The “Mortal Kombat” series will go down as one of my favorite gaming franchises ever featuring more guts, gore, and potential glory against both the tough-as-nails AI (mostly because of button-reading techniques) and real players locally & around the world online. “Mortal Kombat X” saw a release not long after gaming’s eighth generation began; resulting in a benchmark set by the game many others in the genre attempted to surpass including the presentation of a story mode. With the gameplay of “MK X” proving to be both revolutionary and incredibly fun, the want for “Mortal Kombat 11” after “Injustice 2’s” release in 2017 almost immediately began. Playing both beta offerings, the hype for “MK 11” was real; but there was a lot more to this entry in a two-decade-long series than simply fighting.
Did I Complete “Mortal Kombat 11”?
The problem with “finishing” a fighting game is completion comes with a personal goal (or goals) mostly associated with mastering a character to best anyone who faces that player’s character. Unlike the days of “Mortal Kombat 1-3”, “MK 11” features a variety of modes including the third full semi-cinematic Story Mode. Picking up where “Mortal Kombat X” left off, the player is given a chance to test out their skills while exploring the ever-expanding, time-ripped universe that has become something of a revolutionary concept in the fighting game genre. The mode lasts about six to seven hours and is a perfect starting point for players looking to test the depths of their potential skills with a variety of the fighters available (outside of the tutorial, of course).
For offline players, the Klassic Tower returns – a mode where the player can take one character and fight CPU-controlled opponents until reaching “11’s” main boss Kronika (her battle is epic in scale with odes to Shang Tsung & Brainiac from “Injustice 2”) and witness the character-driven ending starring the victor. There are also “Survivor” and “Endless” towers to really test your might. “Mortal Kombat X’s” “Living Towers” and “Injustice 2’s” “Multiverse” modes come together to form “Towers of Time” – a hybrid offline-online mode made for the single player experience. These “Towers of Time” change on an hourly, daily and weekly basis; giving the player something different almost every time they play be it stipulations such as taking on enemies while periodically being hit by poisonous missiles to character specific towers that can be as daunting as any challenge in any “Mortal Kombat” game to date mostly due to the randomized stage attacks (though the difficulty settings have been adjusted via a patch after many complaints from the players who were losing a third of health due to unblockable homing stage attacks). A new implementation to the Towers modes are “Konsumables” – items attained through various fights that can be assigned in Towers that will assist the player such as a run in by Cyrax or restoring a player’s character’s health. Depending on the Tower being played, these Konsumables can become a necessity if the player wants to win.
For those who are up to the task, “Mortal Kombat 11” gives players the option of combating others online. Instead of just having simple ranked one-on-one battles, “MK 11” allows players to start their own rooms/lobbies, fight with or without gear modifiers, and even brings back “King of the Hill” mode where the player must defeat the reigning champion and defend the figurative throne for as long as they can against a varying degree of player-controlled opponents with a loss resulting in having to start from the bottom all over again. Thankfully nine times out of ten the connection quality is superb online. “AI Battle” from “Injustice 2” makes its debut in an “MK” offering; allowing the player to take three logic-adjusted characters into battle with someone else’s team for up to five daily rewards no matter if the player’s team wins or loses.
Compared to “Mortal Kombat X” completing the various achievement/trophies is a lot easier this time around with the grind being mostly associated with completing a series of Towers hundreds of time (something helped when the player assigns the AI to do their work for them). The grind is on to finish 250 Towers and unlock as many items as possible in the massive Krypt after finishing the story, spending a copious amount of time playing online, and customizing Baraka.
Did “Mortal Kombat 11” Live Up to the Hype?
