The original Mortal Kombat (1992) was a big deal. Not because it was a great fighting game, but because it used digitized actors and included some extremely edgy gore. When it came to consoles a year later, it was the sort of thing that an eleven year old boy would adore. And so yeah, I played it a lot. Mortal Kombat II (1993) was much improved upon its predecessor. And unlike the first game, I'd say the sequel was a genuinely good fighting game. Great, maybe. I picked up Mortal Kombat 3 (1995) sometime after it Playstation, though I can't say it really blew me away beyond the technical prowess of the new hardware. And then I kind of stopped paying close attention to the series.
I think Mortal Kombat 4 (1997) was still rather successful, but most gamers probably stopped paying attention after that. There were too many middling entries in the PS2 days. I did actually grab Mortal Kombat Vs DC Universe (2008), mostly because the crossover was interesting, but I didn't love the shift to 3D, personally. And then finally Mortal Kombat "9" was released in 2011. And the whole outlook on the series changed. MK9 was a soft reboot, going by the extremely original title of "Mortal Kombat." With that, it shifted back to a classic 2D view and kind of remembered what made those early games so compelling: simpler gameplay and buckets of blood. I don't know if MK9 was a hail Mary for Nether Realm, but it definitely worked. Because all these years later, Mortal Kombat (and Injustice) are viable series once again. Mortal Kombat X was released in 2015 for the PS4 and one-upped everything that made MK9 so cool. Yes, it feels like a classic Mortal Kombat game but one with much improved visuals. Oh, and some very solid controls. For me, the one thing that the modern MK games do right is a story mode. Like, Mortal Kombat X was released in 2015, but the story is just so dumb and over the top it may as well be a lost 90s VHS b-movie. And I'm fine with that. I don't even care about the story in a game like this, but the fact that it exists and is beyond stupid just kind of makes it endearing. The roster here is quite large. And most of your favorite MK fighters are present. No Baraka is kind of a bummer for me. But I've got Sub-Zero, Scorpion, Reptile and Kitana, so that's good stuff. And I like the addition of Cassie Cage, personally. But the guest fighters are also very worth mentioning. Released as DLC or in the eventual Mortal Kombat XL re-release, Nether Realm went all-in on horror this time around. Whereas MK9 had Freddy Krueger, MKX doubled-down. And honestly, these crossovers probably make more sense than the Mortal Kombat Vs DC Universe and Injustice route, WB license notwithstanding. Overlapping Mortal Kombat with horror movies just blends nicely. Alien - Alright so yeah, its name is "Alien," I guess. I'd think you'd name it Xenomorph, but what do I know? Maybe I'm being too picky, since Alien (slash-Predator-slash-Blade-Runner) is my favorite movie franchise of all time. But the model doesn't look quite right to me. The head is, well, not long enough. (I'm trying not to make any phallic jokes here). But Alien plays fast and well overall. I'm just terrible with Alien. I like the tail as a weapon thing, though. And I like the acid. Jason Voorhees - Easily my favorite fighter of the DLC characters. And honestly, probably my favorite fighter of the entire game. Jason is awesome. He moves fast, and he has such range with his machete. His fatalities are pretty great, too. Predator - Not quite as good as Jason, but close. He actually seems somewhat complex to use, especially dependent on which moveset you want to use. Predator is awesome. Have you seen Prey yet? You should. Leather Face - Honestly, my least favorite of the DLC characters. His chainsaw is a great weapon, but he's just a little too lumbering for my playstyle. So what else can I say? This is a full featured game. If you're a fan of the MK series in any capacity, you'll like this one. It's honestly better than MK9, and a toss-up with MK11. This one feels grittier with the all the horror fighters added in. The story is stupid and worth playing. Especially if you care about MK lore (I don't). There's plenty of modes to keep you busy as well. As I write this in 2023, another reboot has been released as Mortal Kombat 1 (seriously) and yet I can still find reason to play this game. I have to hand it to Nether Realms. I mean, the series went so stagnant through the 2000s, and yet they've rolled out four new mainline games and two Injustice games, and they've all been solid and worth checking out. So yeah. Mortal Kombat was huge in the 90s but mostly due to its notoriety. But here we are in the 2020s and these games are actually... good.
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