MKX was one of my most anticipated games in the 1st half of 2015. Always been a fan of the games even though I'm horrible at fighting games. The lore, however, was enough to keep me fully interested in the games.
And with developer, Netherrealm Studios producing 2 amazing games with well-developed Story Modes, MKX's story was something I was looking forward to. And.. with the prequel comics doing a fantastic job of building up the plot, I had huge expectations.
Unfortunately, it turned out to be a disappointment for me..
Absence of some fan favourites, weak Outworld Civil War plot and unlikeable new characters were some of the things that made me disappointed.
It wasn't a bad Story Mode, to be honest.. It just didn't live up to expectations I feel.. The fights were brutal, cutscenes added a lot more punch and it was refreshing to see some new characters mixing up with old favourites.
But the plot had so much more potential..
After MK9's ending, Shinnok's Netherrealm Invasion was the major event I was looking forward to... But it felt like a Netherrealm disturbance rather..
Even with all the fallen warriors by their side, Shinnok and Quan Chi didn't do much apart from taking out a couple of Spec Ops soldiers..
Sindel in MK9 single-handedly took out more Earthrealm fighters than Shinnok's army did in MKX. Maybe with all the cast they killed off in MK9, they just didn't have anyone else to kill.. But several characters have been killed off in the Comics.. Maybe they could have done the killing in the game for more effect..
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| No, you didn't.. You lost again and again.. |
And then the Outworld Civil War..
The Comics had been building up the Outworld Civil War very well..
At the time of the game's release.. Kotal Kahn's empire was being bombarded by the Shokan and Oni. Real epic stuff.. But the game comes short with just the Tartakans who just aren't in the same league.
And all that talk about Mileena's threat to Kotal's throne was easily ended.
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| But there was barely a threat.. |
And with the Outworld threat ending.. It goes back for the climax, which I won't talk about to prevent more spoilers..
And looking at the character that defeats the boss, it just didn't seem believable..
I'm still missing a lot of the old fighters.. The Cyborgs, Cyrax & Sektor.. Smoke, Noob Saibot & even the ladies.. But I guess I have to respect the decisions that Netherrealm is going towards, especially with the new generation of fighters.
My main issue with the the entire story mode is that it seems to be rushed. There's no focus on either Shinnok's Invasion or the Outwold Civil War. It tries to tell too many stories without having a focus on either. In the end, it felt a lot shorter than MK9 was..
However.. Ultimately Mortal Kombat X is a fighting game and it excels in that aspect. MK9 was a bit of a revamp of the Klassic games and it was very popular with the fans but in MKX, they decided to change things up.
There's a slighly smaller roster in MKX but a lot more to do..
The traditional ladder mode is still there, giving each character their own ending. Included are various other ladders with different Modifiers, Challenges & Goals, which changes every hour/daily to mix it up.
This Blinking Screen modifier was very irritating though..
There's even ladder modes like Endless to see how many opponents you can beat without a loss or Surivor, where your life bar carries over to the next opponent. A real test for the best players out there..
Test Your Luck and Test your Might modes are also in the game. Plenty of Online Modes available as well.
But the major new feature is Faction Wars where you join 1 of 5 Factions to earn points for your Faction and then receive rewards at the end of the week..
I joined the Brotherhood of Shadow of course, (but Trophy requirements mean I need to change it up after I reach Level 50).
There's plenty of ways to earn points for your Faction, and I kinda look forward to the Invasion Boss Battles..
Kinda? Yes kinda.. Because I absolutely suck at it.
There's plenty to do in Mortal Kombat X making it very worth the money I miss the Challenge Tower however..
There's plenty of skins available via unlocks and paid DLC. Some are very cool, while others are questionable. Unsurprisingly, paid DLC are also a fashion here, with several skin packs already making their way into the platform stores. The inclusion of fan-made skins like the Cold War Scorpion skin, however are a huge plus for the fans.
The overall roster came out just slightly smaller compared to MK9. However, with the 3 variations to each character, there's plenty of fighting styles to meddle around with. Only downside was some of the moves, for eg. Scorpion had in MK9 were split up among his 3 variations so it just feels a little bit forced.
Overall, a fantastic fighting game marred only but its depth-less Story Mode. Plenty of different fighting modes to test your skill and keep you engaged. With the comics expanding the lore and the mobile game keeping you in the fight even when you are away from your console, Mortal Kombat X is giving fans a wholesome experience.
The ending of MKX sets it up beautifully for the next game and I would like to see the Mortal Kombat franchise grow from the success of this game. Come talk to me about the ending, if you care!
P.S: Loving the PS4's share function, I can now get my own pics and vids to share with you guys!
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