Mortal Kombat has always been a special fighting game franchise compared to its contemporaries. While never the most technical fighter compared to Street Fighter or Tekken, Mortal Kombat always made up for it with its unique fighters and lore. It was and remains a franchise that focuses on building its mythology, fleshing out its story and propping up a cast of diverse and interesting fighters. That’s part of why the franchise has remained such a hit for longtime fans and newcomers alike, whether they started in the Midway era or the NetherRealm era. After thirty years, however, NetherRealm is wiping the slate clean with Mortal Kombat 1, an intended reboot meant to give the studio more control over characters and events moving forward. With a new take on the franchise, is Mortal Kombat 1 a fresh start or is it doomed to repeat the mistakes of its forebarers?
Mortal Kombat 1 follows the events ofMortal Kombat 11: Aftermath. Fire God Liu Kang has remade time and ushered in a new era of peace. In this new timeline, he’s raised previous allies to prestigious positions and weakened former enemies like Shao and Shang Tsung. On the eve of his peaceful tournament with Outworld, however, a mysterious entity attempts to sow chaos by uplifting former villains. With his new era in jeopardy, Liu Kang must assemble a new team of familiar characters to thwart this deadly alliance.
While Mortal Kombat 1’s story is labeled a reboot, many familiar dynamics quickly emerge, just with slight twists. For example, Johnny Cage’s cockiness still causes him to butt heads with allies, but instead of Jax as per the other timeline, it’s with Kenshi this go around. Sub-Zero and Scorpion are now brothers instead of sworn enemies, Mileena and Kitana are actual sisters, Tanya isn’t treacherous, and so on. There’s even still a tournament, just not one where the fate of the realms hangs in the balance. It’s familiar territory, but the quality of the acting and decent writing (at least until the final chapters) help sell these characters and situations.
The story has a genuine sense of intrigue as it tackles familiar events while still trying to forge a new path. Characters like Bi-Han, Reptile, Ashrah and Baraka, who never got moments to shine during the previous eras, are given the opportunity here, though at the cost of other characters. While previous jobbers were lifted up in this story, it has also forced the likes of Rain, General Shao, Havik, Reiko and more into that title. Much of this is thanks to the archaic Chapter system that continues to penalize specific characters. While NetherRealm has attempted to refine and expand the Chapter system in previous games, they’ve done nothing with it in Mortal Kombat 1. It’s back to one character per chapter dictating what happens rather than the story and chapter dictating what characters should be playable.
Mortal Kombat 1’s greatest failure with its story is that despite being advertised as one, it’s not a reboot. Mortal Kombat 1 is more a sequel toMortal Kombat 11and is, in essence, Mortal Kombat 12. This is especially evident in the story’s final chapters when it stops pretending to be a reboot and takes a complete left turn into the absurd, where much of what was established in Mortal Kombat 1 is sidelined. While entertaining, the final quarter of Mortal Kombat 1 is ludicrous and will leave you puzzled about how NetherRealm will move the story forward. NetherRealm Studios has always struggled to follow through with their ideas (e.g., killing off the heroes and turning them into Revenants, Kombat Kids, Dark Raiden, etc.) and Mortal Kombat 1 comes off as them continuing to struggle.
Mortal Kombat 1’s story isn’t the refreshing reboot we all expected. The different takes, excellent acting, and at times, solid writing help make the campaign an entertaining take on a classic formula. It’s just unfortunate that the story drops everything it built up to be a sequel to Mortal Kombat 11 instead. It’s at least entertaining, but hopefully, the next game pulls back a bit.
Where Mortal Kombat 1 truly excels is in its gameplay, which in itself feels like a reboot. The game sheds much of the bloat thatMortal Kombat Xand 11 brought in their respective games. No more variations, no more split meter bars, no more meter burning mid-combo, no Krushing Blows and no more armor for Fatal Blows or breakaways, among other features. Regarding speed, the gameplay finds a comfortable medium between X and 11, providing enough speed not to allow zoners to control the meta but not so quick that rushers can take control. Mortal Kombat 1 is about as pure a fighting experience we’ve gotten since Mortal Kombat 2011.
That’s not to say Mortal Kombat 1 doesn’t introduce any new mechanics. Kameos, which are essentially a roster of tag-assist characters, can be called in during gameplay to assist in combat. Though simple on the surface, using Kameos tactically can help cover some of your playable fighter’s weaknesses. A character with a low defense could pull in Sub-Zero to place an ice shield on them, or one with no teleport could employ Kung Lao. While it would have been amazing to see the return of 2011’s tag team mode and the Kameo fighters as playable fighters, the Kameo system works well.
