Mortal Kombat 1

A new era of Kombat

Game no: 559

Genre: Fighting 
Platform: PS5
Release Date: 2023

Mortal Kombat has always been a staple of my gaming library. I enjoyed everyone of them since the original Mortal Kombat for the Genesis. This game has been out for 2 years and everytime I wanted to buy I think it is too expensive. What joy I had when I found out that this game can be played for free on PS+ extra. Netherealm Studios is no stranger in designing fighting game but why do people play their games is always due to the top notch story mode. But sadly this year MK didn't hit the mark. There are a couple things wrong with this game lets break it down one by one. 

In the end of MK 11, the story ends with Liu Kang became the keeper of time and he went on in reshaping a new timelne. Basically they rewrote all the main characters storyline. There are no new characters in this game. Most of them come for past MK lore. The story is servicable enough but when it involves multiverse and many different character. The story can get convoluted. I miss the time when Mortal Kombat just meant the tournament without any fancy over the top storyline. 

The gameplay is another thing. There is something different for MK than other fighting games. Each blow that we land on our opponent we can feel it hitting which is great. The not so great part is that the fights are a bit cherograph. We know what is going to happen based on the move sets of each character. Granted that is most fighting games but unlike Street Fighter or Tekken where the moves are fast and we can change move on the fly, Mortal Kombat seems a much more slower endavour. Other than that the gimmick for this year game is the Kameo system. This is basically your second fighter that you can call when you need an assist. It is not a tag another person in but its basically pressing R1 and hoping that the character will land the move to give you some space. It works well but after a while you won't want to use it that much because it doesn't give that much depth. Besides the the Test Your Might, Sight, and Luck are not availble to play in offline mode which sucks. 

Honestly this game is a letdown. Mortal Kombat in my opinion peaked at MK X and after that they are trying to see if they can replicate the same formula that made it fun like before. They really should take some inspiration from MK 9 where it is just a fun game all around with fast kombat. I finished the story mode and watch the DLC Khaos Reign which I am not going to do a review for because they just add 4 more new characters. I give this game a B-Rank. Good thing it was free to play...