Mortal Kombat 1 Review: New Era, Same reliable Kombat

I am a fan of fighting games. I am not good at them, but I do enjoy them and have played quite a few over the years. And of the ones I’ve played I have my favourites The first is Street Fighter, obviously, but I also love me some Tekken, Soul Calibur, Smash Bros if you count that, and of course, Mortal Kombat.

Now I got into the series a little late, Mortal Kombat Armageddon on Wii to be exact, so I never got to experience the series in its classic era. But ever since the reboot in 2011 I have never missed a game. Both Mortal Kombat 9 and X were fantastic fighters with X being my personal favourite in the series.

Sadly, I can’t say I was a fan of the last entry, Mortal Kombat 11. The slower gameplay and grindier single player didn’t do it for me and I wound up dropping the game very quickly. Not even bothering with any of the DLC. Admittedly I was in a bit of a fighting game lull at that time, but it didn’t exactly help.

Still, I was excited for the new game in the series, Mortal Kombat 1, and yes there is a reason for the name that I’ll get to in a bit. I may not have liked 11 too much, but hopefully this new game would have fixed a lot of the problems I had with it. Which it did thankfully. It’s still not quite on par with 9 and X but it’s a solid fighter that fixes a lot of its predecessors’ problems and introduces new ideas of its own.

Before we dive a little deeper into this, I should mention that this review will be purely from a casual perspective. I tend to focus on single player with my fighting games and that’s what I’ll be focusing on with this review.

I don’t play online so I can’t tell you about meta game, or tier lists, or any of that crap. This is a full casual scrub lord review of the game. If you don’t want or need that you can leave now and I wouldn’t blame you.

That said, from what I can gather the online netcode is decent and the online has all the ranked and casual modes you would expect. It doesn’t go as far as other fighters do like Street Fighter 6 and the Battle Hub, but it’s serviceable for what it offers. With the only glaring omission being the lack of online lobbies, which is a pretty big oversight.

That’s about all I can say about the online, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have a lot to cover. After all, Mortal Kombat is known for its strong single player modes. Something Mortal Kombat 1 has in decent abundance.

But before we get to that, let’s cover the basics. The presentation is excellent. Which should surprise no one. I may not have liked Mortal Kombat 11, but it was a damn good looking fighting game. Arguably one of the best-looking fighters of all time.

The characters and stages have a lot of detail to them, and in keeping with the classic style of Mortal Kombat it goes for a darker, semi-realistic approach to its visual style. Well as realistic as you can be with gods, vampires, mutants and transforming lizard men.

So, if you’re a fan of fighting games with more colourful, stylised art directions, this isn’t for you. Even the character designs have been toned down compared to past entries, though I still think they look pretty damn good. Reptile especially looks better than he ever has in the past.

I also appreciate that there’s a bit more colour in the stages. While there are still plenty of the traditional dark and creepy stages the series is known for, there are noticeably more stages with more vibrancy and colour to them. Making for a better visual variety of stages to pick from.

The only major critique I have is with the in-game animations. Some attacks look a bit awkward and stiff, which at this point with NetherRealm Studios is more a feature than a bug. All their games have had this problem. Complaining about it is like whining that the sky is blue. It just is what it is at this point.

That said, the animations fare far better in the cutscenes. These are always a visual treat in NetherRealm games and it’s no exception here. They’re well animated, shot and choregraphed with the Fatalities being just as gruesome and brutal as ever. Though I will admit they were toned down slightly compared to 11’s, slightly being the key word here.

Audio wise it isn’t as impressive, but still pretty good. The music is decent. It isn’t as catchy or as memorable as other fighting game soundtracks, but it matches the tone of the fights well enough and is generally well composed.

The voice acting is also very well done with most of the actors fitting their characters well and giving a good performance. With the one exception being Meghan Fox as Nitara, for reasons that should be abundantly obvious just by reading that sentence. Seriously NetherRealm, stop getting celebrities for the voices. Outside of guest characters you aren’t good at it.

