Mortal Kombat 1 represents a new era for the fighting game series. However, it also marks the first time in a while that a new Mortal Kombat title has been released where worthy competitors have been present. Games like Guilty Gear Strive and Street Fighter 6 have raised the bar for fighting games significantly since Mortal Kombat 11 released, and it’s on Mortal Kombat 1 to keep up.
Lets get it out the way first, this is the best Mortal Kombat game since Mortal Kombat (2011). Mortal Kombat X took things too far with the three character styles and bringing back Mortal Kombat 3’s terrible run system. Meanwhile, Mortal Kombat 11 went too far in the other direction by making a slower game where zoners like Jacqui ruled online, while still locking moves behind different sets of gear.
This time the game features a cast of 23 fighters, which is the smallest the series has had in the rebooted era, although this is made up for by the inclusion of 15 Kameo fighters. These work like Assists in Marvel Vs Capcom, where you can call these fighters in to perform moves, which can extend your combos or get you out of a jam.
While we love that this game has finally brought back some of the more esoteric characters from the series’ history like Reiko, Havik, and Ashrah, there are no newcomers in Mortal Kombat 1, resulting in a roster that is mostly made up of the usual suspects.
The Fatalities return in all their gooey glory. While we think the series also went a bit far with these in past titles (just look at Kenshi’s puppet fatality from Mortal Kombat X), Mortal Kombat 1 takes things back to the goofy tone of the original entries. While there are some that are hard to watch (Reiko’s are both gnarly) the Fatalities are a lot sillier this time – like General Shao’s helicopter or any of Johnny Cage’s – which is an extremely welcome return.
Mortal Kombat has been in a weird place with its story for a while; following on from the success of Mortal Kombat (2011) the series has struggled to hit the right mark with its plot, introducing new elements like the Kombat Kids and some time-bending freaks for Mortal Kombat X and Mortal Kombat 11. Now, three entries later, and Mortal Kombat 1 has decided to start over once again — at least that’s what it wants you to think.
After the ending of Mortal Kombat 11, Liu Kang has rewritten history and created a new universe where everything is fine. Thanks to Liu Kang’s intervention, Shang Tsung is a lowly snake oil salesman with no power in this timeline. That is until an unknown entity sets him on course to become his old self. Despite the name, Mortal Kombat 1 is absolutely a sequel to Mortal Kombat 11 rather than a full reboot like Mortal Kombat (2011).
The story begins by casting Raiden and Kung Lao as the heroes of the story; both protagonists are super fun to watch and their banter is charming, so it’s a shame they just disappear for large chunks of the experience. The same goes for Johnny Cage who shifts between feeling like he should be a great Will Arnett character, to being around to spout tired references. He also disappears in the third act.
Story mode is the same as it’s been since Mortal Kombat (2011) where you go through a number of chapters each focusing on a different playable character. However, it falls into all of the same issues that past stories have had. A lot of the plot has to rely on the characters in it making dumb decisions (we need to capture this person, we have a clear shot at them so let's attack the person they’re with and let them run off). Still, it’s probably our favourite one of the NetherRealm Studios story modes, especially since it goes completely off the rails in the final act with the final chapter being especially wild.
It should be noted, though, if you didn't like the dial-a-combo gameplay paired with the super stiff animations of the earlier games, you probably won't change your mind here. In addition, the developer's still struggling to make a proper grappler, with Reiko joining the likes of Bane and Swamp Thing in the low tiers.
Online multiplayer is basic, and although King of the Hill returns, that’s largely all that's available outside of normal Ranked and Casual matches. The netcode seems solid from what we played, but there really isn’t much to say outside of that.
The new mode Invasions is a pseudo RPG mode in which you’ll level up your characters and try to conquer a map. This mode sees you move your character around a board getting in scraps, while occasionally being given minigames like Test Your Might, as well as peppering in challenge towers (like you would see in Arcade mode) and boss fights with powered up characters. You can unlock some new gear for your character along the way which is purely cosmetic. The mode is poised to change with new boards and scenarios every season as the game’s life continues, but in its current iteration it’s a bit of a grind, and just a bit boring as you don’t need to put in much effort to best the NPCs.
