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Mortal Kombat 11 is out now, and these games are notorious for being hard. I even remember spending days on the Mortal Kombat Trilogy Gold Edition many years back and getting incredibly frustrated. Personally, since Tekken died a miserable death, Mortal Kombat always offers the best fighting experience on the market. I was anxious about MK11 continuing to tighten its grasp.
After 20 minutes of tutorials and an hour of playing story mode, you’ll soon see just how polished this new entry is. Visually, I wasn’t sure if they were going to be able to improve much on Mortal Kombat X, but I was happy to ‘see’ just how good the game looked. Everything, from the steely gaze of Johnny Cage’s glasses to the shine of Scorpion’s mask or the slime of Baraka’s teeth look fantastic. The deeper you get into the story mode, the vast range of areas and backgrounds you will see. All of them kept surprising me with the extent of detail.
During the actual fights, the graphics stay true to the familiar MK feel. The characters dominate the foreground of the screen and aren’t drained out by the detail of the background. It is clear where the areas are that you can interact with the background and bring it into the foreground.
One thing I want to alert everyone to look at is the beauty of the life bars at the top. I don’t know why, but I just found myself loving the quality of crispness of their look. Maybe this was because I often had the game in easy, therefore my bar always looked a bit bigger than my opponents. Or maybe because it is one of those things which has always stayed consistent in the Mortal Kombat games – either way, I loved it.
The sound, like everything else in this game, was crisp and fluid. The biggest thing I missed was the character who used to shout “Poppy” in MK Trilogy for no apparent reason. The voicing for the characters sounds exactly how they look and don’t suffer from terrible syncing like previous release games I have played.
Mortal Kombat 11 offers a good variety of modes including the story mode, The Towers of Time, as well as training modes and the infamous online modes. I made sure I tested out all the modes and was taken aback with just how good the story mode was. It was clear that some serious time had passed in the MK series, but our familiar characters were still playing a big part.
It all starts off with Cassie Cage beating up her mum to ensure her place in higher ranks. Then things kick off with Raiden – he goes badass, gets the Cage family to come and join him and then, the Netherealm they enter. Then everything goes a little off-the-wall and Raiden shows off some cool tricks. Clearly, I don’t want to spoil the story mode, but it is around 9 hours long and consists of 12 chapters. I have expressed my pleasure with story modes which last this long. I spent a little time playing online and it is evident that there will be tournaments in which people are going to be able to grind. I just enjoyed playing a few friendly matches, but I was absolutely terrible and eventually gave up. Nonetheless, it was enjoyable and I can appreciate how people – who are much better than I am – will really enjoy it.
No matter how many modes it has, I couldn’t envisage ONLY spending my gaming time on Mortal Kombat. After a few fights, apart from the story mode, I found myself tiring from all the button bashing and thinking about something different to play.
I’ve read a number of complaints about people saying that you need to spend real money to get better characters etc. I didn’t get too involved with this but I can categorically state that the fighters you get are pretty cool and offer plenty of variation. I was given the premium edition to review which meant I was given Shao Kahn as whom who I enjoyed playing.
Overall, what you get with Mortal Kombat is a game which has clearly been released at the right time. It has been tried and tested and therefore is a pleasure to play. Even though you won’t find it being the only thing you want to play. It will be a game which you will keep on coming back to. It has a strong story mode and a number of other modes which you’ll enjoy.
In short, it’s a must-buy for any fighting fans but this should be played by all. The best MK since Mortal Kombat Trilogy!!!
Review code for the game supplied by Warner Bros.
Mortal Kombat 11 is out now on PS4, Xbox One, and PC, while the Nintendo Switch is released on May 10th.
Important info:
- Developer: NetherRealm Studios
- Publisher: Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
- Players: Single-player, multiplayer
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GRAPHICS SOUND GAMEPLAY ENJOYMENT |
9 8 9 9 |
| OVERALL | 9 |
I have been a video game player since 1993 and a music fan since I can remember. I studied Film and Journalism at university and ended up becoming a Primary School teacher. Video games changed my life and sent me on the right track and have stayed with me ever since.