But I don’t have much to complain about with the presentation. It keeps up the series high bar of quality though it doesn’t feel as big a leap from its predecessor compared to the jump in visual quality from 9 to X and then to 11. It feels like they’ve peaked with this particular art style, I think the next game should go for something different to shake things up a bit.

Now let’s talk about the gameplay, or at least the basic mechanics. If you’ve played any of the previous Mortal Kombat games, then you should be able to jump into this no problem. It still has the same basic gameplay with the same control layout, combo chains and special moves. Like Street Fighter 6 the foundations are kept intact. It’s everything around those foundations where things get interesting.

For one thing, Mortal Kombat 1 has made a concerted effort to remove many of the mechanics fans found contentious in 11. The meter system is back to how it was in 9 and X, 3 bars which can be used to perform combo breakers or enhance special moves, the latter of which is now also closer to how it was in 9 and X as well.

Rather than the Injustice style where you could enhance specials after activation, now you have to commit to whether you perform an enhanced special or a normal one. That isn’t the only Injustice mechanic they’ve removed as the interactable stage elements are also now gone.

I do miss the interactable stages. I thought they were a fun addition to the series, but I also acknowledge that by Mortal Kombat 11 it was starting to feel more like Injustice than it was Mortal Kombat. So, I can’t I’m that upset to see these elements removed.

It’s not just the Injustice mechanics that got the axe. Most of the new things introduced in 11 have been deleted also. Rolling out of combos? Gone. Crushing Blows? Those are gone too. The only thing from 11 that returns is the Fatal Blow, which lets you do a powerful super move when at low health. But even that’s been changed to make them harder to just throw out.

Another thing that’s gone are the variations. Again, I can’t say I’ll miss these. While I liked how they were handled in X, 11 made me dislike the system through the custom variations it introduced. It made every character feel incomplete, like you never had access to all the moves you wanted.

But now, characters have only the one fighting style with access to all their moves. And it feels a lot better having all of them again. The one downside to losing Variations though is the loss of player expression. It was nice to be able to play these characters in unique ways depending on which variation you used.

But don’t worry, Mortal Kombat 1 does introduce a new system that performs the same function in a different sort of way, Kameo’s. These are an entirely different set of characters you can pick from that will help you in combat.

It’s very much like the Assists in Marvel vs Capcom, specifically the first game in the series. Although Mortal Kombat 1’s Kameo’s have a bit more depth to them as they have multiple moves rather than the one action the Marvel Assists had.

There is a lot of depth to the Kameo system. Each Kameo has their own traits that can complement or compensate for your chosen characters playstyle. Say, for example, you have a character who is good at rush down but lacks any kind of ranged game, well just give them a Kameo with good zoning and that blind spot is covered up. Or alternatively you could pick a Kameo that extends combo’s or allows you to start combos more efficiently to help make rushing down opponents much easier.

There’s a lot to the Kameo system that will require a lot of experimentation and training to properly make use of. Though even with just a little bit of practice I was able to find some cool stuff to do with them at a casual level.

Kameo’s have their own meter which will go down when you use them, with different moves costing a different amount. And if they get hit you won’t be able to use them for a short time. And this can be bad because you need the Kameo’s to do combo breakers. You can’t just throw Kameo’s out randomly, there is strategy required to make the most of them.

Speaking of combo breakers, yes, they changed how those work. Now you need a full meter and a Kameo available to pull it off. It’s a much steeper cost, but they made them much more powerful as they now negate Fatal Blows. I think it was a good trade off. Plus, meter builds up pretty fast, so it doesn’t take long to rebuild your resources.

The core gameplay is much more fun here than it was in 11. The Kameo system is a fun addition that allows for tons of player expression, and there’s a larger emphasis on combo’s here rather than the neutral focused 11. To the point where they’ve reintroduced air combos to the series which are really fun to pull off.

