Mortal Kombat 11 (Video Game Review)

Mortal Kombat is one of those old series which we have never properly discussed on here. It's venerated, and in terms of story and setting, it's perhaps the best out of all the classic era fighters. That and it arguably has the best film adaptation of a video game to date. However, of late the series changed for the better. 9 saw a near total reset of the timeline and reworking things to a new dynamic, while 10 followed up by showing how the world would develop following so many new changes. Now, 11 is set to deal with the repercussions of those actions and change things once again.

The Synopsis:

In the wake of Shinnok's defeat, Raiden has become corrupted. Ruthless and notably paranoid, he regards all other realms as being possible threats to Earthrealm. Yet even as he and a number of his champions launch an attack on a possible enemy, a far greater threat looms on the horizon. Kronika,  Keeper of Time, Architect of the Destiny of the Universe and mother to Shinnok is working to "correct" the alterations Raiden made to bring about this new timeline. As the past and present fragments with old and new incarnations of characters co-existing alongside one another, a terrifying war for the future erupts across Outworld.

The Good:

NetherRealm has, by this point, cemented its status as the champion of fighters with campaign storylines. Having long since eclipsed Tekken in this regard, no other series has yet matched them in terms of cinematic quality and design choices. While, admittedly, Injustice 2, unfortunately, featured a few poor decisions, the developers clearly learned from that game's mistakes. 

The campaign here is honestly worth the price of purchase alone, as it does a fantastic job of raising the stakes in a surprising way after the defeat of a renegade Elder God and performing some very welcome twists to the story. Even in its early 2000s style camp moments, it still features solid character arcs for a number of key figures, and interactions fans had been hoping to see for years. Furthermore, a few developments could even be seen as an apology for 10 skipping out on a number of major alterations to the setting and only referring to them in passing.

Honestly, there's little that could be said about the story besides "It's brilliant" and even an ending which alters much of the established elements of the game is engaging. It's one of those ones which has been done for obvious reasons and, to a degree, wipes the slate clean once more, but it doesn't render the events which took place as meaningless by any standard. Well, there is one caveat to this, but we will get to that in the next section.

Many of you will likely be asking just what can be expected of the fighting mechanics, and again it's AAA quality. Actual AAA quality, not EA AAA quality. Mortal Kombat 11 comes with the range of fighters that the series is renowned for, and each immediately feels truly different to the others. While previously there was an element of crossover from one combatant (sorry, kombatant) to the next, here you can quickly see very clear distinctions between the leading fighters. Even if you're just throwing punches, no two come across as the same, from the impact of their hits to the way in which attacks are chained together.

The feedback of the game is remarkable, and the series has hit a very effective, but very difficult, the balance between speed and feedback. If a fighter is too slow it can seem unsatisfying, but if it's too fast then it lacks the punch to make your blows feel truly impactful. In this one, there are constant opportunities for very quick and very easy brief combos, which helps to break up the fighting and offer pauses for more damage. Even when you're button bashing, so many are easy to intentionally and unintentionally pull off that it offers an incredible level of visual satisfaction. This also helps to encourage people to do more than simply spam basic moves, and keeps the fights varied.

The environments also assist with the sheer quality of the fights in question. The visuals are as varied, engaging and fascinating as you would hope, but then there are all the extras featured in them. While 10 certainly threw in no shortage of means to change up fights, from using the terrain to gain a brief advantage in terms of agility to smashing someone through them, 11 re-writes the rules on how to do this. There are stages that I simply kept going back to in order to find new things to abuse, make use of or experiment with, from opening up new areas in them to inflicting environmental damage on others. Even in quick play you can keep finding new things to keep yourself amused with, which vastly enhances the replay value of an already very engaging game.

Then, atop of this, you have the bonuses as well. The Krypt is always one of those bonuses which have been very welcome but rarely received all that much focus, but here there has been a massive effort to improve and enhance it. The presentation of each area, and Shang Tsung's commentary (voiced by Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa himself!) adds a sense of atmosphere to many of the secrets you bump into. This ranges from amusing distractions which are effectively easter eggs, to the fates of several characters noticeably absent from the game.

The Bad

The negative elements here are fairly simple, and there is only one major detractor which seriously causes problems for Mortal Kombat 11. However, no flaw can ever be fully ignored, and it would be wrong to simply gloss over the minor errors to emphasize the big one.

In terms of storytelling, a noted issue here is that there's a big focus on the familiar faces above all else. While 10 had a few flaws, one welcome change was how it shifted things about to better emphasize the new generation of fighters, or incarnations of old figures. That and a few popular background individuals who had long since deserved more screen time. Some of that is sadly lost here as, for one reason or another, much of the tale is slimmed down to more prominently concentrate upon the core few from the original game. 

Some of the newcomers do get good moments, even a few great ones, but they are sadly either gradually pushed aside or, in one case, altered to better resemble their most famous versions. It's only the fact that the story is so well told, and manages to make use of a few of these developments, which truly offsets some of the wasted potential here.

Another definite problem is that, as fast as certain combos are, some are still ripe for abuse. It's not nearly to the level of Kung Lao in 9, but you are definitely going to see two fighters repeatedly showing up again and again in multiplayer. I'm not going to list who - just to avoid making it any easier for metagamers - but by the time you reach them in the campaign you will likely be able to pick out who this is. It's unfortunate that after two games the developers are still struggling with this, but no fighting game ever seems to wholly escape this issue.

So, let's move onto the big one shall we? The microtransactions system is pretty bloody obscene. 

For starters, the sheer grind involved in unlocking cosmetics is utterly ridiculous. You can unlock cruisers in World of Warships faster than you can get basic details through this system, and it the rewards are simply too low. Unless you are willing to drop a couple of hundred hours into grabbing the general basics, the chance are that you'll never see most of the more interesting ones which are worth grabbing. Still, even without this problem, the game's premium shop is incredibly highly priced, with character skins frequently reaching $7.50 or more for basic reworks. Given that there's sixty of these damn things, that's going to cost an arm and a leg to fully unlock each design, even without getting into other elements like minor gear pieces or equipment.

Atop of the grind factor and high pricing, the shop also limits itself to only a few items at a time. Only five cosmetic items show up every eight or so hours, with no way to access the exact one that you want. So, if you're after a new hat for Raiden or set of shades for Johnny Cag, you need to grind out the very long and tedious in-game currency and then wait until what you want shows up. Or you can break out your credit card.

This isn't the scummiest system ever to force people to part with cash, but it's definitely up there.

The Verdict

Mortal Kombat 11 should easily have earned a near-perfect score on this system. The fighting is better than ever, the story is engaging despite a few minor flaws, and left me wanting to see what came next. Many characters featured great moments with clear narrative arcs, while the extras were brilliant. Most of all, it kept me guessing just what was going to happen next while hooked on the edge of my seat. Even the much criticised ending to Jax's tournament play made far more sense in context, once I had finished the campaign, and it was the sort of decision almost anyone would make in his position.

However, the microtransactions and poor business decisions which harm this came cannot be overlooked. NetherRealm has announced that they are working to fix the grindy elements at the very least, and the fact that they immediately stated that they would do so even without a Battlefront II level PR nightmare suggests that it might have been a genuine mistake on their part. Until that happens though, the score will reflect the current state of the game. I will raise this number to reflect improvements at a later date, but for the moment it's the one damning flaw in what should have been one of 2019's best games.

Verdict: 7.5 out of 10