The base tutorial is fantastic. It’s a very good way of teaching the game to newcomers, giving you an in-depth insight into every single mechanic available in the game, even down to the ones you’re unlikely to even use unless you’re a total pro player (which we unfortunately are not).
But for as good as the tutorial is, Mortal Kombat 1 really lacks when it comes to character specific options. While we didn’t want to keep making comparisons to Street Fighter 6 during this review, this is one area where Mortal Kombat 1 feels extremely dated. Where Street Fighter 6 offered in-depth character guides which would give you game plans and specific use cases as well as the normal combo trials, all that Mortal Kombat 1 does to teach you character specifics is seven combos each in the Lessons mode. Considering the sheer amount of variables due to the Kameos, it makes closing in on a main character a far more arduous task than it is in Street Fighter 6.
Conclusion
Like we said in the beginning, Mortal Kombat 1 is the best and most refreshing entry in the series since Mortal Kombat (2011), but it falls directly into the same traps as those prior entries. The core fighting is great thanks to the excellent Kameo Fighter system and increased pace (as well as ditching the styles and gear-specific moves), and the return of PS2-era fighters is fantastic. But sadly, the selection of modes and character-specific training options feel extremely dated – especially compared to Street Fighter 6.
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Comments 67
Here it is, any questions you may have feel free to fire them at me (just bear in mind that I'm not a pro player).
Also if Peacemaker gets added and doesn't have the 'Do Ya Wanna Taste It' dance as one of his finishers I'm coming back and taking away points*
*for legal reasons this is a joke
Love the MK Series and it’s awesome seeing it back in pop culture again! I loved MK11 as the first MK game I’d played since MK1 and MK2, so made me happy.
I’m sure more updates will come to the game and we’ll all be playing 4 years from now.
Think this is a fair score! Having played and finished the storymode I have walked away with a distinct feeling of "meh" after being excited from the trailers - NO SPOILERS - I am very disappointed with the way some characters stories have been told, but also like some of the team ups that seem so random. But glad that 3d era characters haven't been abandoned.
I can definitely see an aftermath type dlc being planned as its an easy cash cow but I also struggle to remember the ending because it was so "meh" and I finished it yesterday!
Invasion mode is pretty dull, and as I said previously from my beta experience it's feels a little sluggish to play. Wish this was more mk9 than mk11
Over all I'm not writing this off right away. Some of my complaints are probably down to me being a bit crap at the game!
I loved MK9 and the story mode.
I am a bit hesitant about playing this first or Street Fighter 6 as I usually play one fighting game in a year.
Hey! It's probably pretty stellar if one's day doesn't consist of playing video games every day, every week, every month, every year. Good review though.
See, I feel like the one person that felt like Street Fighter 6 was good but not great, so I’ve got high hopes for Mortal Kombat 1 to be my fighter of choice after loving the beta (though admittedly I’m not someone that has pro skill or whatever you’d call it… I am a filthy casual). It seems that many reviews are making straight comparisons from SF6 to MK1, which I enjoy very much. I honestly can’t wait for Tuesday to boot this up.
@somnambulance I don’t know sf6 gameplay is way better then mk1 and will have a way longer life. I guess if you a casual who just want to do fatality and mash buttons mk1 might be the game for you.
I got to say that I am disappointed in this game. First the roster looks like 1 character with a skin variation, they all look virtually the same. I can't for the life of me know who is Kung Lao or Raiden if I don't look at the hats lol
Anyway...there's barely any modes. Once you finish the story you either play Invasion or Towers. Towers are awful...there are no unique variations, things like Injustice 2 where there were online towers or whatever, tons of them to pick from. Here there are 5, all boring with no character intros and a boring drawing ending when you complete them.
The gear system is a bit boring with no Krypt, you just have to pray your 1000 coins give you anything good.
This is a remake so this was their chance to improve on gameplay and make characters more fluid and combos better, but they are still stiff and it's not as good as Tekken.
The only saving grace for me so far are the fatalities.
