Mortal Kombat 1: The Kompetitive Fighting Game

MK1 Launch Image

If you are looking for a new fighting game or wondering what is on offer from some of the better known franchise, then look no further!

Mortal Kombat 1 is a fighting game released by NetherRealm studios on the 14th of September 2023.  Mortal Kombat is a brutal, interdimensional martial arts tournament where fighters from different realms battle to control or defend their worlds. The key realms are Earth realm, Outworld, NetherRealm, and Edenia.

One of the advantages of this game is the cameo system. This system allows you to use characters from the Mortal Kombat universe as a quick assistance. This can be used to extend combos that otherwise would not work as your character would be stuck in animation, or it can be used to break out of combos, thus you need to be careful when using it as it only has two charges which do recharge but if you use it wrong, you risk leaving yourself vulnerable.

MK1 Promo

One of the disadvantages of Mortal Kombat 1 - 'your new game' was the release on Nintendo Switch, as the Switch's processor could not handle the details of the game. This unfortunately caused the game to crash more often on the Switch than Xbox or PlayStation.  It also didn't do itself any favours by censoring itself due to the Switch's younger age group.

Another disadvantage of MK is the paid DLC. I believe this is a disadvantage as there is no way to unlock the DLC characters without paying for them. This means fans of the game might be discouraged from buying the game at all, as the paywall is quite large if you buy the game and all its DLC, which totals up to £83.50, so you can only imagine how much it would cost if you purchased the game without the DLC and had to buy them all separately!

A clear winner, is the game mode invasion. It explores different universes in the MK multiverse, thus opening the door to many concepts, which could be interesting depending on what they do with it. This feature could also be used to make players feel nostalgic by having you fight characters in their old game costumes, such as Sub-Zero in his Mortal Kombat retro outfit.

MK1 Menu

Through reading the reviews on Steam, I have determined that most people love the graphics, and can I blame them? No, I can't. Mortal Kombat 1 is by far the most graphically beautiful version of Mortal Kombat, the stages are brilliantly designed, the characters costumes are vibrant and the cutscenes are both funny and interesting, however, the microtransactions are really hitting the news in the reviews. People believe the DLC and cosmetics are a waste of money and that is dragging MK1 down. Fans are very confused why they brought the T-1000 to the game as a PAID DLC when we had the T-850 in MK11, instead, they suggested replacing the T-1000 with Sonya Blade as a playable character.

Overall, I believe MK1 is a great game but is going down the wrong path with DLC paid for content. If you are a fan of the franchise or fighting games in general,m you won't be disappointed with the usual button bashing delight or chaining combos to your heart's content.

You can watch the launch trailer of the definitive edition here.