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A great start for a rebirth of a franchise | Full Review - Mortal Kombat 1

7K View2023-09-15

Mortal Kombat™ 1

9.0

Fighting

Get

Mortal Kombat 1 is an upcoming fighting game that serves as both a sequel to Mortal Kombat 11 and a reboot of the series. It features a restarted universe with new origins for the characters and a fresh storyline, set to be released for PC, PS, Xbox, and Switch.

📌Pros and Cons

When it comes to fighting games, there are three distinct types of players - those who crave for an immersive story… The folks, friends, and families who gather for local multiplayer showdowns… and the competitive souls who venture into the online arena. Well, personally, I fall into the first two categories, and I can confidently say that Mortal Kombat 1 delivers a fatal knockout punch of fun for both camps.

📖Story

The story is actually surprisingly amazing. Despite being a reboot in most respects, it is still set after the events of Mortal Kombat 11 in a sort of an in-universe reboot. Fire God Liu Kang, who possesses immense power and control over time, creates a new universe, but not everything goes according to plan. Despite his efforts, there are imperfections and threats that emerge within this new reality, which will once again need a group of warriors from different realms.

The game's clean slate approach breathes new life into beloved characters, offering a refreshing experience for both newcomers and long-time fans. Mortal Kombat 1 masterfully subverts expectations, remixing characters with fresh origins, stories, and designs. Some characters are now more like-able, while others retain the essence of their iconic previous iterations.

The main campaign only spans around 5-7 hours, but once you start it, you just can’t put it down. It’s THAT Good. It’s one continuous flow of nonstop action, brutality, and a bit of comedy that seamlessly changes from cutscene to fights and back to cutscenes.

🎨Graphics

Mortal Kombat 1 boasts impressive graphics that capture the franchise's dark and moody aesthetic. Characters are meticulously detailed, and their animations flow smoothly, and that clay-like aesthetic is already bordering on photorealism, which sometimes can result in some uncanny valley moments. Still, it is leaning towards being more impressive than being weird overall. The lightning system and overall shaders used are amazing and it didn’t really look like a traditional Unreal Engine 4 game and looks beyond better than that.

Of course, Mortal Kombat wouldn't be Mortal Kombat without its unapologetic depiction of violence. Hits, blood, gore, and dismemberment are portrayed in a graphic and exaggerated manner during battles and this game is no different from its predecessors, with "Fatalities" taking center stage in all their visceral glory.

⚔️Gameplay and Kombat

At its core, Mortal Kombat 1 is a 2D perspective fighting game with a focus on one-on-one combat. Players select a character from the diverse roster taken from its rich history, each with their unique abilities and playstyles. The game features a traditional fighting game setup with rounds, health bars, and a timer. Mortal Kombat's signature combo-heavy gameplay shines through, with controls finely tuned to accommodate intricate attack sequences.

Mortal Kombat 1 features the aforementioned Story Mode, Invasion Mode, online multiplayer (with rollback netcode), and an in-game store for microtransactions. Invasion mode is a brand-new addition to the series that is essentially a single player RPG-style board game / dungeon crawler featuring challenges, quests, and traditional Mortal Kombat 1 combat in-between. In this table-top manner, players will navigate a series of challenges and can unlock skins, in-game currency, concept art, and other rewards.

While the single player experience is far from being forgotten, I can't help but notice how the paid Easy Fatality feature is returning, which costs roughly $1 per 5 fatalities, which is an insane price for what could have been a free accessibility feature. It could have been like Street Fighter 6’s Dynamic Mode where complex moves are easier to perform, prioritizing fun over complexity.

In addition, another first time feature is a mechanic called Kameo Fighters, which are essential assist characters that are activated during combat, this is not similar to Tekken’s Tag mechanic, and only provides temporary assistance to the player without the ability to control them. These Kameo characters will be separate from the main roster, and chosen before each fight. While these mostly comprises classic looking characters like Sonya, there is a bit of overlap with Scorpion and Sub-Zero, which are also available in the main roster.

📈Performance

The performance is actually what hurt my experience the most, I consistently experienced occasional stutters, even with a decently specced system (i7-8700k, 32GB RAM, RTX 3080). Furthermore, the game only allows you to limit the frame rate up to 60FPS.

The transitions between cutscenes and combat are supposed to be seamless, but the induced stutters make it a very jarring experience that made it less impressive as it should have been.

In addition, in-game cutscenes, fatalities, and menus only run at a measly 30FPS, which is a disappointing move considering the same thing happened on Mortal Kombat 11’s release as well and were patched to 60fps post-release anyway. The in-game sequences transitioning to FMV cutscenes are supposed to be seamless too, but I can’t help but notice the low quality compression used for the videos, which again made the experience jarring.

⚖️Conclusion

Mortal Kombat 1 proudly embraces the elements that make Mortal Kombat great while injecting fresh perspectives and narratives. The diverse roster, engaging gameplay, and entertaining story make it a must-play for both longtime fans and newcomers. This game feels like the culmination of the developers' vision since the series' inception in the 90s, offering a visually stunning and highly entertaining experience. However, the unoptimized performance and some questionable monetization methods on top of an already expensive next-gen price of $70 leave much to be desired.

Mentioned games

Mortal Kombat™ 1

9.0

Fighting

Get

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