Xbox Review code provided by Warner Bros Games
Gameplay and Story
OH boy, where do I start? Mortal Kombat 1 comes with a fresh reset of a time line after what happened in Mortal Kombat 11. In MK11 Lui Kang defeats Kronika to become the keeper of time where he resets the universe in an attempt to finally offset the balance towards justice and bench the villains that the previous timeline had seen. Somebody thought otherwise and thought that these villains should become what they once were.
The Kampaign mode in this game was perfect for a Mortal Kombat game. When all the trailers were shown I had previously predicted that it would be a choice based story mode, and I was wrong but I’m glad I was because this story plays out perfectly. It has twists, betrayal, drama, comedy, and plenty of action. The cutscenes play out like a movie, that I would easily watch, then they seamlessly flow into a battle and back out into the cutscenes. Some cutscenes were actually quite long too, I had one cutscene where I was watching for so long the energy saver on my xbox activated and my screen started going dark.
The story isn’t even where this game shines, the gameplay is outstanding! I really loved Mortal Kombat 11 and I didn’t think it could get much better. Especially with Kameo Fighters I was skeptical, I just thought “Why not have them as characters in the game?” But the gameplay it adds is so satisfying. Kameo fighters allow you to develope new strategies and combo moves, not to mention Kameo fatalities.
Of course in a Mortal Kombat game you can expect it to be brutal, no exceptions here. The fatalities and even some of the cutscenes have some over the top violence and they are unapologetic about it and it’s perfect! It is overdone but tastefully, you can tell that they know it makes no sense and that is exactly why they’re doing it so just enjoy it!
After enjoying the kampaign mode there’s still plenty left to do! You can go over to the towers where you can learn the stories of individual characters after playing a “sumarized” version of the campaign battles where you will get a sort of graphic novel with a narration that will tell you more of their story. Then there’s the new seasonal mode called Invasions, where you will play though mini-kampaigns where you play through stories that are entirely new to the series. So in short there’s no shortage of content here.
Graphics and Sound
The graphics are so impressive to me, the facial expressions that you get from the characters is like they have real muscles behind their expressions making their faces move. The landscape shots and the shading in the game is nothing to be ignored either, there are some truly beautiful shots that you get to see during the campaign, it’s a shame that you don’t get to view more of the world around.
The voice acting is perfect too, they did a great job at casting this time around. Johnny Cage alone carried this one for me. But every character hit every line with the perfect beat to make it flow and draw you in and it’s just really something to pay attention to be it is so impressive.
This Mortal Kombat also has my favorite character design for all the characters so far. Reptile got a whole new look that is so cool, both human form and reptile. But not only him, Sub-Zero, Scorpion, Smoke, Reiko, you name it they all look so dang good in this game. Every detail about every character feels intentional and very well thought out.
Feedback
I wish this game was less fun, I can’t spend all my time thinking about playing Mortal Kombat and the new combos I want to try. In all seriousness there’s really nothing I would change about Mortal Kombat 1, my biggest and possibly only complaint would be the final boss in the kampaign mode. Kronika in MK11 to this day is one of the most frustrating boss fights that I’ve ever had to sit through. It took me what felt like weeks to beat Kronika. Many sweaty, intense moments of controller gripping and frustration came from that. But the final boss in Mortal Kombat 1, I beat on my first try and at that I almost got a Flawless victory on them. I get that it’s the first in the new series and there will be harder bosses but that was the only thing that I might have to complain about.
Conclusion
I might just be a huge Mortal Kombat fan but this installment is near perfect. Fighting games have been getting a lot of love lately and this only adds to that love. This game in my opinion, easily tops most other fighters out there. Easily if we’re talking the new era. It’s a well thought out game, that you can really feel the work and the love that went into it. This game is a must buy for anyone that likes fighting games, anyone who likes Mortal Kombat, or just anybody. It doesn’t matter if you only play fighting games with friends or if you’re an expert at all fighting games, this game is easy enough for the most casual player or the highest level professional to perfect.
Mortal Kombat 1 is available for Xbox Series X|S, PS5, Nintendo Switch, and PC via Steam or Epic Games Store.