Time and time again, it's being proven that just shiny demanding graphics isn't the end of it all - Zelda, SF6, ER. Seems it's just Naughty Dog and Rockstar, well Guerilla these days, who are able to combine graphics and wonderful gameplay.
I still miss the 4 player tag team mode from Mortal Kombat 2011. That was so much fun.
@TheArt what's ER? Not Elden Ring is it? 😅
Why tutorial? Just smash random buttons and it will make something. I play this way since MK1 (true and only Mortal Kombat 1 from 1992) and it always worked. 😀
@4kgk2 That’s a subjective take. We don’t honestly know what kind of legs either game will have. Realistically, they’ll both be chugging out content for a while now. Also, gameplay too is preference.
For me, SF6 was an improvement over SF4 and 5, but I still much prefer the more retro titles in that series for gameplay. SF has always been more technical than MK, so, for the more esports minded, I understand that preference. I’m not a button masher, but I’m also not going to be playing in competitions. Whoever I play MK with will be in-person.
For me, I thought SF6’s story mode was sort of… there? I dunno. World Tour was goofy fun sometimes, but also really boring and archaic at times. I have a feeling MK’s single player modes may be more interesting, which is a sticking point for me. I already know both games are fun to play since I’ve sank enough time in SF6 to evaluate it properly and had a great time with MK1’s beta.
I'll wait for a sale before I pick this up. I'm still perfectly happy with SF6 for my fighting game needs personally. I honestly really miss the PS2 era MKs. I actually preferred the 3D mechanics compared to the 2D ones.
Plus they had Konquest mode. I really miss Konquest mode! World Tour in SF6 kinda filled in that gap a bit for me.
Still, sounds like MK1 is solid enough. Should be fun to play with a few friends here and there but it's going to take something drastic to knock SF6 off as my fighter of choice.
Time to work on Injustice 3 please.
@4kgk2 too bad people only use like 5 characters online in SF6. Who wants to fight kens on an endless loop all day for months?
I am still a bit turned off by the initial roster and the bizarre character choices for the DLC. I mean no Sonya, no special forces and it seems that almost all models are identical? I don't know I may wait for the inevitable Komplete edition.
@belmont special forces brought down the MK11 roster bigly. We had to have Sonya,Jax,and their kids and it was redundant. Imo they are the reason MK11 launched with ONLY 3 male ninjas and characters like smoke had to sit out.
@Shad361 You are right that some of the special forces characters are redundant but to kick out all of them? At least Sonya and maybe Jax could be in the initial roster instead of one or two of those that look the same.
@Shad361 I rather fight against the same 5 characters online than play a fighting game with clunky Animations and undercook gameplay mechanics. Mk1 will be dead by next year competitively sf6 will be played all gen competitively just like every mainline street fighter game before it.
I'll likely wait until the game is either on sale or we get a Complete Edition in the future before buying. I know NR has a ton of DLC planned so it may be more worthwhile getting the game once the DLC is all released.
@Deadlyblack good idea, I spent around 100$ for dlc, costumes and aftermath....
Then found a Complete edition at the local pawnshop for 12$! SMDH... lesson learned.
@4kgk2 because it’s street fighter. has nothing to do with quality SFV proved that already. MK never needed the fgc’s approval, you can get matches online extremely quickly even in MKX still.
Unless you’re good enough to get top 64 at evo it’s irrelevant honestly.
I would prob give it an 8, but the review is pretty much where Im at with it. Invasions is tedious and dull, and im already struggling to want to keep playing it, I really would rather have had the Krypt, it feels more in keeping with the games tone than a weird board game-esque thing.
Also the less Johnny Cage and Sonya Blade the better, there are far more interesting and exciting characters to be found than these 2 most obnoxious Yay America! Cringe Quip commentary sterotypes.
@Cherip-the-Ripper It is.
@Shad361
That seems a bit unfair to single out SF6 as only having 5 "viable" characters. I seem to run into a good amount of variety on SF6. In fact I had like a four hour long session online yesterday and only ran into two Kens. Heck I even got a Lily thrown in the mix!
Plus I'm sure MK1 will have a similar situation with most players most likely picking either a ninja guy or the ninja girls. I wouldn't hold it against MK1 if that turns out to be case either. Your never going to find a fighting game that has the entire roster used across the board evenly.
