Here is what I think of Mortal Kombat X:
- For starters, if you want to check out my preview for the game, click HERE
- Also, if you want to listen to me ramble and rave for an hour and a half, check out the PodKast HERE.
I'll get to the story mode here in a bit and I will preface by saying there will be SPOILERS.
I'm going to break down each point I made in my preview and tell you how expectations compare with reality.
- The Roster
As I mentioned before, The roster felt like a good mix of familiar fighters and new blood. I was worried going into the game that all the child characters (Jacqui Briggs, Cassie Cage, Kung Jin, Takeda) would end up being a mash-up or too much like their parents/family (Jax, Sonya & Johnny, Kung Lao, Kenshi, respectively). This isn't necessarily the case. Sure, Cassie has a lot of Sonya-style kicks and Johnny-like green energy, but the characters still feel different. Kung Jin feels a lot more like Green Arrow from Injustice than he does his cousin, and Takeda has pretty kick-ass bladed whips (and also performs his X-Ray move in the air, just FYI).
The other new characters all play well enough and are quite diverse. In the past, when MK attempted to add many new characters, it was generally not well received. In this case, however, these all feel like they have staying power. My personal favorite new character is Erron Black, both in character design and playability. He is just a cool dude, a wild west Outworld gunslinger, and his attacks are pretty brutal, he has a VERY simple Brutality, and even though he may have some of the weaker fatalities, he is still a lot of fun and seems to be who pro players are gravitating towards.
As far as the returning characters, there is still a lot to like with them. If you were used to how certain characters played in older games, you will be able to pick them up pretty easily here. I've found a lot of success with the ninjas, Raiden, Jax and Johnny Cage.
The variations do end up playing a big part in how you play with or against certain characters. Some variations may not have the same combos as another one, some special moves will be different, etc. Cryomancer Sub-Zero is one of my go-to's and has some fun combos, while the Grandmaster version has the famous Ice Clone. Reptile's "Noxious" variant has a toxic cloud around him at all times, dealing damage over time for anyone who gets close to him, while his "Nimble" variant gives him a speed boost a la The Flash in Injustice, and so on. This gives players an opportunity to not only find a favorite character, but a favorite variation, or perhaps a favorite variation of a character they never thought they'd use.
As far as character designs go, I was pretty pleased with just about everyone. The subtle differences on the different variations of any given character is a nice touch, whether it's different arm bands, sunglasses, face tattoos, buzzsaw hats, belt skulls, whatever, it's nice to see a visual cue as to what variation you are playing.
I do have a couple problems: one being that there seems to be an overload on Special Forces, which kinda robs some characters of being distinguished. Sure, alternate costumes exist and they do help, but the 7 or so characters that I would lump in to "Team SF" (Johnny, Sonya, Cassie, Kung Jin, Takeda, Jacqui, and to an extent Jax), have primary costumes that all seem to look alike, which makes sense story-wise, but it just feels like there could have been more variations, but that's a minor gripe and I'm not too hung up on that.
What I AM hung up on is this new Johnny Cage. I may be one of the few, but I don't like the look of this Johnny. He looks like he belongs in a different game. I could see him in a game like Dead Rising, or Unreal Tournament or something. He doesn't look like the same Johnny from MK9 in an older state and I think THAT'S what bothers me. They do have the alternate "Tournament" costume from MK9 in the game but it's still the MKX character model. Not a fan, but, it's still cool to see Johnny autographing his headshot. Plus his "Here's Johnny" fatality is a really good one.
- The Modes
Your standard modes are all here but I wanted to highlight the new stuff.
- Living Towers
There are 3 constantly changing Challenge Towers, one changes per hour, one changes per day, one changes per week, these also include modifies, as well as some secret fights. The basic goal is to get a high score and unlock these modifiers to use in Kustom Kombat. This is a pretty cool idea and it's always nice to have something new every time you turn the game on.
- Faction Wars
I joined the Lin Kuei faction, so we won last week, so, you know, suck it. It is kind of cool to always have that competitive aspect to it. Though I do find the only "reward" for leveling up within your faction is unlocking "Faction Kill" fatalities, which are quick and simple fatalities. These are really nice to have if you don't have your characters fatalities memorized, you can just hold block, hit a couple directions, and end it with a Faction Kill.
- King of the Hill
So this mode isn't new but it's presented a little differently. I had said how I hoped the little avatars made a comeback, they didn't, but that's ok. This time, you get to show off your Kombat Kard, you see the players' stats, connection speed, you can chat in a different window, and you can communicate through cute MK emojis. If I want to throw out a smiling Stryker, I can (and constantly do). It's slick and it looks to help overall performance as well since the game doesn't have to worry about the game and avatars doing all sorts of crazy shit, and just focus primarily on the match. You still give respect points after the match as well.
