Mortal Kombat X Review
Mortal Kombat X has a lot to offer once you get into the game. There are various modes to try out but I want to start with the story mode. First of all, you can't even play the story mode. Instead, the game forces you to play a tutorial with a lot to it. The tutorial is too overwhelming with things to remember, and it just goes on for too long. People aren't going to want to sit through it. There was even a point in the tutorial which was so impossible that I just quit it. Once you do at least one section of the tutorial, you will be granted access to the story mode. Right when you start, there is a very long cutscene showing a war between these demon monsters and soldiers from earth or whatever they are. I have a lot of problems with the way the story starts. The game throws you into this world where a lot, and I mean a lot, of background knowledge is assumed. The game does it's best to summarize the entire backstory in 2 minutes, but really, only dedicated Mortal Kombat fans will know what is going on.
Another problem is the cutscenes. Now, the cutscenes look top notch being on next gen, I'll give it that. But for a fighting game with only around a 5 hour story mode, they're just way too long. I would be a bit more forgiving if more content was added to the story. For the record, I hate quick time events in almost, if not pretty much every game. The only game I've played that has achieved good quick time events was Tomb Raider (2013) because they added more intensity to the game instead of dulling it down. In some in some sequences in Mortal Kombat X, they will occasionally give you boring quick time events during long cutscenes just so you have a reason to pick up the controller. They're not even engaging anyway. Missing a QTE doesn't hinder the gameplay at all or give you any disadvantages, the cutscene just resumes playing. Just to be clear, there is no character development at all in Mortal Kombat X, and it's a shame since there are some really cool characters that I would have liked to learn more about. Some characters, like Liu Kang and Raiden, feel like they're in the story just because they have to be. The characters that are like that feel like they're squeezed into the game as if there was barely enough room for them anyway. I do have to cut some slack, as I imagine it is pretty hard for Netherrealm to keep all of these trademarks of Mortal Kombat to feel relevant in a universe with so many characters.
The fighting in Mortal Kombat X is the best I've seen in a fighting game. It stands out as its own game and not just another Mortal Kombat game. There is a 24 player roster, and also some really expensive add-on characters, which is kind of dirty of Netherrealm to be doing for a fighting game. There are some characters that I liked playing as in previous Mortal Kombat games, but they sadly are not present. One of the biggest ones for me was Baraka, he was the coolest Mortal Kombat character in my opinion. There is actually a part where you fight Baraka in the story, but you still can't play as him, which is pretty lazy. So instead of having a large number of characters, Netherrealm has added 3 fighting variations to each character. I felt like these fighting variations were not much better than the other 2 variations to choose from, which is good. They each give the fighter a unique fighting style, so it's easier to find a character you like if you don't like one of the variations. That being said, Mortal Kombat, and just other fighting games in general have been infamous for having that one overpowered character that everybody plays as, but I'm glad to say that there is no character that feels more overpowered than the other.
To spice up the combat, there are also brutal x-ray moves and finishing moves called fatalities. The x-ray moves and fatalities are hands down the most brutal and gory things I have ever seen. Ever, not just in video games. The x-ray moves are special moves that any player can do once their super-meter is full. The x-ray moves show the character breaking bones or slicing organs with a full display of the action with the bones and organs being shown. The x-ray moves are so well animated and satisfying to watch, with gallons and gallons of blood and gore. Each character has two fatalities and only one x-ray, so I would have liked to see maybe one x-ray per character variation. The x-ray moves can be pretty sickening, but then there are fatalities. Once you have defeated your opponent, They will stand around dazed for about 10 seconds. Then, you have the opportunity to perform combo move on them. After the combo has been correctly orchestrated, you hear a familiar tune let you know you were successful. What then follows is an extremely brutal cutscene. Each character has two fatalities which may include dismemberment or decapitation or something equally gory. These fatalities are so over the top, and they dance on the thin line between sickening and humorous. There is so much shock factor to these fatalities, which I think is incredible after all the years Mortal Kombat has been around. The fatalities are the best part of the game. Alongside these fatalities are brutalities and faction kills that you can perform with each character. Each character has 6 brutalities and 2 faction kills. These brutalities/faction kills have certain requirements and are harder to do than fatalities. The faction kills and brutalities are kind of pointless, they're not that good to look at, they're pretty boring and bland and just not as creative as the fatalities.
