The story picks up after the 2011 reboot. Shao Kahn, along with a number of Earthrealm's mightiest defenders have all been slain. Quan Chi is revealed to be an agent of Shinnok and sets out to free his master from the confines of a sacred amulet. During the five hour campaign you take control of a number across a twenty-five year period. The scope of the story is astounding with visits to Outworld and Earthrealm taking center stage. Newcomers to the franchise will certainly have a hard time knowing who's who and even fans of the Mortal Kombat lore may find all the character jumps disorienting. Regardless, it's a wild ride and there are a few surprise appearances from non-playable characters that are sure to please long time fans.
Combat remains similar to Mortal Kombat 9 but with a few twists. Most notably, each character now has three variations with different move sets that they can choose from before entering the match. For example playing as a Dualist version of Liu Kang puts the focus on spells, Flame Fist emphasizes quick attacks, and Dragon’s Fire has enhanced fireballs. By focusing on multiple variations rather than flooding each fighter with a heap of moves, every character feels viable and useful. There’s a strong sense of balance and the variations ensure that anyone can find a style that’s comfortable for them.
Similar to Injustice, the environments contain interactive objects such as hammers and acid pots that can be used to help turn the tide of battle. Plus, walls can be used to reposition yourself and help negate cheap cornering tactics. Environment interaction uses the new stamina bar that also depletes when dashing or running and refills over time. The energy bar also returns. Performing special moves fills up your energy, and with enough stored, you can unleash combo-breakers and bone-breaking x-ray moves. All of these systems combine to make strategy paramount for success. Knowing when to save or spend energy often means the difference between victory and defeat.
Matches are fast paced and tactical. Knowing when to initiate special moves, go in close for combos or use your precious energy meter adds to the momentum of each battle. Certain attacks can only be blocked while ducking, grabs negate standing blocks, and combo-breakers can even the odds at the cost of two energy bars. The X-Ray attack consumes three full bars but deals massive damage. Still, it’s a risky to attempt because on-screen visual cues make them easy to block or dodge.
There are a total of 24 characters available at launch. Multiple fan favorites like Johnny Cage, Raiden, and Jax return along with newcomers like Cassie Cage and Jacqueline Briggs. The way the children of these veteran characters interact with their parents in the story is fitting and fun for fans that have grown up with the franchise.
Unfortunately microtransactions devalue a considerable portion of Mortal Kombat. Fan-favorite Goro, a being as old as the franchise, is held hostage as day one DLC for $4.99. Additionally easy-fatality tokens are up for sale, testing the patience and good-will of passionate fans.
Fatalities and the triumphant return of brutalities are not for the faint of heart. They are as disturbing as ever. Performing a brutality is a difficult task as they each have different parameters per match, but succeeding with one of these seamless kills is a satisfying accomplishment.
In addition to Story mode there is a wide assortment of towers to test your skills in a variety of ways. The Classic Tower makes a welcome return and tasks you with defeating ten increasingly harder opponents. Winning rewards you with a character specific cutscene, giving incentive to complete the tower with every character. The Test Your Luck tower adds random positive and negative status effects to each combatant like unlimited x-ray or reduced health. It’s a great diversion from the tense and competitive vs. mode atmosphere by relishing in wild anarchy. Test Your Might is back for button-mashing enthusiasts and the single-elimination Endless and Survivor towers are full of constant tension.
Living Towers are new to Mortal Kombat X and replace the challenge tower from Mortal Kombat 9. There are three variations that update Hourly, Daily, and every few days for the Premier tower. They have constantly changing parameters and offer rewards such as alternate costumes and character icons. While it's nice to have constantly changing towers, the rewards never seem substantial compared to the Krypt. Still, it keeps things fresh daily and it will be interesting to see how NetherRealm Studios treats them post-launch.
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