I do have two main complaints with the combat. Those being that it’s a little slow and a little stiff. It isn’t as fast paced or as smooth as other fighters. Even compared to past games it’s a bit slow, which is why at the end of the day I still think I prefer the fast-paced gameplay of Mortal Kombat X.

But it’s not too hard to adjust to this. And once you do it’s a good fighting system with a lot of depth while also being easy to pick up and play. Though a good fighting system is nothing without a strong cast of characters, and this is where Mortal Kombat 1 shines.

It’s here where I need to explain the name. Mortal Kombat 1 is another reboot in the series. it takes place in a new timeline created at the end of the last game. That’s why it’s called Mortal Kombat 1, because it’s meant to be a fresh start. So now the name makes a bit more sense. It’s still dumb, but at least you can see the logic in it.

I mention this now to say this. Because this is effectively a reboot, kind of since it also acts as a sequel to the last game, the roster is basically made up of new versions of the old cast. There are no new characters here, it’s all returning characters.

Which makes sense. You want to focus on things that are familiar to fans so you can better showcase what has changed in the new timeline. And because this is a new timeline a lot of the characters have seen some big changes to their fighting styles. For example, Johnny Cage doesn’t have any projectiles now, he’s entirely based on rush down and combos.

Don’t worry though, they kept most of the characters more iconic moves. Scorpion still has his spear, Sub Zero still has his slide and ice ball, Raiden still has his Superman fly, and Johnny Cage still has his nut punch. They still feel like the characters you know, just remixed slightly.

As for the selection of characters, it’s a very interesting one. You’ve got mainstays like Scorpion, Sub Zero, Liu Kang, Raiden and Johnny Cage. Characters that are pretty much a given at this point.

Then you have fan favourites like Reptile, Kenshi, Baraka, and Mileena. Characters that aren’t as ubiquitous with the series, but still have a strong presence that make them just as important. And in the case of Mileena an inevitable inclusion to satiate her rabid fan base.

But then you have the weird picks. The ones that no one expects, but you need to put them in anyway because it gives the roster a little extra spice. And Mortal Kombat 1 has plenty of weird picks.

Though these weird picks have a theme, they’re all characters from the 3D era. Reiko, Ashrah, Havik, Nitara, and Li Mei are all characters that haven’t been playable since Mortal Kombat Armageddon in 2006. That was 17 years ago, in one year it’ll be old enough to drink. Do you feel old yet?

Seeing these characters back is great to see, and the fact that they’re fun to play is all the sweeter. Though their inclusion highlights the fact that a lot of series mainstays did not make the cut. Sonya, Jax and Kano are now relegated to Kameo’s and those have been playable in every game since 9.

It’s bizarre not seeing them playable in this, though I suppose them being Kameo’s makes it easier to accept. Plus, I was sick of the Special Forces after 11. So not having to deal with that shit is a breath of fresh air.

Mortal Kombat 1’s roster is one of the weirdest in the series, and I mean that in the best way possible. There’s a much larger focus on the more fantastical side of the Mortal Kombat universe in this roster. In fact, outside of a few exceptions, almost all the roster is based on that side. Which is great for me because that was always the most interesting part of Mortal Kombat.

You could argue it isn’t as varied as past rosters. The game could have included some of the more grounded, tech-based members of the cast to add some contrast to things. But the roster has enough variations in fighting styles that it isn’t that big a deal.

All 23 characters have their own distinct playstyle. Reiko is a straight up brawler, Geras has a large focus on grabs, Reptile and Smoke are combo machines, Liu Kang has a strong zoning game, and Baraka is a rush down monster. There’s bound to be at least one character to fit your style of play.

Some characters are even more unique with their own mechanics. Kenshi is now a puppet fighter and can control a spirit to attack. Johnny Cage has a hype meter that, when filled, lets him cancel special moves into other special moves.

