With the arrival of a new Mortal Kombat game comes the legions of dedicated fans, some of whom have been with the fighter franchise since its debut almost 25 years ago. Now it's gone through some incredible evolutions, and though it's not without its critics for the high level of violence and gore shown to those playing, it's a solid and legendary video game that will surely live on for decades to come.
And so this month we have the addition of Mortal Kombat X to the gaming library. Some of our favourites are back on the roster, and impressively we've also seen a huge amount of new additions making their way into the fighting pits - a select few even with genetic ties to Kombatants we've all grown to love.
Single player sees a three to four hour story mode embed you right within the action, asking you to perform simple button presses whilst the films play on-screen so that you're included in what comes across as a huge blockbuster movie. There are of course the proper fights that see you spar it out against the computer opponent with the first to take two rounds being victorious, with graphics so gorgeous that the game takes on a whole new life that's never been seen before.
Story mode allows our characters to go deeper than they've been in the past, showing the connection between parents and their offspring and contrasting that against the blood-fuelled feuds that catapult the game into places that have until this point been left untouched.
Towers are back and there's a whole lot of content for players to get involved with, most noticeably now online. When you first play Mortal Kombat X, you're asked to choose one of five factions which you'll be representing during your online experience.
There are the Special Forces, White Lotus, Brotherhood of Shadow, Lin Kuei and Black Dragon, each with their own representatives from the Mortal Kombat world. Lin Kuei are currently coming out on top, with Special Forces lagging at the bottom of the pack, and whilst it's brilliant feeling a part of a group of millions of players online, it's clear here that the faction with the most members - Lin Kuei - is going to constantly win each week's war. Mechanics here need to be played around with so that numbers are less of an advantage, perhaps with a percentage instead deciding just who comes out on top.
When playing online there is an array of exciting modes to choose from, whether that's King of the Hill where you can watch one another before having your chance of going up against the current 'King', or a private match with friends, there's something here for everybody to enjoy. Unfortunately there are some teething problems. A group of three of us went to play the Team Battle 3 versus 3, and after around 20 times of trying to get the mode to work, gave up after only playing the Round Robin mode twice.
With three styles of Kombat for each Kombatant available, there's more to master than ever before and you'll find yourself plugging hours into training so that you have that advantage when you do go online and go up against that annoying camper who shoots bullets, arrows or explosive balls in your direction.
In-game marketing is a little excessive. Every time you highlight Goro you're told to "push X to buy Goro", and you can now spend your cash on tokens that allow you to perform easy two-button Fatalaties and even skip fights in both story mode and tower battles.
Overall I'm happier with Mortal Kombat X than I thought I would be. I'd like the online experience to be a smoother one so that friends and I can go on and have a faultless couple of hours quite literally ripping each other apart, but with that aside there's a lot of quality here. NetherRealm Studios should be more than happy with what they've accomplished, with a game that's to become a staple in any fighting genre fan's collection.
Tagged in Mortal Kombat