David Sanders
David SandersAs I’ve mentioned before over the course of my tenure here at Phenixx Gaming, I’ve been a stalwart fan of the Mortal Kombat franchise for almost as long as I can remember. I’ve never been particularly skilled at any game in the franchise, but that certainly hasn’t stopped me from enjoying everything each game has had to offer.
You might recall that I recently reviewed the so-called “Komplete Edition” of 2011’s series reboot, which was simply titled Mortal Kombat (henceforth referred to as “MK9”). Part of the reason I decided to write that review is that I wanted to draw attention to, and possibly generate more hype for, the newly-released Mortal Kombat 11.
I haven’t gotten my hands on Mortal Kombat 11 just yet. If all goes according to plan though, I’ll be able to purchase my copy in a matter of days. Of course, I’ll publish my review of it here on Phenixx Gaming as soon as I can for those of you who may want to know my thoughts on it.
I absolutely can’t wait to sink my teeth into the newest game in the franchise as soon as I’m able to buy it. Even though I’ve already reviewed MK9 as an attempt to “scratch the Mortal Kombat itch,” so to speak, I quickly realized that just playing through MK9’s story mode wasn’t quite sufficient. I subsequently found myself craving something more substantial. Something newer. Something that would hopefully run better on my computer than MK9 does.
Thankfully, I also own the second-most recent Mortal Kombat title, Mortal Kombat X (henceforth referred to as “MKX”). I had somehow barely acknowledged MKX since I purchased it a couple of years ago. After experiencing most of what it has to offer, and finding myself significantly more satisfied with MKX than I was with MK9, I concluded that it was part of my civic duty as a Mortal Kombat fan to review MKX as well.
For the sake of organizing this review somehow, I suppose I’ll start things off by discussing new additions to the game, as well as changes from MK9’s formula. After that, I’ll discuss as much of the story as I can, while simultaneously avoiding spoilers as always. With that semblance of a general plan in place, let’s begin.
One of the first things you’ll likely notice about MKX is that there are several new faces on the roster of playable characters. Excluding characters who are only available via DLC (which I’ll discuss in detail later), there are eight new-to-series playable characters within MKX.
Three of these characters are the offspring of certain characters established earlier in the Mortal Kombat franchise. Cassie Cage is the daughter of Sonya Blade and Johnny Cage, Jacqui Briggs is the daughter of Jax, and Takeda Takahashi is the son of the blind, psychokinetic swordsman Kenshi.
As you might be aware, there exist various factions within the Mortal Kombat universe, each with their own unique agendas. These factions are generally represented by either a designated leader or a chosen champion. To name a few examples, there exist the perpetually-warring gangs known as the Black Dragon and Red Dragon.
There are also the equally hostile Lin Kuei and Shirai Ryu clans, from which Sub-Zero and Scorpion emerged, respectively. Liu Kang is the chosen champion of the White Lotus faction, and characters such as Cassie Cage and Jacqui Briggs are members of the Special Forces.
Mortal Kombat X fleshes out these factions somewhat by presenting players with the opportunity to become a representative of one of five factions: the White Lotus, the Special Forces, the Brotherhood of Shadow, the Lin Kuei, and the Black Dragon.
Once a player has chosen a faction, they may complete certain special tasks as they play the game. Completing these tasks will cause a player’s chosen faction to increase its presence in the so-called “faction war” system.
This system provides players with access to what the game calls “Faction Kill” finishing moves, which players are able to use if their faction has the most points at the end of a given week, and subsequently “wins” the faction war for the time being.
I feel I should clarify at this point that the “Faction” system within MKX is quite similar to the system present in For Honor. Factions do not generally directly affect gameplay, aside from the aforementioned “Faction Kills”, and players are able to switch factions virtually as often as they see fit. In fact, MKX even contains an achievement which requires players to join all five factions at different points.
Of course, in order to actually benefit your chosen faction in any way, you’ll have to start fighting. When you do so, you’ll quickly notice another new addition to Mortal Kombat X in the form of what I’ve taken to calling “combat loadouts.” To help explain what I mean, I’d like to ask you to momentarily cast your mind back to 2002’s Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance, if you’re able to do so.
In Deadly Alliance, most fighters had two different hand-to-hand fighting styles that could be switched between freely during each fight, as well as access to a unique weapon. However, their special moves were not altered based on their currently activated fighting style.
This system of fighting styles is similar in a few ways to the system present in MKX. However, there are three main differences between the two systems. In Mortal Kombat X, characters don’t have access to any weapons unique to them, players must choose one of three fighting styles before each match begins and cannot change it mid-fight, and each fighter has different special moves based on which fighting style you chose.
I’ll use Liu Kang as an example to help me elaborate further, as you’ll see in the image directly below this paragraph. Liu Kang’s three fighting styles are as follows: Flame Fist, which emphasizes and empowers his punches; Dragon’s Fire, which strengthens his flame projectiles; and Dualist, which allows him to channel both light and dark energies to aid him in battle.
As I mentioned a moment ago, your choice of fighting style alters your character’s special moves. In Liu Kang’s case, as far as I remember, you only have access to his trademark bicycle kick if you choose Dualist.
Of course, MKX has various ways for you to begin fighting aside from its story mode. There still exists a traditional arcade-style mode, though it’s no longer referred to as such. This arcade-style mode is now part of the “tower” system. If you’re only interested in the standard arcade mode fare, you would choose a “Klassic” tower, select your character and fighting style, and be on your way.
These “Klassic” towers are by no means the only tower you can choose to play, however. There are four other types of towers, each with their own unique mechanics. In addition to “Klassic” towers, you can choose from “Test Your Luck,” “Test Your Might,” “Endless,” and “Survivor” towers.
