Developed by: NetherRealm Studios
Published by: Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
Reviewed on: PlayStation 4 (Also available on PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC)
Mortal Kombat X’s story mode adopts the same structure used in Injustice: Gods Among Us and the previous Mortal Kombat reboot released in 2011. Other fighting games like Dead or Alive and BlazBlue also use the formula where there’s one canon story in which you play as a different character in each chapter. This is unlike most fighting games where you must piece together an inconsistent story that changes depending on which character you complete arcade mode with.
The story takes place twenty five years after the events of the previous Mortal Kombat. The story jumps around chronologically quite a bit through flashbacks. There’s an entire prologue that precedes the events of the game in the form of weekly comic book issues released by DC Comics. This is much like the Injustice comic that lead to that game’s release. Reading current issues of the comic before playing the story mode in Mortal Kombat X helps bridge the gap between the last game to this one, but it’s not required reading. Just like the Injustice comics, its an ongoing run with over fifteen chapters out now, detailing many events leading up to the start of Mortal Kombat X. This includes more information about the new characters that debut in the game like Cassie Cage and Erron Black.
The main story focuses on Earth’s Special Forces, lead by General Sonya Blade with the aid of thunder god Raiden, and their attempt to prevent the resurrection of Shinnok, who’s return was teased at the end of the previous game. Meanwhile Outworld is in the middle of a chaotic civil war between Mileena and one of the new characters, Kotal Kahn, for supremacy following the the death of Shao Kahn.
The story has a few quick time events (QTEs) that occur during throughout the 2.5+ hour story mode. Their inclusions are almost completely unneeded, but if more were included during the fight scenes or heightened moments in the story, then I can see a reason to have more in the game.
Mortal Kombat X looks beautiful as blood, guts and gore are splattered about the screen. The game looks incredible and the minimal Head’s Up Display (HUD) during the fights allows you to see virtually everything happening onscreen. The game feels good and is smooth to play. One thing that really stands out is that you can change the button inputs for special moves. If you’re a Mortal Kombat veteran, you can have the same four directional input that’s always been in the series; however if you prefer button commands like Street Fighter IV, you can opt for the inclusion of diagonal inputs to perform moves. So you can have back-forward, punch to launch Scorpion’s “Get Over Here” spear, or you can use the half-circle forward punch motion to do the same move.
The returning characters from the previous game have all new moves and X-ray attacks that can deal up to 1/3 health damage if they hit the opponent. The new characters are all fun to play as and aren’t just carbon copies of the characters that they are based off of. Even though Jaqui has metal arms just like her father Jax, the two play nothing alike. Whereas Jax is still a big, tough grappler character, Jaqui plays more like a mid-ranged fighter. The three different fighting styles per character are a great touch as well. Where some characters change minutely, others change completely, giving you a distinctly different character variation with unique moves to play with.
However, not all of the character styles may be different enough to be worth the effort, depending on one’s preference. I saw Mileena’s Ethereal style to be a waste compared to her Ravenous style, although others might love using that style’s teleportation tricks. Regarding the audio aspects, there were moments where I played the game and the music had cut off, but that was incredibly rare. Complaints that your favorite characters didn’t get a spot in the game can be another gripe. While there are characters planned as downloadable content (DLC) at later dates, there’s bound to fan favorites that won’t make the final cut. There are also non-playable characters that appear not only as a part of the story, but as an actual opponents that you must fight. This raises concerns of there being on-disc DLC characters, especially since PC modders have managed to gain control of those characters and have access to their entire move sets using move prompts from the previous games.
This was a long time coming, but Mortal Kombat X is well worth the wait. Outside the story mode, the various other modes like Arcade, Test Your Luck and the Krypt to unlock in-game items will keep you busy for hours. Multiplayer is always fun in a fighting game and the Living Towers add variety and challenge at different times of the day. There is DLC planned for the game, including a possible extended story pack, as well as guest characters Jason Vorees and the Predator. If you want it all, there’s the Kombat Pack that can be purchased either together with the game or separately if you decide to grab it at a later date. Alone or with friends, Mortal Kombat X is a definite buy.