Speaking of playable fighters, Mortal Kombat 1 offers up the smallest roster (22) since the base version of Mortal Kombat 4 (17). Yet, it’s also the most diverse base roster since Mortal Kombat 2011, with a good mix of classic and obscure characters. While the game launches with many franchise staples, it also works hard to reinvigorate the franchise with old favorites from the 3D era. Li Mei, Tanya, Havik, Kenshi, Reiko, Ashrah and Nitara all return. The unfortunate downside is that Mortal Kombat 1 features no new fighters. The roster also feels incomplete, with Shang Tsung, a finished fighter with his own playable chapter in the story, being cut from the roster to be a pre-order bonus (he will be purchasable later). It’s a shameful practice that began with Mortal Kombat X that feels more shameful in Mortal Kombat 1, given Shang Tsung’s prominence in the campaign. Perhaps even more shameful is the fact that two of the planned DLC characters continuously show up in the campaign with partially-completed movesets. Mortal Kombat 1 has a good roster, but the lack of new characters and business decisions holds it back.
Outside the story mode lies the traditional tower modes, online and the new seasonal Invasions mode. A combination of Towers of Time and the Krypt from Mortal Kombat 11, Invasions is meant to be the main mode that keeps players engaged long after the credits roll. Presented like a board game, players travel across different nodes and realms by fighting enemies until it culminates in a major boss fight. Invasions is an overly time-consuming, grindy addition to Mortal Kombat 1 that is in every possible way slower to get through than Towers of Time. Simple actions like loading a menu, walking from node to node, and back-tracking all take too long. Meanwhile, outside of basic fights with the same enemies repeatedly, the only other activity is Test Your Might minigames. It’s okay for a little while, but the slow movement, repetitive fights (limited by the small roster) and a lack of personality within the mode make Invasions the weakest secondary mode Mortal Kombat has introduced in a while.
That slog extends to the progression system. There once was a time when new skins and other customizable items could be unlocked by exploring the Krypt, beating a tower or completing challenges, but now everything is tied to a form progression. Whether that’s leveling up a character, working your way through Invasions or spending Seasonal Kurrency, all cosmetics and even each character’s second Fatalities are linked to grinding, and it is a grind. The problem is that it can take hours to decently level up a single character, fourteen levels to be precise, if you want their second fatality. For a series that had always prided itself in players organically finding and unlocking all its secrets, Mortal Kombat 1 is the antithesis of earlier games.
Mortal Kombat 1, at its core, is the strongest mechanical foundation NetherRealm has built yet. By shedding the bloat the franchise had accumulated over the past few entries, the game delivers a stellar fighting system focused on the fights rather than who can utilize gimmicks the best. It’s just unfortunate that the additional content built around that gameplay isn’t as fun and engaging as it was in previous games. Online does at least work properly out of the gate, with players able to put their skills to the test against others and battle for supremacy in King of the Hill.
Finally, after numerous entries, Mortal Kombat 1 marks NetherRealm’s long-awaited transition from Unreal Engine 3 to Unreal 4, and it shows. The game looks and runs fantastic on current-gen platforms, with strong attention to detail in both its characters and environments. Stages are brought to life through impressive lighting techniques and texture work that make them pop and come to life. Meanwhile, extra attention to the character’s hair, clothing and facial animations helps sell the excellent performances from the actors. Even the animation work, long a sore spot, has seen substantial improvements, though some characters like General Shao still look a little stiff in action. For a first title on next-gen platforms using an updated engine, NetherRealm Studios has delivered a gorgeous game.
Closing Comments:
Mortal Kombat 1 was pitched as the start of a new era for Mortal Kombat, where NetherRealm Studios had complete freedom to craft the universe they wanted, mostly free from the previous two eras. In some ways, the studio has managed to get back to basics and deliver the best rendition of Mortal Kombat yet, but in others, they’ve second-guessed themselves and taken steps back. The story mode is thrilling and does a lot to establish characters that were previously forgotten or never got a chance to shine, and it even gives fan favorites a new lease on life. Much of that, however, is thrown away for an exhilarating yet absurd ending that repositions Mortal Kombat 1 as a sequel to Mortal Kombat 11 rather than a clean slate. In Mortal Kombat 1, we have the best iteration of the core fighting mechanics in years, but the extra content built around it is a grindy slog. The game presents a roster filled with classic characters and long-forgotten ones fans have clamored for for years, yet it feels compromised by the need to cut three characters to sell as DLC. Mortal Kombat 1 is a fun time teetering on the edge of greatness but held back by a lot of second-guessing and unnecessary grinding. Mortal Kombat 1 is a victory with most of its story, gameplay and presentation; it’s just nowhere near a flawless victory.
Mortal Kombat 1
Reviewed on PlayStation 5
