Mortal Kombat has come a long way from seven characters. Being released in 1992 meant participating in the controversy surrounding video games that feature a prominent amount of blood, gore, and violence. This eventually led to the creation of the ESRB rating system that we know today. Thirty-one years later, Netherrealm Studios released its twelfth main installment and soft reboot titled “Mortal Kombat 1.” With a fun and campy story that relates to its previous 2019 release, a strong roster of twenty-two well designed characters, fantastic visuals, and an engaging post-story single-player mode, Mortal Kombat 1 serves as a strong release for the franchise.
Every Mortal Kombat has had some sort of story. This eventually led to each game having a full narrative in place with a few reboots throughout the series. This twist of Mortal Kombat 1 is that while they are rebooting the story again, they’re doing it from the perspective of the previous game’s entry. With Liu Kang being given the power to restart the timeline, he has taken special care to fashion a universe in which peace and prosperity may endure. Liu Kang’s vision of the universe is remarkably different from the previous timelines as certain historically problematic characters were set upon paths designed to make sure they never gained any sort of power. This quickly derails when a mysterious figure, who knows of the previous timelines, interferes with Liu Kang’s vision. The narrative quickly unfolds as Liu Kang brings Earthrealm’s greatest champions to Outworld for the centennial Mortal Kombat tournament. The story is very lighthearted despite the threats that our heroes face. Mortal Kombat hasn’t taken itself incredibly seriously in a long time (if ever) and this game is no exception. I found the comedic moments to be well placed throughout the story and I enjoyed the dynamics between each of the characters. The story paces well through the first two acts and then picks up speed at an almost jarring rate. The stakes increase dramatically once the main villain is revealed and the implications of his plot come to light. Fortunately, we have a great cast of characters that band together to stop him.
There is a stark difference between the original cast of characters and the modern cast. The differences between the original character’s abilities are also vastly different. While most characters retain characteristics from the classics, Netherrealm Studios has done an excellent job translating those into a fresh modern experience. For example, Raiden’s “Flying Thunder God” attack has more balance now that it behaves more like a tackle with limited range. Johnny Cage’s “split punch” has come a long way from a straight-arm punch to the groin. The attack itself is not any more or less than what it has always been but the flair is still there. The spirit of each fighter remains the same as ever and it encourages me to learn how to play every character. The story mode serves as a good tutorial for a little more than half of the roster and gives you a decent amount of time to learn how each character plays. I feel like most characters were given an adequate amount of time to be experienced, but I also felt rushed to learn quickly. I tackled this by focusing on a couple of special moves and trying to combine them with a couple of basic combos. The overall design of the game lends itself to an authentic experience.
With character design being one of the most important aspects of an arcade-style fighting game, it only makes sense that much attention has been given to the character roster and the “Kameo” characters. Since these characters are going to be on your screen for the entire duration of gameplay, they have to be top-notch. Mortal Kombat 1 more than delivers on their characters. Each character is depicted in astonishing detail. The animations of their moves and how they connect make for a visually appealing experience. Characters that can change form do so swiftly and smoothly. The various special effects for each attack are rich in detail. The acid that comes from Reptile’s attacks looks natural and the lightning that comes from Raiden looks real. Even the more supernatural elements of Liu Kang’s cosmic flames come out so crisp that I couldn’t imagine it looking better. Each character’s costume is done with such fine attention that this is the most visually appealing game of the series. The less magical characters like Baraka and Johnny Cage have moves that work just as well as the flashy moves that other characters feature. The alternate appearances for each of the characters are done just as well. No attack looks bad, and this certainly applies to the famous fatality/brutality feature.