Then there’s Shang Tsung who can change from a young to an old version of himself which alters his moves, on top of his transformations into your opponent’s character. Though if you didn’t pre-order the game you wouldn’t be able to play him until he’s added as DLC, even though he’s playable in the Story Mode for a chapter. Goddamn it NetherRealm.

Questionable DLC practices aside, the roster is fantastic. One of the best the series has seen in a while. Even the Kameo roster is great as it features some of the more obscure characters of the Mortal Kombat series. The fact we got Sareena and Shujinko back, even just as Kameos, will never stop being bizarre to me.

So, the core gameplay here is very well done, but it does feel very safe at the same time. Despite all the changes, this is still the same Mortal Kombat we all know and love. It isn’t that radically different from the previous games. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing considering that Mortal Kombat has been pretty consistently good over the last few years. Even 11 wasn’t bad, I just didn’t like the changes that game made.

But I’m also at the point where I want something a bit more radically different from Mortal Kombat. Something truly fresh and original. Maybe a new attempt at 3D or maybe a new spin-off game like Shaolin Monks. The gameplay here is good, and the Kameo system is an interesting new addition, but the series is starting to stagnate a little bit when it comes to the gameplay.

But that’s the basics covered. Let’s finally talk about the actual content of the game. The various modes to play and all that. And I think the best place to start would be where I think most players would start, the tutorial.

Ok it’s not the most exciting way to begin, but it is where most players will go to first to learn the mechanics and controls. Though basics isn’t all you’ll learn because this tutorial goes deep. It not only covers the basic controls or mechanics, but it also covers things like frame data, frame traps, zoning and punishing. Most of which is something most of you won’t give two shits about.

That said it makes for a great primer for those looking to get into Mortal Kombat competitively. It’s a great resource for those looking to truly master the games mechanics. It isn’t a great tutorial. It is a bit dry in how it explains everything, and it lacks the character specific tutorials that Street Fighter 6 had, but it’s fine enough.

After you’ve finished learning the game, and probably had a little practice in, well, Practice Mode, you have a few options. You can either hop online to test your skills or try one of the single player modes. Of which you have three options.

The first one you’ll go for will probably be the Story Mode. This follows the tradition of previous NetherRealm games, being a big cinematic affair broken into chapters where you play as different characters. The only major change to this particular Story Mode are Test Your Might minigames where you mash buttons to win. Though these are infrequent and can be turned off if you don’t like them.

The story itself follows on from Mortal Kombat 11. After defeating Kronika and becoming the Keeper of Time, Liu Kang creates a new era of peace for all the realms. Resigning himself to be the guardian of EarthRealm, he gathers a group of champions for a new, less antagonistic version of the Mortal Kombat tournament with OutWorld.

Unfortunately, it soon transpires that sinister forces are working to undo the peaceful world Kang created. Those being the deadly alliance of Shang Tsung and Quan Chi, who are back to their evil ways due to the workings of a mysterious benefactor. Thus, it’s up to Liu Kang and his allies to put a stop to their machinations, but this Deadly Alliance isn’t the threat they should be worried about.

The story itself is one of the better ones in NetherRealm’s catalogue. While the stories of previous Mortal Kombat games were fun, they had some issues with the plot and characterisations. Mortal Kombat 1 does have some issues with those, but overall it’s very well done.

And if you thought the call out to the Deadly Alliance was a good throwback to the 3D era, it’s not the only one. The story here felt like a love letter to that era as it pretty much references or adapts most of the plot points from those games.

As someone who felt the 3D era has been seriously underrepresented in recent years, seeing not only 3D era characters return, but also them showing reverence to the story of those games made me very happy.

The thing that impressed me the most was the characters though. These are some of the best representations of these characters we’ve seen in quite a while. Characters like Mileena, Reptile and Baraka get much more interesting backstories, and Sindel is thankfully saved from the outright character assassination that happened to her in 11.

