Extremely aggressive and, at the same time, impressive at playable level. There was never a fighting game in which blood drenched the screen so freely as Mortal Kombat 1. One detail not less That it took me three games to notice, since the pace of the combatants is frantic and the new layer of variety everyone has received at the controls does not let up. In other words: the one who blinks not only loses, but he ends up brutally massacred. as it should be in a Mortal Kombat game!
With the Netherrealm at the wheel of this endless slaughter, Mortal Kombat 1 It is neither a sequel to use nor a reboot at the franchise level, although for practical purposes these terms fit both in the background created and when designing a game system that categorically refuses to follow the evolutionary line of the last two installments. Impeccable games in each of its sections, everything is said. Which brings us to the first question: To what extent is his successor up to the task?
In iGamesNews we had access to the online Performance Test of Mortal Kombat 1, which allowed us to play with Liu Kang the God of Fire (we’ll get to that point) and other combatants and kameos both offline and online. The result has been a succession of massacres, combos impossible to do in previous games and the genuine feeling that we are facing the most dynamic, energetic and deep title in the entire saga. Big words.
And for sample, here you have a snack in the form of gameplay with Liu Kang and Sonya Blade. Because the first great “kambio” that Netherrealm Studios proposes to us is that in Mortal Kombat 1 we will no longer fight alone.
Before jumping on stage to deliver hooks capable of crushing jaws, one of the irreplaceable hallmarks of the saga, in Mortal Kombat 1 we will have to do a previous step: choose a cameo combatants. More than an additional fighter or a simple assistant, it is an additional layer of techniques, resources and possibilities that we add to the repertoire of our main fighter.
In other words: it is not a question of selecting the two most versatile characters, but of learn to combine two styles to our benefit. Supplying the deficiencies and enhancing the strengths based on collaborating and designing shots or extending the chain of blows. The kameo fighter is always waiting in the background, but his job is to define our style and strategy. The rest, of course, depends on how inspired we are with the buttons.
Which does not mean that each fighter of Mortal Kombat 1 possess movements, shots and techniques to go crazy. It would be more. What’s more, it will practically be time to relearn how to use Liu Kang, Kenshi, Sub-Zero or Kitana since their styles and techniques are different from those seen in Mortal Kombat 11. The reason? As we mentioned, what Netherrealm puts us ahead is neither a sequel nor a reboot: it is a rebirth
Mortal Kombat 11: the savage rebirth of the fatality saga
At a glance, the visual leap of Mortal Kombat 1 Compared to the previous game in the saga, it is not especially accused. At least, in the ninth generation versions (it will also come to Nintendo Switch). But when it comes to playability, this is another story: the game with physics and rebounds, the constant dominance of the entire scenario, the very important juggling within the saga and the importance of the passing game have gone from being important to being absolutely transcendental.
Not all are additions, for the record: Mortal Kombat 1or at least the version we played, dispenses with many rooted elements of the most modern stage of the saga, such as the interactive backgrounds or the uses and the way in which we activate the resources of the bottom bar, which was rightly divided into two sections in Mortal Kombat 11. Now our priorities are to use the kameo fighter in the most effective way and perform as well in a jump as with our feet on the ground.
The aerial combat returns and well raised, after that relatively experimental stage that was given in Mortal Kombat Armageddon, so the weight of the fighters and their physics have been adjusted to develop naturally and dynamically, while remaining uncompromising on the essentials: the brutality and mischief expected of a Mortal Kombat game. Logically, kameo fighters play a crucial role in the process.
The way to use the kameo fighters is hardly a mystery and the way to incorporate it into what happens on stage is reduced to a specific button plus a direction that defines its action. Very simple, of course, but at the same time very successful: adding more complex sequences would place an additional burden on a player who now has to constantly keep an eye out for what can jump from the corner of the screen, and not just the guy in front of him.
There is a waiting time before you can use the kameo fighter again, of course, but as we mentioned at the beginning, the idea is not that it works exactly like the typical assistant of fighting games in pairs or teams. Among other reasons, because Mortal Kombat 1 It is not one of those games: Netherrealm ensures that not all kameos will be fighters, and if we take a look at the panels we will see that, of launch, there is space for 26 combatants and 18 kameos. Of course, we will see specific cases in which it can be both.
