Reviewed on Xbox One X Since the series first upset parents and politicians back in the nineties, Mortal Kombat has always been a franchise that grew from excess. Excessive violence pillared the series’ original release and has ever since, but the truly excessive aspect of modern Mortal Kombat has always been its excessive amounts of…
Reviewed on Xbox One X
Since the series first upset parents and politicians back in the nineties, Mortal Kombat has always been a franchise that grew from excess. Excessive violence pillared the series’ original release and has ever since, but the truly excessive aspect of modern Mortal Kombat has always been its excessive amounts of content.
Ever since the PS2 era, which saw Midway chuck literally everything they could into a Mortal Kombat mixing pot, each new game in the iconic series has been designed to last. With extra modes like Puzzle Kombat in Deception or Motor Kombat in Armageddon, MK is a franchise that will always make sure you can justify your purchase. Mortal Kombat 11 doesn’t delve back into the draw-from-a-hat style modes of the PS2-era predecessors, but it does include a staggering amount of content (or kontent) for players to sink their teeth into.
Most impressive is the game’s cinematic story mode, a series staple since the start of PS2. Those who have played any of developer NetherRealm Studios’ games will find that MK11 doesn’t deviate even slightly from the formula already set. Chapter-by-chapter, you’ll be placed in the shoes of a different character (or pair) as they fight a series of enemies linked together by narrative. This has always been the draw of NetherRealm’s games, alongside their fantastic fighting engine, and this time they’ve really outdone themselves.
Mortal Kombat 11’s narrative may not be as long as 9’s or feature QTE interactions like X’s, but out of all of the MK story modes, it feels the most polished. Taking place after the events of X, we’re introduced to a brand-new villain in the Kombat mythos—Kronika. Not just the first female villain in the entire franchise, Kronika is a time-manipulating badass who has had more of an influence over prior events than you’d suspect.
The gist of the story is that Raiden’s constant meddling with time has caused everything to become unbalanced and wrong. As the keeper of time, Kronika wants to return everything to her perfect timeline and perform a complete timeline reset. For reasons not quite explained, this also causes the classic (or klassic) iterations of characters to come forward from the nineties and interact with the present.
This leads to a lot of interesting interactions, especially with the opponent-specific snarky comments that prelude each fight. Nineties Johnny Cage and modern-dad Johnny Cage can’t seem to get along. Modern Scorpion, who is now friends with Sub-Zero, is seen as a traitor by his younger self. Characters that are dead in the present learn of their demise with Kung Lao and Liu Kang not knowing whether or not to trust their master Raiden after this revelation.
