Today, Mortal Kombat 11 turns five years old. While the 11 at the end of the title might suggest otherwise, this is actually an unusual game in a lot of ways.Even though it represents the final chapter of a long story, I also like to think of Mortal Kombat 11 This is the last game of its kind from developer NetherRealm.
No, this isn’t the last fighting game, or even the last Mortal Kombat. But when I look back at how studios (and the industry as a whole) have changed their output over five years, I can’t help but lament the mess we’re in today.
iGamesNews
NetherRealm has established a predictable development rhythm starting with 2011’s Mortal Kombat 9. Every two years, the studio releases a new fighting game, alternating between MK and the much less violent Injustice series.
“Injustice: Gods Among Us” follows MK9, and “Injustice 2” follows MK10. In 2019 it was MK’s turn, so we got Mortal Kombat 11.Injustice 3 was originally thought to launch sometime in 2021, but that never happened, and the game ended up being the studio’s only active title Four It took several years until “Mortal Kombat 1” was released last year.
I’m not here to argue the merits of breaking this cycle and releasing two MK games without the palate cleanser of Injustice , but it’s worth reviewing how
Perhaps the most important element in the birth of this new approach is the game’s Aftermath expansion. The Mortal Kombat games are unique in the quality of their story campaigns and production values. The game places a greater emphasis on narrative elements than you’d typically expect from a fighting game, easily comparable to purely story-driven games.
I mostly play MK games solo, and the single-player campaign is the thing I look forward to most about every new game, and I know many others feel the same way. Despite this, NetherRealm never considered expanding the story post-launch, choosing instead to stick with the tried-and-true character pass model.
However, just when everyone thought the studio had to get ready to move on to its next project, we get Aftermath. Mortal Kombat 11’s story doesn’t need to be stretched; it concludes a three-game saga that’s compelling enough on its own even before you consider how contemplative it is. This may sound silly if you’re not familiar, but MK11’s narrative frequently questions its own fiction and long-standing characters (and their characterizations).
I finished Avengers: Endgame around the time it came out, and I remember thinking it was a more compelling ending to a long-running saga. But you can see it’s really going nowhere, so that’s where Aftermath comes in. In hindsight, maybe that’s where some of the trouble started.
The Aftermath begins after the events of the main game, and essentially allows for a future beyond those events. It was a fun farce that I enjoyed at the time but didn’t think too much about its implications. I’m really happy to have my favorite parts in every MK game, and it’s great to see Cary-Hiroyuki Takawa reprise his role as Shang Tsung from the movie.
However, it actually gave the team leeway in crafting Mortal Kombat 1’s story, making the memory sour. Not only does MK1’s retelling of the series with multiple perspectives come at a time when everyone is tired of the concept, but it’s so devoid of new ideas that things almost always play out in similar ways.
Everything about the game feels rushed these days (including the lack of lobbies at launch), along with all the other missing features and technical issues. In comparison, “MK11” is the pinnacle of “Mortal Kombat”. Every element of this game reaches new heights. Take Krypt, for example, a side mode where you unlock content used in fighting games. NetherRealm ended up turning it into a third-person adventure game, which made my dream of an action game from the studio that much more achievable. Sure, it’s essentially walking around in a big mall full of loot boxes and nostalgia, but the seeds of something greater are there – and in its own right, it’s the best implementation of the Krypt yet.
Even the character’s clearance is to realize some kind of fantasy. In this game you can play as RoboCop T-800, as well as Rambo (thanks Warner Bros.)!
You’re not coming to me to learn about fighting games – Connor and Alex are much better at that than I am – but I can tell you that compared to MK’s typical over-reliance on combos, I like MK11’s greater emphasis on action and psychological gameplay. famous. Introducing variants for each character was also a smart decision, and it led me to spend dozens of hours trying out each character – and creating my own variants in custom games.
However, when I look back, I see that the MK11 was the source of many of the MK1’s problems; a testbed of sorts that brought the worst of the greedy modern AAA industry into the series. MK11 was a game that experimented with the challenge of locking towers behind it, with a greater focus on microtransactions. Even so, they felt somewhat controlled, whereas the MK1 just dropped all pretense.
My most unforgettable memory in “Mortal Kombat 11” is shouting “Fire God Liu Kang” at a critical moment in the story. Maybe that’s enough; maybe the joy it brought me could make up for the rest of its sins, but it could never outweigh my utter disappointment with the MK1.