One of Mortal Kombat’s longest-standing traditions is the ability to finish off opponents in manners that are both spectacular and gruesome. These are aptly called “fatalities” and brutalities.” No series has ever made me feel so disgustingly thrilled to witness the physical destruction of an opponent’s body. With significantly enhanced graphics, this is even more apparent. Each character has unique finishers and they are all abhorrent and yet you can’t get enough of it. The game also features a mechanic where if you are low on health, you can execute a team-up attack with your Kameo character called a “Fatal Blow.” These moves aren’t quite as grotesque as the finishers but they do feature X-ray close-ups of the big hits. This feature is a bit over the top because realistically these moves would kill their victims despite how often an opponent survives the attack. It’s forgivable because it’s exactly what fans have come to appreciate out of the series. Watching the skin fly off of a character’s face as they are swung at high speeds or seeing characters bisected by their body parts is exactly what you expect from these horrendous attacks and finishers. It doesn’t make it any less disgusting but it couldn’t be featured any better. I have found that when playing the same character for a while, using the fatalities every time can get boring which results in me choosing not to use them sometimes. This is only a mild criticism that I have as this is easily remedied by changing up which character I’m playing. This is easily done in every mode that you can perform a fatality in so nobody should ever feel discouraged from changing it up. I have a few characters that I enjoy playing with so I can avoid having this issue when I’m playing the Invasions mode.
Invasions is a post-story mode (that’s available as soon as you start the game) where your selected character journeys on a map board and fights their way through different environments. Invasions are seasonal so after a set amount of time, your game will update and give you a new set of boards to explore and fight in. I find this to be more engaging for me than the tower-style invasions that were featured in Mortal Kombat 11. While you can still play the classic tower ladder, Invasions makes for a more interesting approach to fighting CPUs and practicing with your favorite characters. As you explore, you can seek out treasure and in-game currency that can be used to unlock cosmetics. There is a “premium” cosmetic shop that you can spend real money on, but the majority of the cosmetics will be unlocked by playing the game normally.
After a good ten or so hours, I have come to appreciate all that Mortal Kombat 1 has to offer. I have plenty of additional content to pursue and my skills are far from refined (I’m bad at fighting games). The story delivers exactly what I have come to expect from the series while the character development and gameplay innovations have exceeded that. The level of detail that went into this game is beyond extraordinary. The stages you battle on are finely detailed and the music remains as engaging as ever. For a series as fleshed out as Mortal Kombat, I remain pleasantly surprised with every feat that Netherrealm Studios accomplishes. Hearing the words “get over here” never gets old and neither does Mortal Kombat.
Every Mortal Kombat has had some sort of story. This eventually led to each game having a full narrative in place with a few reboots throughout the series. This twist of Mortal Kombat 1 is that while they are rebooting the story again, they’re doing it from the perspective of the previous game’s entry. With Liu Kang being given the power to restart the timeline, he has taken special care to fashion a universe in which peace and prosperity may endure. Liu Kang’s vision of the universe is remarkably different from the previous timelines as certain historically problematic characters were set upon paths designed to make sure they never gained any sort of power. This quickly derails when a mysterious figure, who knows of the previous timelines, interferes with Liu Kang’s vision. The narrative quickly unfolds as Liu Kang brings Earthrealm’s greatest champions to Outworld for the centennial Mortal Kombat tournament. The story is very lighthearted despite the threats that our heroes face. Mortal Kombat hasn’t taken itself incredibly seriously in a long time (if ever) and this game is no exception. I found the comedic moments to be well placed throughout the story and I enjoyed the dynamics between each of the characters. The story paces well through the first two acts and then picks up speed at an almost jarring rate. The stakes increase dramatically once the main villain is revealed and the implications of his plot come to light. Fortunately, we have a great cast of characters that band together to stop him.
There is a stark difference between the original cast of characters and the modern cast. The differences between the original character’s abilities are also vastly different. While most characters retain characteristics from the classics, Netherrealm Studios has done an excellent job translating those into a fresh modern experience. For example, Raiden’s “Flying Thunder God” attack has more balance now that it behaves more like a tackle with limited range. Johnny Cage’s “split punch” has come a long way from a straight-arm punch to the groin. The attack itself is not any more or less than what it has always been but the flair is still there. The spirit of each fighter remains the same as ever and it encourages me to learn how to play every character. The story mode serves as a good tutorial for a little more than half of the roster and gives you a decent amount of time to learn how each character plays. I feel like most characters were given an adequate amount of time to be experienced, but I also felt rushed to learn quickly. I tackled this by focusing on a couple of special moves and trying to combine them with a couple of basic combos. The overall design of the game lends itself to an authentic experience.
