Mortal Kombat 1 Is A Stylish, Brutal Shake-Up For The Series
Mortal Kombat 1 is undoubtedly one of the most highly anticipated games of the year. The prospect of a fresh start for the Mortal Kombat universe has generated a great deal of excitement, and a select few of us were fortunate enough to experience this fresh start firsthand during an online stress test that took place over the weekend. Here are my impressions.
The stress test offered two options: Kampaign and Versus. Each option only contained one mode, with Kampaign offering Klassic Towers and Versus allowing you to engage in casual matches online. Klassic Towers presents you with four randomized combinations of fighters and Kameo Fighters to battle. You can select from five different levels of difficulty (although I must admit, I didn’t notice much of a difference between them). The stress test included four characters to play with: Liu Kang, Kitana, Kenshi, and Sub-Zero, as well as three Kameo Fighters, who function as the game’s assist mechanic: Sonya, Jax, and Kano. When you select a fighter for an online match, they stylishly enter from the foliage at the edge of the screen. This is an awesome touch, and the transition from the selection screen to the battle is seamless, with hardly any loading screens in between. Mortal Kombat 1’s presentation in this stress test is simply amazing, with stunning graphics that leave a lasting impression.
In battle, you have three bars with which to amplify your attacks, different from Mortal Kombat 11’s two-bar system for attack and defense. This system is more reminiscent of MK9 or MKX. The meter fills up as you inflict damage on your opponent, forcing engagements. Amplifying attacks is still the same button for every fighter, which is good news. However, there aren’t as many defensive options, and if someone has the advantage over you, they’re likely to keep it for some time. I’m not alone in hoping for a battle mode without Kameo Fighters upon full release.
Regarding characters, Liu Kang is more or less the same as ever, easy to pick up and experiment with. Kitana was a bit challenging to get a grasp of but seems to be more fun here than in the last outing because of how much guard pressure she can apply as well as the expansion of her specials. Kenshi has great mix-up potential thanks to his katana, but his style revolves a lot around using it, so I had the hardest time playing with him. Sub-Zero felt a bit underwhelming in terms of damage, but was very easy to get to grips with. Many people expected combos to be very strong in Mortal Kombat 1, and the stress test did not disappoint. I found myself performing long strings that could take away 30-40% of my opponent’s life without wasting many resources, even hitting them multiple times in the air. Kameo Fighters also give you a boost in the damage you deal, with Sonya and Kano being particularly useful with their long-range attacks. The combo potential is a significant improvement over MK11, and while it’s not exactly on par with MKX, it comes pretty close. The game looks stunning, with particle effects for the characters, like Liu Kang’s red and blue fire and Sub-Zero’s ice, highlighting the game’s graphics. The dynamic camerawork during some of the attacks, especially the characters’ back throw animations, is superb.
One issue I had was with grounded movement, which felt very slow. The slow ground movement made playing neutral a bit of a drag. It feels similar to Mortal Kombat 11, but the slow pace is a lot more noticeable when you have the speedy, aggressive combos to compare it to in the same game. Hopefully, movement will receive a buff later on. Another issue is Negative Edge being on by default. Negative edge allows you to perform special moves by doing the motion input after releasing the previous button. If you can link your buttons together cleanly, then this won’t be an issue, but it’s often caused me to perform the wrong special move mid-combo.
Kameo Fighters work as expected: you can call on them to assist you in the middle of battle with the press of a button. Moving the control stick in a different direction and pressing the assist button for an extended duration can change what action they perform. This is all managed by the Kameo Fighter meter—a circle next to your character’s portrait. It takes at least a half-circle to perform an assist action with the Kameo Fighters, which fills up gradually. The combo breaker uses the full Kameo Fighter meter as well as all three bars of your Enhance meter, so you really have to be careful when you use it. Kameo Fighters also take part in each character’s forward throw and Fatal Blow, even posing with them on the victory screen. Those Kameo Fighters are a double-edged sword, however. Their inclusion as “assist characters” is great, and seeing the classic outfits and designs of the characters in modern graphics is super nostalgic. Also, they have a lot of potential with variety and creativity. With more regular fighters and Kameo Fighters bound to be playable in the future, it’ll be a lot of fun to mix and match them and run into other combinations. But I also found them to feel somewhat awkward and intrusive in the flow of combat, getting in the way as much as they were helping. I especially felt this way for Kano. He has the most personality of the three Kameo Fighters, but man does he like to show that off mid-battle. Sonya and Jax, on the other hand, can actually friendly-fire you during some of their moves, which doesn’t feel great! Chatting to a few other players during the stress test, it turns out I’m not alone in hoping for a battle mode without Kameo Fighters upon full launch. Kameo Fighters being a part of the Fatal Blow is still interesting, but the end product was a bit of a letdown. Each character and Kameo Fighter has their own Fatal Blow that activates one after the other, with the Kameo going first and the regular fighter following up with theirs right after. They don’t actually change based on your team composition, so no matter who you have as a Kameo Fighter, your main fighter’s Fatal Blow remains the same. It might be a lot to ask, but I feel they could’ve done more to vary up and personalize the Fatal Blow based on the Kameo Fighter that you were using.