Definitely, the weakest part of this game is it's 'Krypt.' The Krypt is Mortal Kombat's weird game inside another game. You will start out in this graveyard in first person, and you can walk up to graves to unlock things with in-game currency 'Koins.' You can earn small amounts of these Koins at a time by performing a successful combo move and things like that in the gameplay. I found the Krypt to be extremely annoying, as the weird first person controls just put me off of it right away. I hate the ideology behind it too, you have to buy brutalities/fatalities with these Koins, instead of the game just giving it to you at the start of the game. I'm sure the Krypt has a lot of depth to it, with all the bunch of areas there are, but I don't think anybody is going to want to explore it, there's just nothing special to it. Often times, you will pay a bunch of Koins for concept art, which is so useless and irrelevant to the game.
One thing that was noticeable right at the start of the game was the movement controls. The movement controls need serious improvement. In Injustice, I remember this being a big problem too. When I was playing the tutorial, I didn't use the D-pad, I used the analog stick. Most of the time moving with the analog stick was very annoying. I noticed that most of the surface area (the direction of where you push the stick) either makes you jump or crouch. In a fighting game like Mortal Kombat X, strafing left and right with ease is very important. It was so frustrating that I switched to the D-pad and was relieved at how easy it was to move left and right, and put in combo moves. But after a while, the D-pad got pretty uncomfortable to use. So sometimes during fights I would switch back and forth between the analog stick and the D-pad; it was really awkward to do.
The actual fighting in this game is tons of fun. There is a cool feature now that lets you tag your moves so they can appear below your health bar, and it is nice to be able to glance at your moves during a fight and not pause to check combo moves every 30 seconds. However, one thing that I thought was just lazy was how you could only tag 5 moves at once, which really limits the combo moves you can see. There are different arenas, and each arena doesn't vary that much except for scenery and interactable objects. I wish they would have added a second section of the arena to fight in, like in Injustice. The fighting is very fluent for the most part, and there are only a few instances where I got caught being spammed by one button. Pulling off successful strings of combo moves and attacks just feels so satisfying, and it will keep people coming back again and again.
There are also a few other modes besides just the story mode. There is a 'Test your Luck' mode where you can have different gameplay modifiers for the match, like having super strength or being in slow motion, and it is a pretty good mode to play with others, and for a laugh. There is a 'Kustom Kombat' mode where you can choose the modifiers you want for the match instead of them being randomly chosen for you. And there is also a 'Test your might' mode, a completely unnecessary button mashing simulator that should not even be in the game and has no more depth to it other than karate chopping objects in half. Lastly, there are towers. In these towers you can face off against various opponents, climbing to the top of the tower. You can play the towers with any character and in any game mode. The towers are a lot of fun, and if you play the tower in the normal game mode and beat it, you get to see an alternate ending for the game with the character you beat it with, which is pretty cool.
You can take all of these fighting modes online, and there are a few other new modes like King of the Hill, where everyone in a lobby has to beat the last person to win a match. Online, it can feel like everyone is better than you. When you people are beating you badly and stringing all of these combo moves together seamlessly, you can't help but admire it. After a while, it just gets aggravating. There was some lag I noticed but not too much to ruin any matches I had. A new Mortal Kombat feature for online is the faction wars. Right from the start of the game, you are forced to choose which faction you want to be in. There is honestly nothing rewarding at all about factions, they don't make you feel like you are part of this huge clan, and they don't get you many Koins at all.
Overall, Mortal Kombat X is a pretty good fighting game. The fatalities and x-ray moves do set it apart from other games. Mortal Kombat X does bear a few unnecessary things that should not be in the game at all like Factions, brutalities, Test your might and the Krypt. The control scheme can be improved greatly as well. I have to say, it is not nearly as fun playing by yourself as it is with others, either online or locally. If you are only playing by yourself it will definitely derive from the experience.
+ Gruesome/awesome visuals - Not enough characters
+ Great fighting gameplay - Story mode is so empty
+ Playing with other is great fun - Cool characters aren't fleshed out
- Awkward/annoying movement controls
- Factions/Krypt/Brutalities/Test your might all pointless
7.3/10
