It wouldn’t be right to call its absurdity just a way to move from fight to fight, but it’s not necessarily wrong to say that, either-there are options to skip through cutscenes and right into ripping off Sonya Blade’s face. But there’s a self-awareness there that’s more clever than others in the genre. With such a large cast of characters-ones that are dead, then alive, then dead-alive again-it’s impressive that NetherRealm is able to untangle such a complex mess into something understandable and intriguing. McCarty wrote in “Splatter Movies” that plot “is only a method of getting from one gory episode to the next,” but that’s much too simple of a premise for “Mortal Kombat 11.” The game’s lore is tangled up in decades of games and movies. It’s a level of absurdity that’s expected out of a “Mortal Kombat 11″-of course, Johnny Cage can fight himself, and it’s now lore. A time-wielding character, Kronika, bends time into itself, which causes characters long-gone-or dead and “alive” as the zombie-esque versions of themselves-to fold into present day, meaning Johnny Cage gets to meet the younger version of himself.Īnd that is just the beginning. Much of the story centers on balance between light and dark in the world, through each of “Mortal Kombat 11’s” worlds. “Mortal Kombat 11” picks up after the last game in the series, “Mortal Kombat X,” with Raiden contending with the power of Shinnok’s amulet. You need the bad jokes and obnoxious narcissism of a character like Johnny Cage to break the tension of violence, a reminder of what the experience is. And that’s not surprising for the notoriously campy series, each game outdoing itself with guts and chaos. For every body torn apart, “Mortal Kombat 11” has an equally ridiculous storyline to follow. In “Mortal Kombat 11’s” case, forget a little bit, though it’s pushing things straight off the edge. Comedy and horror are often both about excess, pushing things a little too far. (One of the more ridiculous ways, as demonstrated by “Mortal Kombat 11,” is a mega crotch-kick that forces the spinal cord to eject straight up through body.) The premise of such violence is so excessive as to be ridiculous-silly, even.Īnd it makes sense. Players come to the game in anticipation of all the ways a body can be skewered or a spine can be ripped from a human body. (Some of the online, timed challenges in the tower modes will be frustrating for new players who don’t have move sets and blocks memorized, as difficulty there can’t be adjusted.) As welcoming as a “Mortal Kombat” game can get, at least.īut it’s that excessive, over-the-top violence is expected of a “Mortal Kombat” game.
It’s still not a newcomer-friendly game, but the tutorial system is thorough enough to be, at least, more welcoming. An expanded tutorial section, which is impressively robust, makes it a bit easier for newcomers, allowing players to adjust to “Mortal Kombat 11’s” peculiarities and learn different tactics. The challenge it presents is frustrating but rewarding when you’re unable to land a combo or counter a nasty move, you know it’s on you-not janky controls. Like the game before it, “Mortal Kombat 11” fighting centers on focus, control, and timing nailing all three without being distracted by the gruesome nature of the game is a challenge. New abilities are exciting to learn, and perfecting old moves is rewarding. There’s so much in “Mortal Kombat 11’s” fighting, with plenty of complexity to focus on. If you think too hard about your own teeth being crushed by a fist’s impact, you’re not going to want to play this game for too long. It’s a different experience than with a film the horror of a murder scene will pass, but “Mortal Kombat 11” is about experiencing that over and over again. (The characters do show some damage in “Mortal Kombat 11”, with increasing blood stains or gouged out body parts-even so far as just sweat building on characters’ faces.) But the dissociation is essential in simply being able to watch the gruesome “crushing blows” or “fatalities” over and over again. Plenty of times, Johnny Cage will get sawed in half just to jump right up to continue fighting. It’s not only because the game requires a suspension of belief in how characters survive, despite otherwise unsurvivable circumstances. To play “Mortal Kombat 11,” which is available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC, and Nintendo Switch, it’s necessary to remove any sort of humanity from the game.