Mortal Kombat X preview – is it more than just gore?

While the debate about violence in video games tediously rumbles on, Mortal Kombat merrily continues with its incredibly over-the-top Fatalities and X-Ray moves. The series has become synonymous with brutality, throwing more blood around than a vampire’s house party. It seeks this association, of course: sometimes to the detriment of its other accomplishments. Mortal Kombat is a great fighting series because it’s as ridiculous as it is rewarding and, somewhat, complex. Its mercilessly over-the-top antics are tied down by solid mechanics. After spending some time with Mortal Kombat X, I can say NetherRealm has remained true to form, meaning I must know what I’m doing in order to throw a sweet old lady from the crowd into my opponent, leaving her a bloody mess on the ground.

Mortal Kombat arguably sits between Smash Bros.’ welcoming embrace for newbies and Street Fighter’s high-level frame-counting. But such a view masks what is a surprisingly deep set of mechanics, which has been expanded upon further in X with the return of the multi-discipline system. Fighters can again select from three fighting styles (only before the bout this time around), each adding different moves to their repertoire. In-game, in the crudest terms it means that most styles boil down to select archetypes; such as trap, rush-and-attack and range.

Having only had a few hours with the game, the variety of fighting styles impacted more on my own play style than considering my opponents’ choices. After initially settling on the more rush-and-attack combat techniques of my preferred fighters, it didn’t take long before I upgraded from button-mashing to more considered attacks for higher combos.

Every match moves surprisingly quickly. Even larger characters like Ferra/Torr and Kotal Kahn can zip around the screen to the point where keeping up with the action in the early going is a tough ask. But once again, it’s not too long before you’re able to follow the fight and actually have an influence on events.

The lack of quarter or half circle inputs in Mortal Kombat means it’s easy for new players to string moves together early, before reverse engineering them to understand what the hell we’re actually doing. MKX brings across Injustice’s interactive environments, with fighters able to use obstacles to jump out of corners, vines to swing-kick, or should you find yourself kicking off around the Outworld Marketplace, throw the aforementioned innocent bystanders into the mix.

X-Ray moves are gorier than ever. A quick press of both triggers will see characters slice, dice and crotch-punch fighters in glorious, sickening detail. The improved visuals made some moments too grisly to watch first time around. However, with the momentum bars which power these attacks filling up relatively quickly, X-Ray strikes happened at least a couple of times in each match, numbing me relatively quickly, though they never reduce the act to tedium. It was always entertaining to see Quan-Chi smash Scorpion’s skull between two of his own, or Ferra and Torr work in unison to deal horrendous pain to whomever they faced.

Unfortunately, the inputs for Fatalities were not in the command list in this build (they were listed as ‘Coming Soon’, a horrendous tease), so I can’t comment on the Fatalities at this point. Boo.

After being wowed by the reveal trailer, which used no in-game footage, I was worried that the real thing would never be able to match that debut. And while it’s obviously not on the same level, in real-time the character models flow between animations smoothly, and the character detail is excellent, even if sometimes NetherRealm appears overawed by its own effects. For example, during the victory close-ups, you can see beads of sweat on fighters, including Scorpion, a fighter who resides in the fiery depths of hell. If someone who spends their time strolling through Satan’s conservatory requires Right Guard (other deodorants are available), then there’s a problem. Now, of course, pointing out gaps in logic in Mortal Kombat is the equivalent of commenting on the lack of superlative acting in Hollyoaks, but it still.

Another minor issue is that the game’s inhuman characters look better than their earthly counterparts. Character’s like Ferra or D’Vorah have a much greater look than, say, Kung Lao, especially in facial detail.

Faces (and the battering thereof) aside, MKX expands upon MK9’s Challenge Towers with ‘Living Towers’. Players work their way up the Tower for a hi-score, but each level has a different stage modifier. Some will see Cyrax bombs fly in, which can send combatants high into the air, vulnerable to combos. While these modifiers are fun in theory, they remain incongruous to a score-chasing mode.

The variability of the modifiers’ inclusion, frequency and intensity means that your score remains pretty isolated and incomparable to a friend. It’s very easy to compare lap times with others in driving games, but when I’ve been hit by Cyrax bombs out of view of the camera, or killed by a random earthquake, and not my opponent, it nullifies the purpose. That said, if you approach the mode with the simple aim of completing the Tower, it is definitely a welcome addition.

As is Cassie, the daughter of Johnny Cage and Sonya Blade. She embodies the former’s crudeness and general arseholery while wielding her mother’s military weaponry and training. Fan service it may be, but if ever there’s been a franchise for it, it’s this one.

NetherRealm also announced Faction War, a new mode where players can join one of five clans (Lin Kuei, White Lotus, Brotherhood of Shadow, Special Forces and Black Dragon) and earn points by completing select challenges. These clans, and the challenges, are platform agnostic, meaning players on all platforms can help accrue points for their team to get ahead of the other Factions. Naturally, as it’s an online-focused mode, we didn’t get the chance to see the full thing at the event.

So, it’s Mortal Kombat then, and I enjoyed my time with it. Apart from the moment when, just as I was getting set to leave, bitterly disappointed at failing to see a single Fatality, we were informed that, actually, this early code allows all Fatalities to be performed by simply pressing down, down, square. A tidbit of information I wish we were told at the beginning of the day. Now I don’t feel so bad about killing that poor old lady a dozen times over the course of the afternoon.