Ken and Ryu have always been very popular online in SF just like Scorpion and Sub-Zero in MK. It's just the way it is.
Interesting you compare to SF6 when that game has almost nothing to offer once the story mode is done without paying for battle passes and skins. MK1 has tons of stuff to unlock without paying and compared to SF6 its MTX are fairly cheap and inoffensive.
@AFCC How long is the story mode, please?
@AFCC This isn't a remake its a sequel/reboot.
@belmont The DLC characters are only bizarre to you because you don't know them. Homelander is free money for WB/NR especially as he's most likely going to drop when S4 of The Boys drops on Amazon meaning hype levels will be high.
The model similarities must be down to Fatalities needing a consistent skeleton to work properly.
@DennisReynolds Definitely nowhere near as good as Street Fighter 6. Story is fun, and the gore is goofy which is great, but online play is lag city, and oh man does this entry really cement my belief that, aside from being at the highest skill level, MK is definitely the scrubbiest fighting game. The things you can get away with due to lag, bad netcode, and awful character balance is hilarious.
The story mode in SF6 is also over 50 hours long with a TON of unlockables for your avatar, and the game doesn't need that much more to unlock when online play is immaculate and you have a great ranked mode with a fully featured arcade, a fully featured lab, and even party modes.
Kombat League SUCKS aside from unlocks, but those are basically just recolors as well. There were so many complaints from MK11 about Kombat League, and Neatherealm didn't listen at all. When I play I'm not trying to get better I am just trying to get my unlocks for the season, because I have no idea where I'm at skill wise, and the game wants to pit me against Apprentices and Kombatants when I'm in Champion which is just a big waste of time with me taking all the risk and no reward. I might as well just leave and requeue so I can get a match that will give me better rewards for playing a set. It SUCKS. It's basically a battle pass the trick into thinking is a ranked mode.
Invasion is OK, but it's obvious it was an afterthought, and it gets really boring after an hour or two with the only incentive being unlockables.
I agree, MK1 has better unlocks than SF6, but I thought this was a fighting game, not a Kollectathon. MK1 is definitely better at that than SF6 though.
@TheArt Nonsense. Zelda has great graphics for the platform its on.
@Scoopz Lol silly! Where did I say the graphics were bad... I'm saying masterpieces like Zelda, Elden Ring are not demanding on a technical level yet they're critically acclaimed.
@AFCC I enjoyed 11 had as much fun in it as I did the orignal mortal kombat trilogy. But every since I have seen 1 I was not impressed it looked like a step back. I'll keep playing street fighter 6 when I want to scratch that fights ich. I think it was rushed out to compete with all of these other fighters tekken and street fighter. I also think WB could have possible rushed neather realm to rush a game out to keep the mortal kombat hype going for the new movie. From what gameplay I've seen and from what I've read it's Luke warm at best and should have took another year to develop.
@PaperAlien Why not the crypt with fighting to unlock stuff. The chest stuff was boring as hell. I don't understand why they just don't put in some fights at iconic locations in the Krypt.
@TheArt Thats not what you said at all. But if thats what you intended through your previous message then fair enough. Communication is key.
@Constable_What I agree I loved MK11 but it's stupidity to lock stuff behind the Kombat league is terrible especially the coolest costumes locked away.
The other thing I would have loved to see was the tutorials that you could choose your character(s) to do the tutorial with.
@Constable_What SF6 has a fun story mode sure but i grew bored of it after a while as it just goes on and on with its awful story, small world and boring fights. Yeah your Avatar gets tons of unlocks cool but i don't give a damn about my Avatar when i'm not in story mode. Fact is MK1 has more unlocks then SF6 and reasons to keep playing, in MK1 i unlock recolours and new skins while in SF6 its either pay real money for skins and recolours or grind for actual weeks to earn the currency to unlock them. Is SF6 the better fighter in terms of gameplay? Hell yes i would never say otherwise and is the online side better? Again hell yes but MK for me is more fun and gives me more reasons to keep playing. Yeah the KL skins are recolours but like in MK11 they're very unique recolours and do more then a typical recolour.