With character design being one of the most important aspects of an arcade-style fighting game, it only makes sense that much attention has been given to the character roster and the “Kameo” characters. Since these characters are going to be on your screen for the entire duration of gameplay, they have to be top-notch. Mortal Kombat 1 more than delivers on their characters. Each character is depicted in astonishing detail. The animations of their moves and how they connect make for a visually appealing experience. Characters that can change form do so swiftly and smoothly. The various special effects for each attack are rich in detail. The acid that comes from Reptile’s attacks looks natural and the lightning that comes from Raiden looks real. Even the more supernatural elements of Liu Kang’s cosmic flames come out so crisp that I couldn’t imagine it looking better. Each character’s costume is done with such fine attention that this is the most visually appealing game of the series. The less magical characters like Baraka and Johnny Cage have moves that work just as well as the flashy moves that other characters feature. The alternate appearances for each of the characters are done just as well. No attack looks bad, and this certainly applies to the famous fatality/brutality feature.
One of Mortal Kombat’s longest-standing traditions is the ability to finish off opponents in manners that are both spectacular and gruesome. These are aptly called “fatalities” and brutalities.” No series has ever made me feel so disgustingly thrilled to witness the physical destruction of an opponent’s body. With significantly enhanced graphics, this is even more apparent. Each character has unique finishers and they are all abhorrent and yet you can’t get enough of it. The game also features a mechanic where if you are low on health, you can execute a team-up attack with your Kameo character called a “Fatal Blow.” These moves aren’t quite as grotesque as the finishers but they do feature X-ray close-ups of the big hits. This feature is a bit over the top because realistically these moves would kill their victims despite how often an opponent survives the attack. It’s forgivable because it’s exactly what fans have come to appreciate out of the series. Watching the skin fly off of a character’s face as they are swung at high speeds or seeing characters bisected by their body parts is exactly what you expect from these horrendous attacks and finishers. It doesn’t make it any less disgusting but it couldn’t be featured any better. I have found that when playing the same character for a while, using the fatalities every time can get boring which results in me choosing not to use them sometimes. This is only a mild criticism that I have as this is easily remedied by changing up which character I’m playing. This is easily done in every mode that you can perform a fatality in so nobody should ever feel discouraged from changing it up. I have a few characters that I enjoy playing with so I can avoid having this issue when I’m playing the Invasions mode.
Invasions is a post-story mode (that’s available as soon as you start the game) where your selected character journeys on a map board and fights their way through different environments. Invasions are seasonal so after a set amount of time, your game will update and give you a new set of boards to explore and fight in. I find this to be more engaging for me than the tower-style invasions that were featured in Mortal Kombat 11. While you can still play the classic tower ladder, Invasions makes for a more interesting approach to fighting CPUs and practicing with your favorite characters. As you explore, you can seek out treasure and in-game currency that can be used to unlock cosmetics. There is a “premium” cosmetic shop that you can spend real money on, but the majority of the cosmetics will be unlocked by playing the game normally.
After a good ten or so hours, I have come to appreciate all that Mortal Kombat 1 has to offer. I have plenty of additional content to pursue and my skills are far from refined (I’m bad at fighting games). The story delivers exactly what I have come to expect from the series while the character development and gameplay innovations have exceeded that. The level of detail that went into this game is beyond extraordinary. The stages you battle on are finely detailed and the music remains as engaging as ever. For a series as fleshed out as Mortal Kombat, I remain pleasantly surprised with every feat that Netherrealm Studios accomplishes. Hearing the words “get over here” never gets old and neither does Mortal Kombat.