My personal favorite is the Test Your Luck tower. Each match in this mode applies unique modifiers to alter each fight and essentially keep both fighters on their toes. These modifiers can positively or negatively affect both fighters or one in particular. For example, on my most recent run through this mode, I was affected by a modifier which healed me every time I damaged my opponent.
The only thing I dislike about the Test Your Luck tower is that players are not given the opportunity to perform Fatalities at the end of a match, as would normally be the case in any other mode. That’s not to say no finishing moves can be performed at all within this mode, however. I say that because another change from the Mortal Kombat 9 formula is the resurgence of “Brutalities.”
Now, if you’re like me, you might despair somewhat upon hearing the word “Brutality” in this context because your mind casts back to Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 where performing a Brutality required shockingly long sequences of precise button presses. One mistake during these sequences meant you’d have to watch your opponent awkwardly collapse because you didn’t finish them off in the allotted time.
Mercifully, performing Brutalities in Mortal Kombat X doesn’t require anything even resembling the button combinations required in Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. Instead, to perform a Brutality, you must simply ensure that a specific attack is the last hit you land upon your opponent at the end of a match. For example, I inadvertently performed a Brutality with a DLC character because the last hit of my character’s X-Ray move was the final hit of the fight.
I feel that now is as appropriate a time as any, to begin discussing the events which take place during MKX’s story mode. As I mentioned earlier, I’ll avoid spoilers as best I can. I must warn you, however, that there very well may be instances during this discussion which require me to spoil the story of MK9 to some degree. If you aren’t familiar with MK9’s story events, I would suggest you rectify that before continuing to read beyond this point.
The story of MKX begins two years after the events of MK9. The despotic emperor of Outworld, Shao Kahn, has been slain. Earthrealm has presumably enjoyed some degree of peace as a direct result of Shao Kahn’s death. Earthrealm soon discovers that peacetime has ended, however, and suddenly finds itself the target of an attack spearheaded by the fallen Elder God, Shinnok.
As if Shinnok assaulting Earthrealm with an army of demons from the Netherrealm wasn’t bad enough, Shinnok has also enlisted the skills of the necromancer Quan Chi. Quan Chi has reanimated every warrior from Earthrealm who was slain during Shao Kahn’s invasion during the events of MK9. Each warrior resurrected in this manner now serves the necromancer directly.
Several years after Shinnok’s plan fails and the fallen Elder God is defeated and imprisoned within an amulet, a team of Earthrealm’s warriors travels to Outworld to mediate a civil war of sorts. Shao Kahn’s “daughter,” Mileena, believes she is the rightful heiress to Kahn’s throne. This leads to an impasse between Mileena and the new emperor of Outworld, Kotal Kahn.
Over the course of these events, Quan Chi is eventually captured by Special Forces agents and held in custody within a camp meant for Outworld refugees. At this point, Scorpion (who has since been returned to human form and resumed using his real name, Hanzo Hasashi) arrives at the camp intending to kill Quan Chi.
Hasashi succeeds in killing Quan Chi, though not before the necromancer is able to finish casting an incantation which releases Shinnok from the amulet within which he was imprisoned.
To shorten the rest of a somewhat long story, Shinnok attempts to absorb and corrupt what is essentially Earthrealm’s life force. Though he temporarily succeeds, Raiden is eventually able to purify the realm’s life force and the chamber within which it is protected. In the interest of avoiding spoilers, all I’ll say at this point is that Raiden doesn’t exactly seem to be himself afterward. One might even say that the stakes have been turned up to eleven.
Before I conclude this review, I’d like to address two more topics. Firstly, I’d like to amend a statement I made within my review of MK9. Secondly, I shall offer my thoughts on the metaphorical elephant in the room: MKX’s DLC and, more specifically, the “easy Fatality” debacle.
In my MK9 review, I mentioned that in my experience, every game developed by NetherRealm Studios seemed to be poorly-optimized for the modern PCs on which I’ve played these games in the past. It appears that I was mistaken. I’ve played significant amounts of Mortal Kombat X, Injustice: Gods Among Us, and Injustice 2 as of late, and it seems that MK9 is the only game NetherRealm has produced which still suffers from performance issues.
I’m quite pleased to report that Mortal Kombat X runs considerably better on my computer than MK9 ever has. I’m unsure as to whether any performance issues in games other than MK9 were rectified via patches, but I’m honestly not concerned as to how these issues were taken care of. I’m just glad I can play each NetherRealm game as I feel they’re meant to be played.
On a final note, upon examining MKX’s Steam store page, you’ll find that the game has quite a lot of downloadable content. More precisely, Steam tells me that if I were to purchase every piece of DLC that I don’t already own, I would end up paying slightly over $130. Granted, I consider most of the less expensive DLC (such as new playable characters) to be worth their smaller price tags.
However, I don’t feel that way about certain pieces of DLC, such as any number of “easy Fatality” tokens or the $20 DLC which unlocks all items in the in-game “Krypt.” As far as I’m concerned, DLC should add more worthwhile content to games rather than expediting any processes or alleviating any semblance of a grind.
There you have it, folks! As I said near the beginning of this review, I’m quite anxious to dive headfirst into Mortal Kombat 11 as soon as I can. If you find yourself in a similar situation to mine, where you can’t quite get your hands on the game just yet, I hope this review has managed to maintain your interest in MK11. Keep an eye out for my review of it once I’ve had some quality time with it!
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Mortal Kombat X
$13.99
Pros
- New Features Enhance Gameplay
- In-Depth Story
Cons
- Somewhat Unnecessary DLC
- Some Features May Be Daunting to New Players