That said, each character has seen their fighting style updated or rethought. After the events of Mortal Kombat 11 (and as is made very clear from the cover of the game) Liu Kang has become the new God of Fire taking over from a Raiden who now fights like a mortal. Kang is now a deity who has rewritten history and that allows characters like Kenshi, Scorpion or Kitana to be reintroduced to fans and to newcomers.
The art of reinventing iconic fighters while maintaining their essence
the fighters of Mortal Kombat have comprehensively updated their aesthetics, combos, and special moves to accommodate the brutal pace and dynamism of combat in Mortal Kombat. Something that has double logic, since technically Lui kang rewrote the history of the saga. And despite the fact that Sub Zero (Bi-Han in this case) is still a brutal cryomancer, he has not only changed his background, but his technique and forcefulness are enhanced and amplified with the kameos.
All in all, the most nostalgic will find that the three kameos we were able to use are photorealistic replicas of Sonya Blade, Kano y Jax with the outfits, the style and the same blows with which we met them in the original deliveries. They even perform the same fatalities!
If we carry out the proper sequences with the button dedicated to the kameos, they will separate our main fighter and destroy the loser with an updated version of the same deadly shots with which we met them in the arcades. As we discussed, kameo fighters are much more than just assistants.
When it comes to the general gameplay sensations of Mortal Kombat 1, it is a step forward in all aspects: the characters are more aggressive, their movements are more dynamic, varied and fast, the passing game and the way to achieve That the enemy does not touch the ground becomes decisive and a greater spectacle is achieved by giving the player more and better options.
No less important is how it develops Mortal Kombat 1 online: the netcode is robust thanks to the implementation of Rollback netcode, a predictive system that results in a fluidity similar to what we experience when playing offline that greatly benefits the new and improved rhythm and dynamics of the combats of this installment.
And what happens if our opponent gets frustrated by receiving too much? The infamous RageQuit results in the game in a “Quitality“so that he automatically loses and in a dishonorable way. Which leads directly to a need that -at the moment- we are unaware of: a good system of tutorials and training with which to learn the essentials and perfect the most complex.
The challenge of delivering the best Mortal Kombat ever made
overcome the Mortal Kombat 11 it is a challenge in itself. In addition to a story that rivaled Hollywood productions and incalculable replayability game modes such as the Towers of Time or an abundance of online options, we found that each combatant could be customized through different special moves and aesthetic elements.
A set of ideas that, added to hilarious game mechanics, positioned the 2019 game as the best installment to date and one of the best fighting games ever made.
Based on that, Mortal Kombat 1 He knows how to provide faster, more dynamic and violent combat, more layers of variety through the kameo combatants and a background that, without being a blank canvas, allows Netherrealm to alter the known universe to his liking. And that already works in your favor, but is it enough to raise the bar?
In Mortal Kombat 1 We do not know if we will have the possibility of customizing the characters or their repertoire of movements, although from Netherrealm they already tell us that we will see new modes created for the occasion and the return of a colossal Story mode sprinkled with “classic rivalries and unexpected twists“.
What we do take for granted is that ed boon and his team still have some good ideas under their hats and retain the same vision with which they began the saga: to deliver the most brutal fighting game ever imagined. And, for that matter, getting the player to wince every time he witnesses a new fatality for the first time.
For now, Liu Kang, Sub Zero and Scorpion and a Johnny Cage Fighting in the skin of Jean Claude Van Damme (with an alternate skin) will round out a spectacular summer for fans of fighting games where Street Fighter 6 struck first. The date: the saga of fatality Mortal Kombat 1 will be released on September 19, 2023 on PS5, Xbox Series X / S, Nintendo Switch and PC, and those who bet on the special editions will start fighting five days earlier.
will he achieve Mortal Kombat 1 dethrone the King of fighting games? What we do know for sure is that Netherrealm Studios and Warner are going to put all the meat on the grill. The show is more than guaranteed.
MORTAL KOMBAT 1 Standard Edition (PS5)
Mortal Kombat 1 sheet
- Plataformas: PC, PS5, Xbox Series X / S y Nintendo Switch.
- Multiplayer: Yes
- Developer: Netherrealm Studios
- Company: Warner Games
- Release: September 19, 2023
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