How does the next Mortal Kombat look? “Flawless Victory!” That needs to be read in the MK announcer voice, by the way.
I was recently invited into New York City to check out the next installment in the Mortal Kombat franchise, Mortal Kombat X. From what was shown, the game won’t disappoint and any fan of the franchise will enjoy it. There’s a lot to cover so without further delay, “select your fighter!”
Each character in the game will have 3 different variations that will fight differently and play differently. This is a great way for players to customize their favorite fighter and helps newcomers to the series compete with veterans. Fighters, like Scorpion, will always have the spear special attack different variations will have different moves, such as weapon attacks or special moves. I think a good comparison is to the Amiibo customization in Super Smash Brothers For Wii U where players can play as their favorite fighter and as their favorite fighting style.
The Living Towers, online single player mode, is an online mode that will be modified everyday by NetherRealm Studios. There are different challenge modes that the player will come across, like fighting in an upside down battle or fighting without a head to prevent head shots. You’ll be able to gain XP and different rewards while you play and the rewards could range from all kinds of stuff, like different character skins as an example. There will be different towers such as the daily or weekly tower to the promotional tower, which will be saved for special events. It allows for more interesting ways to fight as well as new challenges so the gameplay doesn’t get that “stale” feeling to it.
Another online mode is the “Factions” mode where everyone can play. Right off the bat, you’ll have to join one of the 5 factions and then start playing. Everything that you do in the Factions mode will go toward the cause/total of the Faction. The “Faction War” is a weekly event where highest total wins. If you’re part of the winning faction, you’ll get all kinds of special rewards that range from Faction specific skins or attacks/finishing moves to player badges. This mode is an all out war and what I mean is everyone playing the game is fighting for the Faction. It doesn’t matter what platform you’re playing or where you’re playing. All the work for the Faction goes toward the totals of the Faction.
NetherRealm Studios wanted to show off how the story mode for Mortal Kombat X works and plays as well as announce more details pertaining to the mobile game that will play along side the console game. The story mode starts two years after the events of Mortal Kombat 9 and will go twenty-five years into the future. Mortal Kombat X shows how the franchise will go into the next generation. Story mode tells the tale of the descendants of past MK heroes. Cassie Cage is the daughter of Johnny Cage and Sonya, Jaqui Briggs is the daughter of Jax, Takeda is the son of Kenshi and protégé of Scorpion, and Kung Jin is the cousin of Kung Lao and Liu Kang. Mortal Kombat X will show the tension between the old school and the next generation of fighters.
The story plays out in chapters where the player will have different actions to perform and different fights to complete. Early on the story mode sets the mood for the rest of the game. What I mean is the game needs to tell you why the next generation is needed in the first place and what has happened to the classic characters.
Story mode will test player reaction as well as their fighting styles. There could be a time where the player has to fight off Scorpion or land a helicopter by pushing different controls. At the same time, the player will have to fight different Kombatants as the story progresses. The playable chapter showed off Johnny Cage and his fighting style as well as his interaction with Sonya. The game has been written very well as it captures the mood perfectly. Johnny Cage is a smart ass and his dialogue shows that.
Controls for fighting are pretty straight forward for a fighting game. Vets of Mortal Kombat will be right at home and newcomers will feel the same way in that it’s easy to play but difficult to master. Combo attacks are easy to implement and fun to watch in action. The X-ray special attacks and the environmental interaction attacks look fantastic. The environmental interaction attacks make sense for the area. An example has Johnny Cage fighting in the woods/graveyard and grabbing a tree branch and swinging it. Fighting games sometimes have trouble making environmental interaction realistic but MK-X doesn’t have this problem.
More information was revealed about the mobile Mortal Kombat game as well. I’m not really into mobile games but I was having trouble putting this down, it was that addictive. Controls are easy which is always a good thing. Players will tap the screen to perform basic attacks and different forms of swiping will perform different attacks/blocks. The game is a combination between fighting and a collection/strategy game where you collect as many fighters as you can and then fight in 3 on 3 battles. The x-ray attacks and the fatalities look fantastic. You could forget that this is a mobile game since the graphics look amazing. Mortal Kombat on mobile should push what a mobile game should look like! It launches in early April so be on the look out for it as well as the console release on April 14th.
To recap, I would like to thank Kehau Rodenhurst of Warner Brothers Interactive and Brian Goodman of NetherRealm Studios to take the time out of their schedules to show off just how good Mortal Kombat X will be. Fans and newcomers of the franchise will be pleased with what they get to play in a few shorts weeks. Everyone who owns a tablet should give the mobile game a look!
Kung Lao all day, every day! I can’t end a Mortal Kombat article without talking about my all-time favorite fighter, Kung Lao!