@Flaming_Kaiser Could be worse as SF6 will force you to pay for them.
I have to say, this is the least interesting looking MK game in a while. I've always loved the series, but with Street Fighter 6 absolutely killing it, it's hard for me to look at this and feel like it's not just a slight update to MK11.
Great to see more dead boring games garner excitement from a public who’ll buy literally anything at this point..
Some people are just rains of sunshine, aren't they? I don't know if they realize how sad they come off most of the time.
Anyway, the game still sounds worth it to me, maybe not at full price, but definitely after the komplete edition is out. Still curious to see if Xena will be part of the DLC as suggested in the trailer.
@Shad361 Who wants to play a game where you fight the same Scorpions and Sub Zeros on loop everyday for months?
Or the same Sol Badguys and Ky Kiskes on loop?
Or the same Jins and Kazumas on loop?
It's almost like we are playing a fighting game. Lmao
@DennisReynolds Yeah it's mostly opinion, and MK 1 is still fun, and I like playing it. I don't mind the overpriced MTX in SF6, as I don't buy them and play on PC anyone and have mods, and if it's funding the game and offsetting the work they did especially for the netcode then its tolerable.
I would rather have that than Kombat League and obscene amounts of lag online. I also don't like that they have these paid skins just ready at launch, that kinda rubs me the wrong way, but they're not expensive, so it's tolerable.
Hopefully when skins for the main cast come out they aren't as expensive as the TMNT skins...and those skins were for the avatar as which is such a rip off lmao
@Flaming_Kaiser there are combo trials that might teach you the basics of your character, but sadly, that's as much as the game will go to help you learn.
You get a sheet in the option menu as well, with frame data, and the inputs for MK are really simple and responsive, but just held back online by bad netcode.
I would look at the combo trials for a character you want to play. I did that for Nitara, and then knew almost immediately I did not want to play her. Lol
Was expecting a bit of a higher score but MK X disappointed me a little and I didn't care for 11 at all so I'm not totally shocked. I've bought almost every MK game at some point, however, so will probably get this after it's re-released in a 'Komplete' edition and is a little cheaper.
@Dr-M SF6 is a lot better than this I think. That scored 9 and 10s and is labelled the best fighter for a long while. This is getting 7 and 8s.
Need to release a frame by frame pixel perfect arcade version of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3! Yay yay!
@Constable_What I’ve fought against more smokes and reptile raiden than those 2. You easily feel the difference in the roster size.
@Korgon people are picking Ken because they are settling. The game didn’t need half of those world warriors who are bottom 75% in useage.
lol a 7, hahaha. $70 for a 7 game , yeah this games relegated to a black-friday deal, if even that. hate to say it but mk11 looks better than this game in every way.
@Shad361
Or they could be picking Ken because they, you know, like the character. Plus he is easier to approach than say trying to play Dhalsim for example who is a difficult character to use.
However just because Dhalsim is a difficult character to use for beginners and so will obviously not be as popular doesn't mean he shouldn't be in the game. If anything that should just make players who choose a difficult character feel like they have an advantage as match-up knowledge will not be as prevalent as it would against a popular character.
Again the same applies to Scorpion or Sub-Zero who are much more approachable than other MK characters. That doesn't mean the rest of the cast shouldn't even be in the game. That's just silly.
@Constable_What I loved the tutorials in MK11 but the only thing i would love to see that you could it like that but with your favorite character. But it's somewhat weird MK11 ran quite well didn't it?
@Immortal_Barnet Thank you so much. I will play SF6 then may be I will play MK once it is on PS Plus or on sale.
@Shad361 Yeah that 1 extra character really makes a difference buddy. You really do feel that difference. LMAO
I see Lilys and Zangiefs all the time in SF6 who ate considered the worst in SF6, and I'm in Platinum for most characters, and Diamond for Juri and Ryu.
Have never ran into a single Nitara, never ran into a single Geras, have only played 2 General Shaos. Game has only been out for a few days counting Early Access. Give people a chance to "settle" as you say.
