Mortal Kombat 11: A Review
The Mortal Kombat franchise has been around since 1992 and has been one of the most iconic video game titles in history. As of May 2nd, 2019, Mortal Kombat is officially in the Video Game Hall of Fame! Side note: Super Mario Kart was inducted yesterday, too. Everyone has played a MK game at some point in their lives. My love for the games started back in the early 90’s with MK 2. Probably not a great video game for a little kid to be playing at such a young age; especially because I knew how to look up cheat codes on the internet and find all the fatality button combos. Ripping heads off of defeated opponents seemed pretty normal to me as a kid. Adult me has found fatalities a little more gruesome. Watching Sub Zero chop people’s heads off with an ice axe, or Scorpion cutting someone’s face off with a katana feels pretty strange now that graphics have evolved enough to show ridiculous amounts of blood and guts. Still, I can’t say I don’t enjoy doing it every time.
Regardless of the violence (which is expected in MK games) the game’s value is very much there as a fighter. MK 11 has one of the better fighting engines and has actually slowed down the in-game fighting to allow players to experience a more methodical approach, as opposed to a button-mashing brawl. Comparing it to Netherrealm Studio’s most recent games (Injustice 2 and MK X), it does have a slower feel and it has a much more complex button configuration. Combos are much more precise in this game and there are more ways to counter your opponent as there used to be. The “Fatal Blow” feature replaces the “X-ray” attacks from games past and allows a losing opponent somewhat of a last-ditch effort to win a match.
The story mode has a very classic list of characters going on a time-warped adventure to stop Kronika from basically erasing time itself. She suffers from whatever complex Thanos has in Infinity War because she really thinks wiping out Earthrealm’s fighters will bring balance to the universe. I won’t spoil the ending, but it seems like the MK creators are ready for a fresh start and are probably rebooting the entire franchise for their 30-year anniversary in 2022.
Baraka’s Fatal Blow
The roster in this game has all familiar faces, except 3. Geras, Kollector, and Cetrion are all new characters. With an opening roster of 23, that’s not a lot. It also feels like its missing some big names, too. I’d would’ve like to see Rain and Ermac in this game as full-time players, but maybe we’ll see them down the road. Frost and Shao Kahn are unlockable through the story mode, and 9-12 new fighters are set to be released in DLC. The only DLC character confirmed thus far is Shang Tsung. Rumored others include Spawn, Terminator, Reptile, Mileena, and even the Joker. The MK franchise has been using guest characters since the 2011 game that had Freddy Krueger and Kratos from God of War as guests, so it can be assumed that there’s some weight to those non-MK characters listed. Also, Ronda Rousey voicing Sonya Blade doesn't bother me at all. Apparently the internet hates her in this game…
MK 11 Character Select Screen
Overall, the game has a good story, good characters, and good gameplay. The fatalities are for total sicko’s like me, but maybe not for you if you don’t like seeing too much gore. I didn’t mention it yet, but I hate the Krypt feature. It’s so tedious and takes forever to run around and find extras in the game that you’d actually want. I’d be totally ok without having it. I’ll give this game an 8.6 out of 10. A generous score, but hey I’m a sucker for MK games.
Written by Andrew Silvers
Twitter/Instagram @asilvers55