Mortal Kombat X
Created by: NetherRealm
Distributed by: WB Games
Mortal Kombat has been a love or hate series over the ten incarnations we’ve had. Treated as either the wannabe on the block and never as good as Street Fighter or the preferred choice because someone in the world is having too much fun ripping a virtual spine from a beaten foe. Mortal kombat X has had the most hype about the brawler series in many generations (Mortal Kombat 3 being the last one to really get fans going to any major extent), but is the build up worth the money?
The story is, to put it bluntly, B movie-esque. It centres primarily around Johnny Cage, his estranged relationship with Sonya Blade and the daughter they helped kreate (see what I did there?) in the form of Cassie Cage, who I’ll come to in a minute. The good thing about the story is the fact that it has aged the fighters and actually moved on with the timeline, something some other beat-em-ups are very guilty of not doing, especially if you like a bit of the HADOUKEN!!!. Raiden, Liu Kang, Kung Lao, Jax and even the masked Sub Zero and Scorpion look like they’ve actually been through the wars, showing grey hair, scars and a few extra wrinkles here and there. New combatants include the aforementioned Cassie, as well as Jax’s daughter, Jacqui Briggs, with Kenshi along with Kung Lao bringing their sons into the fight (Kung Jin and Takashi Takeda) It is nice that NetherRealm have tried very hard to keep the storyline authentic with the mythology of the series spread all over the place, but even with all the hard work, there is a lot more air than substance contained in that area.
The actual Kombat side of things though has never felt stronger. There is a scary sense of refinement, not just about the fighting, but in the way things are structured throughout. All of the characters are unlocked from the start, with the exception of Goro and Shinnok. Each one has three different fighting styles, which in turn allows for more customisation of your own preferred way of getting stuck in to each battle. The fact it doesn’t keep you locked into one way is refreshing and keeps the game as a whole rather interesting.
The other major area where Mortal Kombat X excels is in the ways it keeps you interested. The Faction War is where you more or less pick a side in the ongoing Earth Realm fight by teaming up with others in your chosen faction and winning points for it by doing things in-game. You can TRY and take on the invasion boss, but I wouldn’t advise it, unless you’re a sadist. Getting loads of points in your faction can then unlock other Brutality moves, not to mention each faction get two unique finishing moves dependent on their choice.
The fighting itself feels intuitive enough to get into, especially if you have been a fan for years, but there are still a few things you need to master to get the full usage of each character out of them, especially if you want to take the fight online. The Street Fighter series has always been a bit more forgiving when it came to learning everything. With Mortal Kombat you have to sit and properly get to grips with it. The block button is your best friend and don’t forget the almost narcissistic X-Ray moves, which provide shockingly unbelievable moves, leaving the entire population of the world immobile if performed on them, but who needs a technicality when you have a man in a straw hat firing thunderbolts out of his fingers, I ask you?
It isn’t to say that MK is not without fault. The addition of QTE (Quick Time Events) seems like a gimmicky add on and detracts from the main crux of the story, as well as the exclusion of the towers seen in previous MK games, which gave you a whole mix of fights, mini games and so on. I know the focus is more on the beating up, but there is always time for fun bits too. The Krypt makes a comeback and has loads to unlock and offer, from fatalities to brutality moves, as well as icons, music and much more besides, coupled with random timed chests and more of the QTEs. It’s the Forrest Gump box of chocolates of Mortal Kombat.
The big question though, if you’re just sick, is how bad are the fatalites this time? In a nutshell, they are brutal. With each higher spec of console these, although a bit far fetched, are getting a lot more realistic and it could be said that they’re even getting to the horror movie stage of brutal. Decapitations, gut gouging, face slashing mentalness becomes a few button hits away, resulting in some actual winces from some people I know, as I tested a few on them to see how they would react. Some may think too much, but the fans will simply lap it up and ask for seconds, and with Predator and Jason from Friday the 13th coming up as playable DLC characters, it’s only gonna get worse.
At the beginning I said that this was a franchise that divides opinion and this new variant is not going to change that. The haters will still think it is an over the top, crazy brawler that is past it’s sell by date and goes too far to get the gratuitous kicks it loves to show the world. The fans will lap this up and be treated to one of the most defined entries in the series, with a mix of characters new and old, varieties of fighting styles, loads of online content and a lag free multiplayer. For me, it is firmly in the latter, and it comes across as a great return to form for the franchise. The 360/PS3 was just a taster for what we have now, which is a true coming of age for the Mortal Kombat games, producing a fun, balanced and just downright silly game. A game that wears it’s heart on it’s sleeve, or it might belong to someone else after somebody ripped the rib cage off, I can’t tell.
Thanks once again to the Xbox Community for allowing us to review the game.