Let’s just get this out of the way: Mortal Kombat X is the best Mortal
Kombat, period. It’s deeper, mechanically richer, and more fully
featured than any of the nine games before it, hands down. On top of
that, developer NetherRealm Studios has taken a bunch of risks by adding
eight entirely new characters to the MK roster, while introducing fun,
distinct variations to returning ones. Each of these risks pays off to
varying degrees, but they also serve to highlight some of the ways in
which the franchise is stuck in the past. Mortal Kombat X is an
excellent fighter, and the most fun I’ve ever had with a
Mortal Kombat game.
The first thing MKX does to make itself feel new and exciting to both
old series fans and casual fighters is a major roster shakeup. Before
DLC ever enters the picture, MKX sports a respectable 24 fighters, and a
whopping one third of those are honest-to-goodness new characters; not
palette swaps or tweaked alternate versions of existing ones. Few
fighting games with such a deep vault of fan-favorite characters have
cleaned house so completely, and MKX is so much the better for it. Sure,
I go way back with guys like Kabal and Smoke, but fresh faces like
Takeda and Kung Jin bring so much novelty to the table gameplay-wise
that it’s hard to be sad about their absence.
Takeda is the most eye-catching new design, and he
exemplifies what MKX does right with its new characters. He fights like
you’d imagine a 21st-century ninja might, with an interesting mix of
traditional weaponry and high-tech gadgetry. He’s got remote-controlled
laser swords he can plant and recall at will, explosive kunai throwing
knives, and arm-mounted, retractable grappling hooks that can open up
into imposing blade-covered whips. He wields it all with a confident
martial arts swagger that makes it all seem somehow plausible.
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