Will you be the next Kombatant?
Nothing says, “I just won this match” more than those beautiful, bloody words: FINISH HIM/HER!The first time I heard those words, I had performed my first fatality, Scorpion’s Toasty fatality, on the original Mortal Kombat for the SEGA Genesis. Mind Blown! My 6 year old mind didn’t know how to process this game. Fast forward 24 years and the new entry in the series, Mortal Kombat X, packs more fatilities, brings back brutatlities, and the gore-fest has hit a new level.
Mortal Kombat X follows as a direct sequel to Mortal Kombat (2011) and is set 25 years after the events of the previous game. Joining original characters such as Lui Kang, Scorpion and Johnny Cage are new characters such as D’Vorah, Cassie Cage and Erron Black. There are 24 playable characters in total on the base game, with 4 more characters added in the Kombat Pack 1 DLC and 5 characters added in the Kombat Pack 2 DLC. Each character has three different variations with different move sets so you can play the same characters differently. Each character can also perform two Fatalities or between five or six Brutalities.
The Krypt is back and bigger than ever! A mode brought over from Mortal Kombat (2011), we get to pick up items to help us open up or access new areas within the Krypt. Playing online with friends is as fun as always, allowing you to play normal or ranked matches, as well as King of the Hill, a staple of online gaming which was started with the previous game. There are different modes to play if you are bored playing the Story and Arcade Modes. Unlike the previous game, there is no regular tower mode. Instead, there are a series of towers that are differentiated by type. There is Endless tower mode, survivor mode, and Living tower.
Each tower works mostly as mentioned: endless mode keeps going up the tower with no stopping for a Boss fight. Want to prove yourself, play the survivor tower where whatever life you have left on your character after a fight will continue to the next match while your opponent has a full bar. The Living tower mode is an online-only set of towers that are divided into three categories: an Hourly tower that changes theme every hour, a Daily tower that changes every day, or a Premier tower that is unlocked every six days. Premier towers change in theme and can resemble towers from older entries in the series, like MK2 or MK 3.
Once you first start the game, you have to choose your faction from one of five: Black Dragons, White Lotus, Special Forces, the Brotherhood of Shadow and the Lin Kuei. Each faction has their own fatality called Faction Kill, where you need to press a certain button combination and get your faction killing blow. There is a competition every week to see which faction will become the reigning champion. You can become the champion by helping your faction win daily challenges, win matches online and offline, doing fatalities, brutalities and faction kills. There is also an Invasion attack that happens randomly and has its own challenges that can be completed to bring your Faction to be #1.
Combat styles for each characters takes time to master, but once you know your character’s move you can become unstoppable. As in Mortal Kombat 9 every character had their own move set, which can be memorized, MK X does not allow you and provide you the option on how you would like to play your characters. For example, if you want to play Scorpion more like a Ninja, then your variation will be Ninjitsu. Want to be able to use more fire based moves? Then your variation will be Hellfire.
The variety in characters and styles can also be bad. New players will be overwhelmed with choices and not know enough about the characters and move sets to make smart decisions initially, and the fighting style may turn off people more used to games like Street Fighter. A little practice will help, and the game’s tutorial system helps players get used to the moves, but it can be a lot to digest at first.
If you are a fan of the Mortal Kombat series, there is plenty here to keep you busy. If you are new to the series, Mortal Kombat X is a great introduction that will have you performing fatalities with glee.
