Mortal Kombat X Playstation 4 Review
It’s been four years since the last time I’ve had to test my might, but now the newest iteration of “Mortal Kombat” is upon us. Has this classic game evolved since it’s last appearance or is it still using the same old tricks?
“Mortal Kombat X” is the latest fighting game from NetherRealm Studios and it continues the gameplay mechanic progression that the studio has been on since “Mortal Kombat 9.” With MK9 the studio introduced an innovative new story mode and updated some of the fighting mechanics in slick ways. With “Injustice” we saw them continue to stretch their storytelling chops while fleshing out the fighting component by including more interactable environments. In “MKX” they’ve taken these changes and presented them in their most refined form yet.
Coming off of the story modes featured in”MK9″ and “Injustice” I have to say that this might be the weakest story they’ve crafted thus far. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not a terrible story, but it doesn’t have any big moments or surprises that make it memorable like their previous games. From the beginning you can see where the story is progressing and it doesn’t do much to try and deviate from your expectations. Still, it’s a fun adventure that fleshes out relationships and alliances in new and interesting ways.
For example, and this is touched upon early in the game, we see that Outworld and Earthrealm have formed an uneasy alliance to respect the boundaries of the two worlds and prevent all out war. It’s an interesting twist on the narrative as it brings structure to a story that was otherwise filled with chaos. It also injects a little big of political maneuvering into the story, but this is “Mortal Kombat”, so that all eventually devolves into someone kicking someone’s ass. The best kind of political negotiation.
Core to the story are some new characters that represent the descendants of some of the “Mortal Kombat” kombatants. Among them include Cassie Cage (offspring of Johnny Cage and Sonya Blade), Jacqui Briggs (daughter of Jax), Takeda (son of Kenshi), and Kung Jin. The story ultimately centers on these four as they travel between Earthrealm and Outworld to undo Shinnok’s nefarious plot. They’re your typical “new generation with attitude” characters, but in a non-offensive way. Personality wise, they’re a little stale, but gameplay wise I think they make for refreshing additions. Thanks to their relations, many of them play like familiar characters, but with some interesting tweaks.
Jacqui Briggs, for example, has many of her fathers powerful punch attacks and even sports some metal gauntlets. However, she’s a lot faster and more agile than her father and has a few more projectile moves with her gauntlets. Cassie Cage is sort of an amalgamation of Johnny and Sonya as she combines a few of their signature moves. She’ll utilize a baton and a pistol like her mother, but then also use modified shadow kicks like her father. And, of course, she likes to pull out the nut punch as well.
The other characters introduced through the story are D’Vorah, Erron Black, Ferra/Torr, and Kotal Kahn. I found these characters to be far more interesting in terms of the role they play in the story and also because of their movesets. These characters are all new and don’t take after previous characters, so they truly feel like new experiences. I found myself really enjoying D’Vorah as she has good speed to her moves and good range with her bug legs, allowing me to get at a fighter while also being able to keep a safe distance. Erron Black, on the other hand, is a fighter with a lot of variety. Variations of him allow him to utilize guns and swords allowing him to get close and do damage from a distance. He also might be a little overpowered as I’ve seen this character pull off combos that take away over 50% health.
In terms of gameplay there are several new changes that make this game stand out from its predecessors. New to this game are fighter variations. Each fighter comes with three variations that you can choose from when selecting them. Every variation utilizes the same basic move set, but implements small changes to make them slightly more proficient in other ways. Certain variations will give you access to new special moves or will place an emphasis on range attacks or give you different combo options. The variations allow for a lot of variety in your fighters and give you another way to critically think about how you approach a match.
In “Injustice” NetherRealm placed a big emphasis on environmental interactions. If you were a big muscular character you could pick up heavy objects in the background and throw them at your opponent. Or if you were a smaller character, you could use the environment to move around faster. In “MKX” these background options have returned, but they’re much more streamlined. Now all characters can do the same thing with the background elements. Big or small characters can pick up the same objects or launch themselves off walls. There seem to be fewer interactable objects as well, which might be a welcome relief for those who were put off by them in “Injustice.”
Also new this game are some of the online components. Along with the standard towers, players can now attempt to scale the “Living Towers.” These are three varying towers that change hourly, daily, and weekly. There is also a new mode called Faction Wars that allows you to join one of five factions (including the White Lotus, Special Forces, Black Dragon, Brotherhood of Shadow, and Lin Kuei). Within these factions people complete various tasks, win fights, and earn resource points for their faction. For now these factions seem a little unbalanced as the Lin Kuei currently dominate the charts. It seems like an obvious outcome as Sub Zero is a hugely popular character, of course people will pick his faction. They could’ve possibly balanced it out a bit more by having a Scorpion themed faction.
By competing in the faction war you can take on special bosses earn special faction related fatalities that you can then use in matches. It’s not a hugely critical thing, but it is a fun addition that builds upon what you’re already doing since you earn faction points by simply playing the game.
As of this writing the online stuff has been pretty damn spotty. Over the last few days I haven’t really been able to access the online components due to server issues. Today it seemed to get better as I was able to regularly log in to online play. Hopefully the issue has been resolved, because otherwise it’s hard to recommend a fighting game that won’t actually let you fight online. At this point I’d say I’ve been stuck offline more than I’ve been allowed to play online. And that’s a glaring issue that can seriously ruin the appeal of this game.
That being said, this is simply the best Mortal Kombat game yet. It represents years of iterations and fine tuning and that comes through in the games refined mechanics and the innovative new online features. If you’re a “Mortal Kombat” fan or you’ve been thinking about jumping in and checking it out, this is the right time to do it. Just be wary of the server issues and, depending on when you see this review, check to see if they’ve been fully resolved before you the game. For now it seems fine, but that could be a momentary reprieve.