It’s also nice seeing characters that have never had a chapter before finally get a chance to shine. Reptile and Baraka no longer being relegated to jobber status is better character development than in most RPG’s these days. Not every character is given the same attention. Some do end up feeling underutilised and some outright vanish from the story after a certain point.

The story itself is set up more as an origin story. We get to see the beginnings for a lot of these characters like the formation of the Shirai Ryu or how Kenshi was blinded and got his powers. Given this is a new era it makes senses to do this, and some of the things they do with these characters are interesting.

Though I can’t say I’m a fan of everything they do here. I don’t mind the idea of Scorpion and Sub-Zero being brothers as it adds an extra wrinkle to their rivalry, but it does mean Scorpion loses his undead nature which is a letdown.

Some of the dialogue can also come across as too much like exposition for its own good. The game tries to set up a lot of things to the point where it can devolve into a lot of tell don’t show. Some of the dialogue can also get pretty repetitive, Reptile mentions his family so many times in Baraka’s chapter it almost became a joke.

The pacing is also a little slow in the early game. It takes a few chapters for the true plot to get going, and even some of the later chapters don’t have a whole lot that happens in them.

But I think my biggest issue with the story is that it goes off the rails in the third act. Granted I mean that in a good way too. The final chapters get pretty fucking wild, and it is fun to see it play out, but it also goes into multiversal shit which I’m seriously getting sick of. I won’t blame NetherRealm with that one as it is a big trend right now, but I hope that isn’t a plot point they keep around.

But the story was still a pretty fun ride. It had plenty of great character moments and fan service that made it worth playing through at least once. Though the ending did feel a little anti-climactic due to the lack of any real final boss.

Though if you want a bit more of the story, the individual character endings are meant to be canon to the main story, rather than be non-canon what if scenarios like the last few games. These are obtained through the Towers mode, which is a standard Arcade mode. Not much more to say on that really.

The last single player mode is a bit more substantial, Invasions. This is a big mission mode where you pick a character and travel across a series of maps completing fights along the way. Most of which have some unique modifiers attached to them.

It’s also got some light RPG elements. You’ll level up and increase your stats, there’s an elemental weakness chart similar to Pokémon, you can find relics which give you stat buffs, and there’s an additional mechanic where you can use medallions that have different effects.

You can even increase the power of these medallions at forges using materials you find. It’s not exactly a deep system, but it has some fun things about it. I mean one of the most powerful medallions I found was a fart attack, that alone has got to be worth something.

The main reason you’ll want to play this mode is the unlockables. Mortal Kombat 1 has a ton of things you can unlock from characters to Kameos to cosmetics. You can find a lot of these in Invasions by completing certain challenges or by opening chests you find, but a good chunk of them will be unlocked by simply playing as a character and levelling them up.

Every character has a mastery level, and by playing as them that will increase and you’ll earn new things like skins, profile pictures and finishing moves. It can be a bit of a grind to get everything, but fortunately most of this is purely cosmetic.

And as far as the characters and Kameos go, you’ll unlock the only unlockable character through Story Mode and the Kameo’s are unlocked by levelling up your profile which doesn’t take long at all. So all the important unlocks won’t take long to get.

Really my only major issue is that the second Fatalities aren’t unlocked until a character reaches level 14. Although it doesn’t actually unlock the Fatality itself, it just unlocks the button input in the move list. So if you just want to do them right away you can just look up the inputs online.

So that’s basically what Invasions is for. It’s to give you a bunch of fights to help level up your characters while also allowing you to unlock new cosmetic items for them. And it honestly isn’t a bad experience. Exploring these maps can be quite enjoyable and there’s plenty to find so it constantly feels rewarding.

But it also gets boring in long play sessions. Most of the fights aren’t all that different from one another even with the modifiers so it can get repetitive. Plus, some of these modifiers just piss me off. The one that turns the screen dark and the one that messes with your controls are the worst kind of challenge. Not being able to play the game properly isn’t challenging, it’s just annoying.

