Editor’s note: Some of the photos may look fuzzy, but if you click them you will find full resolution goodness. Sorry for that, cannot figure out why it is doing this. -Bill

Developer: NetherRealm Studios
Publisher: Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
Platform: Xbox One, Playstation 4, PC
Release Date: April 14, 2015

FINISH HIM! The newest installment in the legendary Mortal Kombat series has arrived, and with it a buzz of hype. Without a doubt, this is one of the most anticipated titles of 2015. With it, comes all the blood and gore you can dream of. However, does this entry change the Mortal Kombat franchise at all?

Graphically yes, it does without question. This game looks absolutely stunning. While the faces on some of the characters look a little dated (Here’s looking at you Raiden and Liu Kang) , the overall presentation is without a doubt one of the best looking games released on the current crop of consoles so far. Little details like rain falling on Raiden and sparks emitting around his body show off the attention to detail NetherRealm Studios put into this title. Each stage has its own atmosphere all to its own, with interactive elements that can allow you to quickly get to the other side of the area, or things you can throw at your opponent to damage them and throw them off guard. Fatalities make their long awaited return and they are by far the most jaw dropping part of the entire experience. The ways you can dismember your opponent may make you not want to watch, but you know you are secretly grinning on the inside.

Story mode returns with a new tale of the Mortal Kombat universe, and you will find no spoilers here. NetherRealm Studios did a great job transitioning from battle to battle, and tells a fine story. Along with the story mode, you have other modes such as Living Towers, which are unique towers that have certain conditions attached to them and are available for only a certain amount of time. With constantly updating towers, it seems there will always be reason to pick up your controller and crush peoples skulls in. Faction Wars adds a little bit of a competitive edge to the normal beat-em up action, as you have challenges to add to your faction overall score. With different factions to choose from, and challenges aplenty, you will be busy for a long time trying to one up your rival faction. A nice touch to add to the longevity of the game.

As far as the gameplay goes, little fixes have been applied but at the same time, new problems have arisen that do hinder the game a little bit. Some of the characters for example, are just plain broken. Characters like Kung Jin, Raiden, Goro, and a couple others are simply a much better choice than others, making it a little unbalanced. While this seems to be the case in all fighting games, it particularly feels noticeable in this installment. I do hold out hope however that patches in the future will bring these characters back in line with the rest of the roster. While there are some new characters to add into the mix, some just feel like a mash up of existing characters. Cassie Cage for example just feels like a combined move set of both Johnny Cage and Sonya Blade. While this does make sense as she is the child of said fighters, a little more uniqueness would have been appreciated. While I do feel some new characters work really well, some just don’t fit well with the current roster.

Another flaw is just how short the story mode is. I finished it in a little over 2 hours, and I failed a few times during the story itself, which means it can be done even quicker. While the story is not the meat of the game, I would of liked a little more in the way of the single player story for a 60 dollar asking price. As is the norm with most games these days, there is a season pass you can purchase separately for around 30 dollars that allows you access to most of the future DLC that will be released with the game. Why I put this as a flaw however is because even with the season pass, there are items you will not get. If you are going to offer a pass that allows access to content, it should be for all content. Please Mortal Kombat, don’t pull a Evolve.

Each character has 3 different “variations” that have different benefits. They usually enhance damage to a certain move, or add a benefit to a certain attack. This allows for a little customizing, but not enough to really say you can make your fighter just how you like it. While a nice touch, I would of liked a little bit more customization options to each fighter. While the game is easy to pick up and play, to become a true MK master you will need to learn and master the combos for your specific character and learn when and where to use your x-ray, combo breaker, and enhance moves specifically. While a little tricky to learn, Mortal Kombat is no where near as hard to learn as say Street Fighter.

The music for MK X is by far the best of the series. Dark atmospheric music accompanies the stages, and while you are not paying attention to it during the fights, it is an enjoyable treat when you listen to the tracks when you unlock them in the Krypt. While the character voice acting is spot on, I feel some of the screams and grunts are overused, which means you will hear the same scream on a number of occasions during a normal match. While not a huge deal, I feel it is noticeable enough to include it in the review.

As far as the online matches go, I had little issue. While doing 30 fights for the sake of the review, I only noticed lag in about 3 or 4 of them. So overall, you should have a good time (or bad time, considering your skill level.) slaughtering your friends and foes alike.

TL;DR:

Mortal Kombat X is one of the best MK installments to date, adding new characters, stages, and an interesting but short story to the mix. I feel it is safe to say if you like fighting games at all, you owe it to yourself to check this one out.

 Recommended.