Also, Street Fighter 6 has a tendency to give you repeat matches against characters you lose against. It's to help you learn the match-up I think. I lose a lot to Guile, and so I get 2 - 3 Guile matches in a row sometimes.
@Flaming_Kaiser They both run the same I think.
They have similar if not the exact same hardware performance.
They both had very BAD lag in online matches. I think it's getting better faster in MK1, but it's not as good as SF6's netcode.
I notice a lot of lag during Fatal Blows, and it is really jarring, and it's consistent enough to where you will totally drop inputs a lot, but practicing online helps a lot with the weird timing.
@Constable_What I see all those characters in king of the hill. The number one player on the leaderboards used nitara. Most people play multiple characters too.
24 characters people actually wanted vs 18 characters filled with characters there was no demand for,and are thus underplayed. Who was clamoring for Blanka or Honda again? Not even a single SF3 character on the base roster.
@Shad361 a Blanka player made it to grand finals at EVO and it was a hype moment, and a ton of people play Blanka. JP and Luke, who are new, get a lot of play just as much as Ken, and and Ryu. Honda is annoying, but most people in SF6 play multiple characters as well.
Who is clamoring to see MK played at EVO? I can probably count them on my fingers. It's the Call of Duty of fighting games essentially, no one wanted to sit through 10 matches of Shieva stomps in MK11, and no will want to want watch Johnny Cage do the same string to make a combo 3 times either. And King of the Hill is a boring mode...at least Kombat League, which sucks, has some actual stakes involved.
@Constable_What Mena used Blanka, but he still has a low pick rate overall. Luke and JP are among the more common characters and people dislike fighting those 2,but I’ll give them a pass.
The real issue with the roster is they kept world warriors that didn’t need to be in,the game would have been much better with alpha/3/and even 4 characters in their place.
Evo means nothing btw unless you can get like top 64. I don’t understand why people who just play online try to use it to mean anything,the people who participate in that are a little fraction of the million of copies sold. SF6 had like 7K entrees I think? For a game that sold millions of copies.
@Shad361 I completely disagree about the Road Warriors not being in SF6. That's like if Liu Kang, Raiden, Johnny Cage, Sub Zero, and Scorpion weren't in MK. There isn't any issue with either game's roster, and Street Fighter's characters have more than twice the amount of moves you can do, with variations that can be had with Drive Rush and Impact, and 3 supers.
EVO means a lot in fighting games. 7K participants signed up to fight, and it's viewed by over 100K people during the stream with clips and videos of the event totaling in millions of views. I never said anything about participating, I said watching, and MK is has never been all that popular to watch competitively with a couple exceptions of course. It's not an interesting game to watch.
Guilty Gear is shaking things up in response to a lot of feedback due to watching the game as well as playing it. No one wants to watch Happy Chaos vs Happy Chaos mirror matches, and people don't like playing that either. It matters.
@Shad361 your point about playing against 5 charecters only in SF6 is objectively wrong. I've played it for more than150 hours and the characters I've played against on regular bases are very diverse, sure certain characters you see more than others due to their popularity and good moveset but it's not to the level where 80% of the time you play against those characters only.
This score seems arbitrary based on the pros and cons.
@Shad361 Ken's dope, get bent
@HwuaiLiang World Tour is fun, you should go back to it.
I will gladly take a more traditionally structured story mode that is just solid and enjoyable throughout over the ambitious but utterly janky world tour mode. I also think that SF games seem to be going backwards in terms of animation fluidity game by game to the point now where I find MK1 pretty comparable to what's on offer in SF6. Also Kameos change things up without potentially ruining the whole experience with a mechanic like drive impact. I may sound like a Netherreal fan boy but far from it. I just don't think SF6 is good and am hopeful for this as a modern alternative. Emphasis on modern as there is no way any game is going to unseat 3rd Strike and CVS2 from being my main options when it comes to good fighting games.
@Immortal_Barnet As an actual fan of classic street fighter I do not think SF6 is better. I feel at least MK1 lives up to the spirit of classic MK more thank SF6 and drive impact lives up to the legacy of great games like Super Turbo or 3rd Strike.
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