Mortal Kombat X Review

September 13th 1993. A date I will always remember as "Mortal Monday". The original Mortal Kombat was one of my most anticipated games of all time and I looked forward to it's home console release more than anything in that era of gaming. The first 3 Mortal Kombat games on Sega Megadrive and Super Nintendo were excellent and got better with each new sequel. I was a huge fan of the series in those days, I've never been a huge beat em up fan but I'm definitely a Mortal Kombat fan. Though after the first 3 games which were some of my favourite games at the time the series started to dwindle. Subsequent sequels were good but they missed the same magic as the original trilogy. I didn't like Mortal Kombat Vs DC Universe's 3D fighting and preferred the classic 2D of the older games. I never played Mortal Kombat 9 so can't really compare to this new game but what I can say is Mortal Kombat X is the best Mortal Kombat I've ever played.

The first time I played it I was immediately transported back in time to Mortal Monday. The classic 2.5d gameplay captures the magic of the original trilogy perfectly. The series staple fatalities, where you get to kill your opponent at the end of the match by pressing a number of button combinations in ridiculously gory and hilarious ways, returns here and although they are quite disgusting to watch you cant help but laughing your head off at them as they are done in such a tongue in cheek way and Netherealm Studios is on top creative and comedic form here.

Mortal Kombat X also has a rather good story mode, something that is often missing or seems tacked on in other fighting games, and although it's as cheesy and nonsensical as a Saturday morning cartoon it is really enjoyable and adds some context to the one on fights. Story mode lasts about 5 hours and features you playing as different but predetermined characters so you can't play several different stories as several different characters, it only has one story to play through. A cut scene plays out which although some are quite lengthy they are peppered with QTE sections to keep you involved before the next fight begins. The story follows the daughter of Jonny Cage and Sonya Blade Cassie Cage, Jax Briggs' daughter Jaqui and a descedant of Kenshi as they battle the Netherealm forces to save the world...yada,yada,yada. With several cameos from other characters and section s playing as some of them. All in all I really enjoyed the story mode but the real meat and longevity of the game lies in the plethora of single and multiplayer modes on offer.

And there is a lot here. From standard one on one fights, fights with various modifiers in the Test Your Luck mode like bombs being fired from Cyborgs Smoke and Cyrax onto the arena at random, portals appearing for you to fall through giving your opponent an opening to "juggle" you with a combo, a force field turning the arena into close quarters combat, chances to land an instant fatality or brutality to win the match straight away and many more with combinations of modifiers decided at random hence Test Your Luck. The series signature Test Your Might mini-game also returns in MKX asking you to break different blocks with your fist by completing a mini-game. Classic towers are back too where you face a series of characters in order with a boss fight at the top. There is also 3 living towers which when connected online change to present new challenges every hour, every day and every week respectively.

Faction Wars is the game's online meta-game where you choose a faction when you first boot it up but can change later if you want. The best faction that week gets a in game reward like a XP boost, special avatar for their profile or even special fatalities. Each faction has 2 standard Faction Kills too which when performed earns more points for your faction. You also get challenges every day like X amount of wins as this character, don't take any damage and win, perform a fatality or other things like that.

The character roster is 25 strong at launch and contains series favourites like Sub Zero, Scorpion and Raiden as well as a number of new characters like Ferra Torr a colossal beast the size of Goro with a small midget on his back who has claws like Barracka (she looks like Barracka's Minime lol). Each character is very different and a lot of fun to use.

The Krypt, Mortal Kombat's long standing side game that you play to spend Koins earned in the main game to unlock more fatalities & brutalities for the characters, concept art, new match modifiers and more. The Krypt here is actually a really good game in itself and has enough depth to it it could have been released as a standalone downloadable game. It plays like a first person dungeon crawler with Metroidvania style of collecting new equipment to gain access to new areas previously inaccessible. The map is fairly large here and is broken down into 3 distinct areas you explore unlock tombstones for the aforementioned in game rewards, collecting equipment from various characters to gain access to new areas like Kung Lao's hat which I used to cut rope that was suspending a bridge to make it fall so I could cross a fire pit. You get attacked by enemies at random but combat is rather disappointing you just have to press one button in a quick time event to win, perhaps random enemy encounters could've been a single round fight of the main game against a random character instead of the same animation of a wolf, spider or zombie lunging at you over and over and pressing a single button quickly to beat them. The Krypt is a really good addition to the game and a lot of fun to explore but it is like the weak combat was an afterthought but still far far better than any version of The Krypt that has came before as many previous games it felt like a chore to go to The Krypt now I cant wait to get more Koins and have spent a lot of hours in The Krypt alone.

In conclusion then Mortal Kombat X is the best the series has been in years for me since Mortal Kombat 3 (or any of the Ultimate Mortal Kombat compilations that came out over the years) with classic 2D one on one fighting, fast & fluid action, gory, over the top and hilarious fatalities, a really good story mode, competitive faction wars, a huge number of fun match modifiers to keep the combat fresh, new challenges all the time thanks to the online Living Towers that is great for longevity to keep you interested and presents you with new things to do every time you boot it up. The Krypt is excellent and almost good enough to be a game in it's own right. I am not a beat em up fan but I'm definitely a Mortal Kombat fan but had fallen out of love with the series for a very long time...Im pleased to say that love is back and stronger than ever with Mortal Kombat X!

I give Mortal Kombat X a spine crunching, eye gouging 9/10

Reviewed by Martin McCurdie
Version tested Xbox One
Also available on PS4, PS3, 360 & PC

Nice review mate. Never been a fan of fighting games as I could never get the hang of them but with some good reviews and gameplay videos that I've seen on YouTube this game does look very good.

Yeah like I say in the review I'm not a beat em up fan don't really play a lot of them but I've always loved Mortal Kombat but last one I played to extent was Deception at the end of original Xbox gen. MK Vs DC the kids have and its 3D which isn't the same dome things are just better left in 2D. I was hyped for Mortal Kombat X after seeing previews and was not disappointed I love it! I even bought the official t-shirt from GAME and since my mate bought the game and I digital share it with him I was so impressed I bought the Kombat Pack season pass for 25 quid though I'll admit was a bit pricey and cheeky of them but for me its worth it because like I say my mate paid for the game (36.99 on CDkeys last time I checked Xbox One digital code)and I will be playing it fairly regularly for months so its worth the money.