A fun little quirk in Mortal Kombat 1 is that when you win, you can’t finish your opponent until they’ve dropped out of a combo or landed on the ground. This means that you can continue hitting them and delay the announcer’s “Finish Him/Her!” with a long combo. It reminded me of Killer Instinct’s ability to combo the opponent long after their health has been depleted. This doesn’t have an effect on gameplay, but it was fun to see and experiment with.
Character intros pre-fight are a bit of a downgrade on MK11. Seeing the unique conversations that the fighters could have with each other before fights was one of the best things about previous Mortal Kombat games. In Mortal Kombat 1, characters will clash with their fists (or sword in Kenshi’s case), reminiscent of Dragon Ball FighterZ, before talking to each other, but there’s little variance here in what they do. This could be one of the areas that developers improve upon before the game’s official release.
Overall, Mortal Kombat 1’s stress test has certainly lived up to the hype. The game’s stunning graphics, combo potential, and nostalgia-inducing Kameo Fighters make it a game worth waiting for. Although it has some flaws, such as the slow ground movement and the intrusive Kameo Fighters, these issues can be addressed before the game’s official launch. With its unique gameplay mechanics and stunning visuals, Mortal Kombat 1 is sure to be a fan favorite for years to come.
Mortal Kombat 1 is one of the most anticipated games coming out this year. The premise of a fresh start for the Mortal Kombat universe has given the series lots of attention, and a lucky few of us were able to see just what that fresh start looks like thanks to an online stress test that ran over the weekend.
Here are my thoughts.
The stress test had two options: Kampaign and Versus. Both only have one mode in them, Kampaign’s being Klassic Towers and Versus taking you online for casual matches. Klassic Towers gives you four randomized combinations of fighters and Kameo Fighters to battle. You can choose to fight them on five different levels of difficulty (though oddly enough, I didn’t much notice the difference between them). There were four characters to play around with in the stress test – Liu Kang, Kitana, Kenshi, and Sub-Zero – as well as three Kameo Fighters, who function as the game’s assist mechanic: Sonya, Jax, and Kano.
When you pick a fighter for an online match, they stylishly step in from the foliage at the edge of the screen. It’s a super-cool touch, and the transition from this screen to the battle is seamless, with virtually no loading screens between the selections. Paired with the stunning graphics, Mortal Kombat 1’s presentation here is amazing.
In battle, you have three bars with which to amplify your attacks—different from Mortal Kombat 11’s two-bar system for attack and defense and more akin to MK9 or MKX. The meter fills up as you damage the opponent, forcing engagements. The good news is that amplifying attacks is still the same button for every fighter across the board; the bad news is that there aren’t as many defensive options. Pressure is very strong in this game, so if someone has the advantage over you, they’re likely going to keep it for a long time.
I’m not alone in hoping for a battle mode without Kameo Fighters upon full launch.
Character-wise, Liu Kang is more or less the same as he’s ever been—easy to pick up and experiment with. Kitana was a bit difficult to get a grasp of, but seems to be more fun here than in the last outing due to how much guard pressure she can apply as well as the freedom of her specials being expanded. Kenshi has great mix-up potential thanks to his katana, but his style revolves a lot around using it, so I had the hardest time playing with him. Sub-Zero felt a bit underwhelming in terms of damage, but was very easy to get to grips with.
Many people expected combos to be very strong in Mortal Kombat 1 and the stress test did not disappoint. I found myself performing long strings that could take away 30-40% of my opponent’s life without wasting a lot of resources, even hitting them multiple times in the air. Kameo Fighters also give you a boost in the damage you deal, Sonya and Kano being great for it with their long-range attacks. The combo potential is a big improvement over MK11, and while it’s not exactly on par with MKX, it comes pretty close.
