on TV, or check out articles on the internet. But honestly, who wants to do that when you can just watch it recounted to you as a parody of a videogame?

That's what Slate has done with the US presidential election. Its satirical video, Political Kombat '12, retells the story of this year's election by placing its candidates in a Mortal Kombat-esque arena where they must fight to the death using such maneuvers as tax evasion, creepy ads, the merging of church and state, and sweater vests.

It finishes with Mitt Romney blasting previous Republican candidate and notorious bigot Rick Santorum with a pro-choice machine gun before he has a "change of heart" and reveals his true colours as an axe-wielding pro-life psychopath.

While this first episode covers the Republican primary, Episode 2 will recount Romney doing battle with Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul and Episode three pits president Obama against Donald Trump. After that we'll be treated to a duel between vice president Joe Biden and Mitt Romney's vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan before we finally get to see Obama and Romney duke it out mano-a-mano.

Sadly, Political Kombat '12 isn't a real game, unlike Chair Entertainment's much lighter Vote, but it does bear a closer relation to its subject matter with actual history being retold (or alluded to at least) rather than simply icons. It's also more violent, in case Killing the president in Resident Evil 6 wasn't enough for you.