Mortal Kombat X Review 2016

Scorpion, a ressurected ninja, and one of the original characters from the first Mortal Kombat games.

Released on April 15, 2015 Mortal Kombat X is the tenth main installment in the extremely popular Mortal Kombat fighting series.  MK has been a fan favorite fighting style game since its release in 1992 by Midway Games. Originally an arcade game created by Ed Boon and John Tobias, Mortal Kombat soon became a house hold name due to its raw and gritty game play. Today I am  going to be talking about the top five things that I love and hate about MKX. 

First up is the five things I love the most. 

Lets get started.

5 Things I Love About MKX: 

1. Visuals

The first thing I love about Mortal Kombat X are the graphics. Visually this game looks absolutely amazing and is a really nice upgrade From Mortal Kombat 9.  Each characters features are more heavily detailed then usual, and each stage looks outstanding, especially when displayed on a big screen. 

Being very violent and gory is one of the main reasons that MK is such a popular series today, and with the blood and gore looking so crisp, MK fans will fall in love with this series all over again .The graphics in this game really highlights the difference between last generation systems versus New generation systems.

Sub Zero fighting Raiden the god of thunder in this amazing gameplay.

Kotal Kahn dominating his opponent. The visuals are incredible.

2. New Character's

Next on my list of things I love about Mortal Kombat X are the newly added characters in the series. I felt the new characters that were added were pretty cool and some of them fit the story very well.

Characters such as Cassie Cage being the daughter of Johnny Cage and Sonya Blade, as well as Scorpion's apprentice Takeda, or Erron Black being a total badass. The addition of these characters really showcase a new dynamic for the series. It helps progress the story as well as expand The Mortal Kombat universe. 

Another cool tidbit are the horror movie icons added in MKX. Infamous characters such as Jason Voorhes from Friday The 13th, Leather face from A Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Alien from The Alien franchise, and Freddy Kruger from A nightmare on Elm Street all cross over from their homes in the horror world into the MK universe making for an interesting and diverse cast of fighters, and a very unique gameplay.

Cassie Cage, daughter of Johnny Cage, and one of the newest characters in Mortal Kombat X.

Jason Vorhees, the horror movie icon from Friday The 13th makes his appearance in MKX.

Alien becomes apart of the Mortal Kombat universe as a downloadable player.

The terrifying Leather face picks up his chainsaw and joins his horror movie buddies in the MK universe.

3. Story Mode

The story mode in Mortal Kombat X is surprisingly good, as MK never really was a series with a consistently  evoking is there a better word choice? plot line.. It is a really great pickup to the series, seeing as Mortal Kombat 9 essentially rebooted the series as a whole. It is a rarity for a fighting game to contain such a compelling story that captivates you and really just pulls you in. 

The story mode in MKX is really addicting and forces you to not want to put your remote control down. If you have about two hours to spare you can watch the scenes put together to create the full MKX movie, by clicking the link below:

4. Special Attacks

My fourth pick goes to the new X-Ray attacks. They're special attacks that do increased damaged and actually show you the enemies skeleton and what happens to it while you're hitting them. This idea adds on to the gore and grit that made Mortal Kombat popular in the early 90's, which is totally a great new take on the raw fighting style and an awesome touch to a classic gameplay.

An incredible visual of the awesome X-Ray attacks being displayed.

5. New Fighting System

My absolute favorite thing about this game, and what I think is definitely the coolest part of Mortal Kombat X, is the new system which makes players choose between one of three fighting styles for every character. For example Scorpion, I could choose Ninjutsu, which lets me use swords for some extra speed and range, Hellfire which grants me fire based projectile attacks, or inferno, which lets me summon a demonic minion to help me fight. 

Every character has three styles so it creates a more interesting dynamic because you may be good against one version of a character but bad against another.

Kano's super cool variations for his new fighting styles.

Below you can watch a tutorial explaining all of three of Raiden's new fighting style:

Next up I will discuss the five things I hate about about Mortal Kombat X. 

5 Things I Hate about MKX:

1. New Character's

I know earlier in this article I explained that one of the things I enjoyed the most about this game was the newly added character's, but with that being said, I also have one thing about  the additional character selection in this game that I sternly dislike. 

With the exception of a few of the new characters such as Cassie Cage and Kotal Kahn, there really isn't any backstory for a whole lot of the other new characters such as Erron Black and Jacqui Briggs. 

You actually get through the whole game with no explanation of why certain characters are even important. I wish that every new character was built up with a strong backstory and not just thrown into the game with no significance. 

Erron Black is a complete bad ass.

Jacqui Briggs, daughter of Jax, making her Mortal Kombat debut.

2. Old Character's

Where as I do strongly feel some of the new characters are a great addition, I feel this game lacked a whole lot of the older more recognizable characters, who helped build Mortal Kombat up into what it is today, as one of the most popular fighting game series ever.  

The roster in Mortal Kombat X paled in comparison to Mortal Kombat: Armageddon, which had the most complete Mortal Kombat roster and had such a wide range of characters to choose from. Fan favorites like Rain, Smoke, and Fujin are nowhere to be found in MKX. Personally, I was very disappointed about the lack of personality.

Rain, a fan favorite from the MK universe is surprisingly missing in this installment.

 3. Server Problems

It's obvious that on-line playing is not gonna be as crisp as off-line playing, but this game has some real bad server issues. From not being able to access content you purchased to getting booted off altogether, the server issues in MKX was a total mess. I can't stress how frustrating it is to constantly get kicked offline during an intense match up. 

4. No Stage Fatalities

One complaint I hear from my peers are that there are no stage fatalities. Granted there is two fatalities and five brutalities per character, with there being only thirteen stages in this game, having stage fatalities would have put a little more excitement throughout each level.

Here is a video compilation of all the stage fatalities in MK9( if these stage fatalities were in MKX it would have been a nice bonus, and would  have only added to their great visuals and story):

5. DLC

What I hate the most about this game is that there is a whole lot of Downloadable content characters that you need to pay for which to me personally isn't cool. Most of the characters you have to pay for are the horror movie icons such as Jason, Alien, and Leather Face, instead of the characters that you know and love from the series, which would have made paying for those characters a little more acceptable.

The nightmare himself, Freddy Kruger, the horror legend.

All in all, even though I do not believe that Mortal Kombat X is a perfect game by any measure, I was still thoroughly impressed by the game as a whole. The new installment definitely has pros and cons but, if your a fan of The Mortal Kombat series then this game is definitely for you.and I would recommend this game as a solid pick up for any gamer who is a big fan of the fighting genre.

Be sure to check out The All 29 Mortal Kombat Characters and Their Fatalities,11 new horror game trailers of 2016, and 5 Bloody Games Just as Gory as Mortal Kombat all at Gamers Decide.com All links posted below.

All 29 Mortal Kombat X Characters And Their Fatalities 

11 New Horror Game Trailers of 2016

5 Bloody Games That Are Just as Gory as Mortal Kombat

One of the most popular Mortal Kombat characters, Johnny Cage.

By: Wesley Sanders.