I’m not very good at Mortal Kombat.
It’s taken me a while to get used to it, but the fact is I see more fatalities performed on me than vice versa. I’m very competitive when it comes to fighters and I put a lot of time into memorising kombos and strategies, but I’m consistently thwarted by my button-mashing friends, time after time. Thankfully 2011’s Mortal Kombat 9 was a visual marvel: a cacophony of cartilage, a bevy of broken bones and arterial sprays. Even when I was being inhumanly massacred, there was still joy to be had in the pure carnage and gore. Underneath this grisly layer, however, there was an experience that was keenly balanced and that controlled beautifully, outshining all contemporary fighters. Mortal Kombat X, the brand new sequel, has a hell of a legacy to live up to.
As with all fighting games, the core gameplay is what matters most. Thankfully, Mortal Kombat X is a delight to play. The game feels tactile and responsive, with none of the floaty control issues that plague lesser fighters. The Kombos required to execute special moves and match-winning fatalities are short, simple commands that are easy to memorise and just as simple to execute. Whether you’re fastidiously planning every counter and strike or button mashing to your heart’s content, the act of playing Mortal Kombat X feels wonderful.
The new features from 2011’s Mortal Kombat and 2013’s Injustice are combined and inserted into Mortal Kombat X with great effect. The vicious X-Ray moves, counters and enhanced specials that debuted in Mortal Kombat are back again, with a much stronger focus on violence than ever before. Stabbing eyeballs, shattering skulls and snapping spines are commonplace upon the battlefields of Earthrealm and Outworld, with the manoeuvres performed to an undoubted chorus of groans from any watching audience. Injustice’s stage interactions have also been included, albeit in a far more violent fashion than that of their original use. Near certain areas on each stage, either player can press a button to perform an interaction with that piece of scenery. Whether it be hurling a burning brazier at an opponent, or chucking an old woman at their face, these stage interactions can quickly turn the tide of a battle and catch an opponent unawares.
A key change to the game sees the introduction of different versions of each character, selectable before every match. Each of the three variances has different special abilities and movesets, leading to a surprisingly large amount of potential match-ups and strategies to plan for. Even though not all of them are winners, the ability to change a few moves to gain an advantage is a welcome new wrinkle.
The violence in Mortal Kombat has long been a defining feature of the series, and NetherRealm Studios have been sure to up the ante here. Between the devastating stage interactions and vicious X-Ray moves, it was already common enough to see shattered bones and broken teeth within a match, but the match ending fatalities have seen their own gory facelift applied as well. Each character has two fatalities, which when entered at the end of a battle; see an incredibly violent series of attacks assail the poor loser of the fight. Scorpion, for instance, throws a fireball through the opponents chest that blasts a hole large enough for their heart to fall into, before slicing their face off with a sword. The opponent falls to the floor, their severed brain slides slowly out of their skull, as their mangled tongue pulsates in their throat.
Fear not if you thought the Fatalities might be toned down – they’re goddamned disgusting.
Marking a return to the series, match-ending Brutalities have also been retooled and added to the game. Rather than forcing the player to memorise a gigantic combo, Brutalities instead rely on the player executing a certain strategy within the game, and then ending the match with a specific move. For instance, if Johnny Cage uses three or four nut punches in a single match and then wins with a nut punch, a special Brutality finisher will play. These are great, innovative ways to force players to alter their fighting style in order to see as many of these uniquely violent finishers as possible. It’s a much more elegant execution than what was used in the past, and adds extra depth to a mechanic that most people would assume would never be tampered with again.
The story mode of Mortal Kombat 9 was an incredibly pleasant surprise, forcing players to switch between the different characters and experience a well told, compelling fighting game plot. The same style mode has been implemented in Mortal Kombat X, continuing from where the plot in the previous title left off. Each chapter is manned by a different playable character, as the story continues to unfurl. Unfortunately, a weaker narrative, some poor character decisions and baffling changes in time period conspire against the story mode and make it a less enjoyable romp than it was in the past. A few new quirks, like quick-time events during cutscenes fail to restore the lustre of previous titles. The story mode is enjoyable, but unlike in Mortal Kombat 9, cannot be recommended wholeheartedly.
Towers, the traditional Mortal Kombat single-player method of progression have returned in a variety of forms for players to test their skill against. The traditional eight man single player tower returns, with players pitting a fighter of their choice against a stack of foes. Completing the tower rewards the player with a short, character specific ending and score total, based on factors like remaining health in fights and number of fatalities used. These scores are uploaded to a number of leaderboards, and can be set as challenges for your friends to try and beat.
Along with the traditional tower experience, a number of modified versions have been included. Hourly, Daily and Weekly towers with randomized fight modifiers are constantly cycling in and out, adding a great deal of variety to the gameplay allowed. Due to the element of randomness, some of these can be quite exciting: A few days after the game was released, a tower that started each player with only 10% of their health bar was available, which was a delight to play through. Even if not all of them are winners, the randomness of the towers and their permeation throughout the central game UI means that a unique challenge is never far away.
Faction Wars is a new metagame feature designed to represent the continued struggle between five of the factions of the Mortal Kombat universe. When first starting the game, players are forced to choose one of the five factions and fight in their honour throughout their single player and multiplayer bouts. When a match is won or lost, both user XP and faction XP is earned, unlocking more koins for spending in the Krypt as well as unique backgrounds and icons for their player card. As they gain faction XP, the five factions compete against one another to achieve….something? It’s never really made clear exactly what winning the faction war does. Faction Wars needs a fairly strong overhaul in its current iteration, in order to more clearly delineate exactly what a victory means, as well as what its worth for the winning faction. Also, as each faction is headed up by characters from the game itself, the more popular characters inevitably draw more players to the more popular factions. This means that the less popular factions, like my Special Forces have pitiful victory percentages and will never win. It all feels a bit meaningless, really.
As I’m hardly the world’s expert in fighting games, I feel that commenting on the multiplayer too much is pretty worthless. Speaking broadly, the multiplayer seems to be holding up okay, with only a little noticeable latency within matches. Mortal Kombat X features a lobby system where players join a 100-capped room and challenge other players from within to matches. This felt a tad clumsy and cumbersome, but again, I’m no expert. Safe to say, I was routinely whipped in the matches I played. The most I can say is that it’s there and it seems to work fine.
Even if all the shiny bells and whistles have started to tarnish since their re-debut in Mortal Kombat 9, the core of the experience is still as fresh as ever. A slightly disappointing story mode and a seemingly pointless metagame do not take away just how damn good it feels to crack Sub-Zero’s skull with a tree branch, or to spear Mileena through the eyeball. Though it may not be as surprisingly great as its predecessor, the core act of engaging in Mortal Kombat feels better than ever, and is well worth your time.
Rating: 7.5/10