The core gameplay that has made the previous “Mortal Kombat” games so addicting returns here with some very interesting changes to help newcomers and keep veterans on their toes alike. Beyond the front & back kicks & punches, an uppercut that can send opponents sailing through the air, debilitating throws, combos aplenty, Fatalities & Brutalities (the “Mortal Kombat X” version in regards to Brutalities) are additions to the core mechanics including a modification to what used to be known as “X-Ray” maneuvers, “Fatal Blow” attacks. In previous “Mortal Kombat” games, “X-Ray” attacks could be used at the expense of a character’s ex-meter. “Fatal Blow” maneuvers are solely connected to the character’s life as it can be activated when the health bar reaches thirty percent. “Fatal Blow” attacks can also only be used once per fight and don’t have the same level of unblockable armor as “X-Rays”; meaning a player must be smart & plan accordingly if they want to pull off a “Fatal Blow” in the most effective way possible; adding an unexpected, yet wonderful change to the mental game of battle. Another new implementation is “Krushing Blows” – a shortened x-ray-centric attack that is usually triggered after a perfectly timed combo or counterattack that can crack an opponent’s skull, sternum or limbs once per round for massive damage. “Flawless Blocking” rewards a player who knows the animations of incoming attacks and blocks at the perfect time to create a larger window for a counterattack. Another modification is the ex-meters now becoming “Amplified”. With the “Amplify” meter taking up the bottom corners of the screen, characters can perform up to two enhanced versions of special attacks at a time thanks to the regenerating bar. Defensive measures such as wake-up attacks, rolls and even juggle combo breakers cost a bar on the defensive side of the “Amplify” meter; adding another nice bit of strategy to the overall gameplay not seen in previous “MK” offerings as things such as wake-up maneuvers could be used at any time a character was downed in “MK X”.
Returning from “Mortal Kombat X” is character style variations. The variations give each character several different special moves (though every character has a base set of moves that stay the same no matter the variation) and potential strategies that can prove effective and outright dangerous. Unlike previous “Mortal Kombat” games (and fighting games in general), the chance to find the character that works best for your play style might not come with the specific fighter, but the character’s style. I, for one, have never been a Baraka player, but Baraka’s “Restless Nomad” variation has him as one of my main characters that I’ll take through both offline and online competition at a moment’s notice.
Character variations tie nicely into the game’s expanded take on “Injustice 2’s” customization system that allows for not only clothing changes to any of the variations of any character, but also “Augmentations” (items forged in the Krypt or gained completing Towers of Time) that can boost strength, health, damage output and the like (offline only in regards to stats boosting) by adding them to the up-to-three-levels upgradeable gear (gear is upgraded via experience gained by completing fights). For those wanting to mix & match variations, “MK 11” offers customizable special move-sets to go alongside clothing changes with an open slot for that player-created character variation to be saved for latter action. Unfortunately gear & even character skin grinding through Krypt exploration & completing Towers of Time may turn off players as they just simply utilize what’s available and completely ignore the “Kustomization” option when things like elementally-based Augments cost too much to forge and actually forces the player to pay with “koins” to move said augmentations from one piece of gear to another.
The literal dungeon crawling mode known as “The Krypt” is a lot more time consuming than rewarding as a player goes through various areas making up Shang Tsung’ island from the original “Mortal Kombat” now riddled by a lack of upkeep; spending koins, orbs and/or hearts (all earned through in-game battles) to unlock various randomly-generated chests holding items including new fatalities or brutalities for characters as well as skins & gear. There are puzzles, a forge to potentially meld found items into Augments & even enemies like giant spiders. But The Krypt’s large nature mixed with a character that moves like it’s still the sixth generation experience while opening randomized chests & smashing vases with Shao Kahn’s hammer may be too repetitious to sustain long-lasting enjoyment. Towers of Time can prove to be the easiest way to attain gear, but difficulty spikes & potential settings limitations for the player’s character may result in a failed completion that rewards the player with nothing. There are micro-transactions in the game via “Time Krystals” – items that can be gained by leveling up the player’s “Kombat Kard” through constant fighting, completing certain things such as the lengthy tutorial, or spending real money – but these Krystals are only for cosmetic purposes like gear & character skins. “Easy Fatality” and “Skip Fight” tokens also return for purchases through actual money, but are nothing necessary to get through the game’s various modes.
With some changes both positive & negative, the stuff that matters most in regards to the actual gameplay makes “Mortal Kombat 11” well worth the wait while setting another high bar in this two-decade old series.
Should You Play “Mortal Kombat 11”?
Other than some of the choices in regards to Kustomization, Towers of Time & Krypt grinding (things players may not even care about in the long run as it doesn’t affect multiplayer), this is the epitome of everything that’s great about a “Mortal Kombat” game. The battles are always exhilarating, topped off by sickening Fatalities or impressively timed Brutalities. Story Mode continues NetherRealm Studio’s streak of fun narrative presentations. The online offerings are plentiful yet again. Fighting game & “Mortal Kombat” fans alike will be eating this up like so much brain during a Tarkatan feast.