- Test Your Luck
Again, not a new mode for MKX but is implemented much better here, as you can now take TYL online, as well as TYL towers. This was one of my favorite things about MK9 and I am glad to see it back and better here.
- The Fatalities
But also, the Brutalities. Of course, any Mortal Kombat game is going to feature gruesome/horrifying/hilarious fatalities and MKX has some of the best in the series. I would say some of my favorites include the aforementioned "Here's Johnny", Jax's "T-Wrecks", Kung Lao's buzzsaw, Kenshi's slice n' dice, Sub-Zero's bed of ice spikes, there are PLENTY more. I would say Erron Black's are on the weak side,and Cassie's primary one is pretty weak.
However, I find myself actively trying to get Brutalities because they feel so satisfying. Even the super simple ones feel really good when you pull them off. Each character has around 5 or 6 and some are real simple, like Erron Black's where you just hold "towards" during a throw to win the match, and some can get a little complicated, as some require you to be in a certain variation, some require you to be full screen, some require you to land certain things within the match, and so on. I will say, every time I hit one, I feel great, especially on the more complex ones, like Liu Kang's in-air fireball to the opponents face. BOOM!
- The Story
Again, Mortal Kombat shows the gold standard to how fighting game stories should be told. Cutscenes that go right into a fight and transition out, letting the story flow from one fight to the next, switching characters each chapter to not only play as them and allow the player to become more well-rounded, but also see the events of the story from different perspectives. It worked great in MK9, it worked great in Injustice and it works well here too.
Here is where I have one of my problems with the game though. During the story, you will go through a handful of QuickTime Events, simple button pushes during cutscenes. First of all, QTE's generally suck, and they feel really out of place here. The only way you know one is coming is when the scene goes from letterbox to full screen. Also, the only "penalty" for missing an input, is that the story plays a little different during that scene, that's it. You still get to the next story beat, so this makes these events even more irrelevant.
Also, in the story, you fight characters that aren't even in the game. Like Rain, Sindel, and Baraka. While it's nice to see how all these characters interact with each other, It still feels weird seeing the characters but not playing as them (though, rumors are coming out saying they MAY be playable later on).
Also, great scene after the initial credits, I had a little "maniacal laugh" going on. Great set-up for the next game.
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- Those Micro-transactions
Ugh. You've probably read all the negativity surround all this DLC and micro-transactions. Some justified, some not so much. I will cut to the quick:
- The Kombat Pack is 4 characters and about 12 costumes, for $29.99. Kinda pricey, but it came with my Kollector's Edition, so no real problem.
- Sub-Zero Blue Steel costume: $1.99 with the proceeds going to some pro league season 1 something thing. No problem here. costume looks great, it's also just the Sub-Zero version of the Scorpion figure costume from the Kollector's Edition.
- I assume this "Story Pack" that's being teased will include the originally non-playable characters in Story Mode and will be around the same price point, if not cheaper, than the Kombat Pack. Again, no real problem here.
- Easy Fatalities, 30 pack for $4.99. WHAAAAAAAA? The mechanic is that you can spend these Easy Fatality Koins in the game to execute, well, an easy fatality. So instead of hitting down, up, left, left, or whatever to execute the fatality, you can just hold block, hit a button and boom, done. You "Kollect" these Koins (see what I did?) either in the Krypt, or buy purchasing a pack with REAL MONEY!
BOO! First of all, these Koins and the Easy Fatality system shouldn't exist. They are easy enough to pull off, and I remember a time when 1-button fatalities was a simple cheat. Those were the days.
Also, you can go through the Krypt and unlock everything the proper way, or you can spend $20 and unlock everything that way. Also boo! Sure, it's not hurting me, but it's a bad omen for the industry and it feels like a gross cash grab.
- Final Thoughts
Mortal Kombat X may very well be my favorite game in the franchise. The story is told well, the fighting feels faster, the variations add an extra layer of strategy, the online has been holding up well, all of the characters bring something to the table and are all fun to play, the action is as gory as it's ever been (also as hilarious), the replay value is off the charts, and there is SO much this game has in it that it can get overwhelming at times (in a good way). Sure, it's a little rough around the edges, but there is so much to love about Mortal Kombat X, that I can very easily look past the ugly spots and enjoy all of it's glory. It was my most anticipated game of the year for a reason, and the game absolutely delivers and exceeded even my lofty expectations.
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