And some of these maps go on for way too long. So many branching pathways to go down that all just loop into each other, and the character moves so slowly through it too. I also don’t see the point of having towers in Invasions when it already has a section dedicated to them. They just drag things out even further.

But in small dose it can be fun, and there’s plenty of content to dive into. So much in fact that despite finishing it I technically haven’t. See Invasions is broken off into different seasons, each with its own maps, stories and set theme to the cosmetics you unlock.

The first season that I did was based around Scorpion, so all the unlocks have a fire theme to them. I don’t know what the other seasons will bring to the table, but if they can iron out the problems I have in later seasons, this could be a great mode.

But I still have issues with how grindy it is. Not only levelling up the characters, but also to earn enough seasonal currency. Yeah, you don’t just get cosmetics via finding them in Invasions, there’s also a seasonal store where you can buy them with currency you earn.

Now granted, after fully finishing one season I had more than enough to buy everything for the characters I did play. But if you want to get all of them, prepare to grind harder than Tony Hawk, or any more recent skaters I don’t know about because I’m an old man.

There’s also microtransactions in this with some of the cosmetics but to be honest, it’s completely harmless. There’s very little you can get with these and most of the good stuff is earned in game so it’s not a huge deal.

Aside from the grind, Invasions also requires an online connection which sort of defeats the purpose of it being a single player mode. I get why because of the seasonal nature of it, but it does mean if you have a bad internet connection you might not have the smoothest experience. Even I with my fairly decent internet connection had it crap out on me once or twice.

It also means a few years down the line when the servers are down you won’t be able to play it anymore. So hopefully we get an offline patch for it later on so we can still experience what it has to offer in 5-10 years’ time.

And that’s all Mortal Kombat 1 has to offer for single player. When you combine that with the online mode, Mortal Kombat 1 is a game with a lot to offer. Sure, it’s grindy, and the online could be more robust in what it offers, but it’s a pretty solid package in terms of content.

That said, something about it feels lacking and I don’t know what that is. Something about the earlier games felt more robust with their content. Maybe it’s because there’s no Krypt. You know the mode where you had tons of things to unlock in it. But the Invasions mode serves the same purpose and there’s a lot there so that can’t be it.

Maybe it’s the little things like there’s no real final boss which makes any tower run feel less substantial. That might be closer to the mark. There are just some little things missing in single player that make it feel lesser than its predecessors. You don’t even get character banter in them which sucks because some of it can be very funny from what I’ve seen.

Regardless I find little to fault Mortal Kombat 1 for. It’s pretty much the full package when it comes to a modern fighting game. Now in terms of how I compare it to Street Fighter 6, I think Capcom’s effort is the superior one.

Don’t misinterpret me, both these games are excellent. If you’re a fighting game fan I recommend both whole heatedly. It’s just that Capcom’s effort was a bit more ambitious with what it offered while NetherRealm played it a bit safer.

I mean Street Fighter 6 just did their own version of Deception’s Konquest mode and blew it out of the water. I’m just saying, maybe it’s time to try something new. There are inclinations of that here, but I hope the next game goes farther with them.

What we have right now though is still a really good fighting game. if you’re a fan of Mortal Kombat, even a super casual one like me, then it’s worth checking out. Though maybe avoid the Switch version, I’ve seen it, and it is not good. Oh, it is not good.

Mortal Kombat 1 is getting DLC down the line. We’ve already seen the first wave of characters and so far, it looks pretty good. I mean we have Homelander and Omni Man as DLC fighters so that already makes it worth it.

I don’t know what’s next for NetherRealm but hopefully it’s something interesting. Like, oh I don’t know, a remaster of a beloved spin off game fan have been clamouring for years. That would be nice to see… seriously Ed where the hell is Shaolin Monks HD?