Mortal Kombat 1 Gameplay: The Hits and The Misses

A franchise for hardcore fighting game crazies, Mortal Kombat is back, and it’s ticked all the right boxes. So much so that I don’t remember a game doing this well right from Early Access ever before.

What makes it all tick is the new, revamped, refurbished, and rechanneled Mortal Kombat 1 gameplay mechanics.

Nothing else matters more for a fighting game than this but MK1 has scored at least 9 out of 10 already based on just fan response and it’s already gunning for GoTY.

Here’s a brief look into MK1’s gameplay features, the hits, and the misses (there are some misses!)

Mortal Kombat 1 Gameplay: The Hits

MK1 brings a large body of upgrades, updates, revisions, and reimagined gameplay that has generated positive fan response so far and that’s the way it looks like it’s going to stay. Here’s what they like –

A Big Deep Story

Spread wide over 15 chapters and divided into 4 acts, you get to dig into the main thing from 14 positions to finish big with Chapter 15. That means you play through 14 different character entries, unique cutscenes and fights.

Each new MK1 experience lasts 8 hours.

Based on just that, the franchise has outdone its best efforts before MK1.

As for the stories, MK was always about extended cutscenes. And the story’s great right from the start with Liu Kang creating an alternate new universe using the divine Hourglass of Time.

Kameos: The Best Thing That Ever Happened to Mortal Kombat

Kameo Fighter	Details
Darrius	Ex-member of Red Dragon clan
Cyrax	Former Lin Kuei assassin
Goro	4-armed Shokan warrior – a champion of Mortal Kombat.
Jax	Special Forces operative
Kano	Leader of the Black Dragon clan
Khameleon	Female reptilian warrior who can mimic the abilities of other fighters.
Sareena	Demon Assassin
Sektor	Lin Kuei assassin
Sonya	Special Forces operative
Stryker	Police officer

With the Kameos feature, MK1 has grunted ahead of the competition.

This is where you get to bring in other characters, some playables and some Kameo only characters, right in the middle of battles to win them.

No need to control Kameo characters, they’ll do their damage auto. But what character you’re playing and what you bring as a Kameo adds new meta to the game.

Fans are hot.

Brownie points for bringing established characters into the game again without over-arching the central storyline.

What this means is – you can play as Kitana against Kitana with Sareena or Sonya.

Or a huge number of combinations that would’ve not been possible if not for the system.

Surprise Role Reversals

Mortal Kombat 1 characters mostly include old faces but in a new light. We’re seeing returning characters only unless you get the Kombat pack and find classic WB characters pitted against MK’s old bunch.

But the most piquing thing about some new characters is their role reversals, mostly from evil to good, except one (in case you haven’t played it yet!)

So here, we see Reptile being a good guy who can go invisible and do some mischief while at it. Or Mileena being the bigger and softer sister to Kitana and not the jealous evil clone.

I like how the twist is right from the character itself.

Covered All Bases

Great graphics. Thick story. 30-year-olds looking better. Limited bugs on release. Quick response to bugs with a patch note (all this before the official release date). Even a new game mode.

NetherRealm Studios has perhaps the perfect game release.

Mortal Kombat 1 Gameplay: Misses

No In-Screen Kombo Pins

This was part of MK meta. Pin the combos on the screen.

But now, you need to interact with the combo menu and select moves in battle.

Or did NetherRealm expect gamers to start meming the move combos straight before each battle?

The meta’s harder than before and the combo list is longer than before as well. So, to get the best gaming experience from MK1, you need to pro up.

Unless Nether adjusts that too with a patch. They should.

Same Old Same Old

Representation across the characters should appeal to the global audience if that’s the intent of the roster.

We wanted some new characters.

The only new MK1 characters we get are in the Kombat pack!

Nether played it safe and it has worked out. But they should add more characters. Right to the base game. Not as DLCs.

When it’s this good you want better. That’s probably the only thing that’s wrong with the Mortal Kombat gameplay mechanics. Other than that, this is the best Mortal Kombat game yet and a proper contender for GOTY or maybe even DOTY.