The game looks stunning too. This was highlighted in the particle effects for the characters, like Liu Kang’s red and blue fire and Sub-Zero’s ice. Even the Kameo Fighters were given love in this regard, with Kano’s eye laser looking super hot and crisp. The dynamic camerawork during some of the attacks, especially the characters’ back throw animations, is stellar.
One issue I had was with grounded movement, which felt very slow (as did jumping, but that at least works well for performing combos). The slow ground movement made playing neutral a bit of a drag. It feels similar to Mortal Kombat 11, but the slow pace is a lot more noticeable when you have the speedy, aggressive combos to compare it to in the same game. Hopefully movement receives a buff later on.
Another issue is Negative Edge being on by default. Normally, you have to perform a motion input then use the corresponding attack button to use special moves. However, negative edge allows you to perform special moves by doing the motion input after releasing the previous button. If you can link your buttons together cleanly then this won’t be an issue, but it’s often caused me to perform the wrong special move mid-combo.
The way that Kameo FIghters work is about how everyone expected: you can call on them to assist you in the middle of battle with the press of a button. Moving the control stick in a different direction and pressing the assist button for an extended duration can change what action they perform. This is all managed by the Kameo Fighter meter—a circle next to your character’s portrait. It takes at least a half-circle to perform an assist action with the Kameo Fighters, which fills up gradually. The combo breaker uses the full Kameo Fighter meter as well as all three bars of your Enhance meter, so you really have to be careful when you use it. Kameo Fighters also take part in each character’s forward throw and Fatal Blow, even posing with them on the victory screen.
Those Kameo Fighters are a double-edged sword, however. Their inclusion as “assist characters” is great, and seeing the classic outfits and designs of the characters in modern graphics is super nostalgic. Also, they have a lot of potential with variety and creativity. With more regular fighters and Kameo Fighters bound to be playable in the future, it’ll be a lot of fun to mix and match them and run into other combinations.
But I also found them to feel somewhat awkward and intrusive in the flow of combat, getting in the way as much as they were helping. I especially felt this way for Kano. He has the most personality of the three Kameo Fighters, but man does he like to show that off mid-battle. Sonya and Jax, on the other hand, can actually friendly-fire you during some of their moves, which doesn’t feel great! Chatting to a few other players during the stress test, it turns out I’m not alone in hoping for a battle mode without Kameo Fighters upon full launch.
Kameo Fighters being a part of the Fatal Blow is still interesting, but the end product was a bit of a letdown. Each character and Kameo Fighter has their own Fatal Blow that activates one after the other, with the Kameo going first and the regular fighter following up with theirs right after. They don’t actually change based on your team composition, so no matter who you have as a Kameo Fighter, your main fighter’s Fatal Blow remains the same. It might be a lot to ask, but I feel they could’ve done more to vary up and personalize the Fatal Blow based on the Kameo Fighter that you were using.
Many people expected combos to be very strong in Mortal Kombat 1 and the stress test did not disappoint.
A fun little quirk in Mortal Kombat 1 is that when you win, you can’t finish your opponent until they’ve dropped out of a combo or landed on the ground. This means that you can continue hitting them and delay the announcer’s “Finish Him/Her!” with a long combo. It reminded me of Killer Instinct’s ability to combo the opponent long after their health has been depleted. This doesn’t have an effect on gameplay, but it was fun to see and experiment with.
Character intros pre-fight are a bit of a downgrade on MK11 (as things stand). Seeing the unique conversations that the fighters could have with each other before fights was one of the best things about previous Mortal Kombat games. In Mortal Kombat 1, characters will clash with their fists (or sword in Kenshi’s case), reminiscent of Dragon Ball FighterZ, before talking to each other, but there’s little variance here in what they do. This could be one of those flourishes that gets added before full release, however.
The online quality was mostly positive. Whenever there was lag, it was noticeable and lasted for a while. I’ve also experienced a few disconnects, which the game took a long time to notify me of after it froze. However, those moments were few and far between. Most of my matches ran very smoothly, with little to no delays or drops in frame rate. Even Wi-Fi matches with high ping didn’t have much lag or delay in them, which was very impressive for a stress test to pull off.
Despite some of the complaints and issues I had, the Mortal Kombat 1 stress test was the most fun I’ve had with a Mortal Kombat game in a long time. It seems to draw inspiration from other fighters in different areas—a bit of Killer Instinct with how the game handles its combos, a bit of FighterZ with its use of dynamic camerawork, but it still builds on its own identity with even more brutal and gory combat, setting itself apart from previous Mortal Kombat titles.
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