BinaryMessiah Mortal Kombat 1 Review

Here we are 30 years later, and the series has literally made a full circle. Mortal Kombat is my favorite video game series, and it was the first game I ever played as a toddler on the Sega Genesis back in 1992/93. While this game is technically a reboot, it's still a continuation of the overall timeline and a sequel to Mortal Kombat 11's story. You follow the cast of characters: Liu Kang and Kronika split time into multiple timelines. Liu Kang wanted to reset everything and create a timeline of peace, but somehow old enemies are returning, and he can't explain why. I don't want to spoil anything. Mortal Kombat still has the best story out of any fighting game to date, and this story is fantastic. There were a lot of twists and turns, and I was sad when it ended. The voice acting is fantastic, and many favorite characters return. Clearly, Ed Boon and his team were reminiscing about the later 3D games, from Deadly Alliance to Armageddon, because there are a lot of references and characters returning from that era. Nitara, Ashrah, Darius, Shujinko, Sareena, and Havik are among those returning. These characters were one-offs who never made it into any other game, and it's quite shocking to see these seemingly nobodies make a huge comeback. The only caveat is that they aren't all playable. More on that later. The story mode plays out the same as in MK9. You watch a cut scene, and it flows into a single fight. Not all characters are playable during the story, but you get rewards for every fight you win; more on the extra content later. I highly recommend completing the more advanced tutorials, followed by the challenges for learning specific characters. They have tweaked and refined the fight system to make it feel faster-paced and more reminiscent of the classic 2D Mortal Kombat games we all grew to love. Air combat has come back, and there is a higher emphasis on creating your own combos rather than relying on set combos already programmed into the game. There's a lot more freedom in the fighting system. Of course, there are more advanced systems in play, such as cancellations, interrupts, combo breakers, and the usual throws and final blows. The same tri-segmented special meter is back, allowing you to enhance your moves almost exclusively, just like before. After removing the shackles of pre-programmed combos that have been around since Deadly Alliance, you feel more in control, and the game is so crunchy, punchy, and fluid. The game's animations and controls are incredibly smooth, enabling even the most advanced players to cancel and interrupt as they please. Kameos is a new major gameplay feature. We had tag battles before in MK9, but these characters aren't playable. Kameos have replaced environmental interactions. You can no longer throw someone into the background or grab things. Your health bar now features a Kameo meter, which you can summon twice before it requires charging. You can combo in and out of Kameo summons, as well as hold down the button to use more advanced moves. Throws and fatal blows now bind Kameos. Most fatal blows only have one or two X-ray shots rather than the usual three. They still look cool and are one of the best features to ever make it into a fighting game. Mortal Kombat 1 is the first MK game in a very long time that actually lacks content. Gone are the multiple modes for replay value or experimental ideas. We only get a new Konquest-style mode that has you moving along a grid on various maps. Each tile has something on it, from a reward to a fight, but gaining Koins (there is only a single currency now) is a serious grind and feels worse than MK11's grind. Customizing characters is awesome, and the outfits here are much more varied than MK11's numerous pallet swaps. You can even personalize your Kameo fighters. Sadly, the new Konquest mode is sluggish, mostly boring, and resets with each new season. Yeah, MK1 has seasons now. Yikes. I sadly have to admit that this might be the beginning of the franchise's downfall. With a bigger emphasis on microtransactions (cosmetic only) and making the player grind into tedium for cosmetic items, the series is losing what made fans love it for so many years. The fight system itself is better than ever, with top-notch animations and a fantastic story mode, but this is short-lived. Online play increases replay value, but the costumes and unlocks are what MK fans love, and they're being turned into something to profit off of. Though stunning, the images don't quite erase the vinegary taste of greed.