The good people of Warner Bros. Games allowed us to glimpse what’s to come in the realm of Mortal Kombat. As some of you might already know, Mortal Kombat is getting rebooted (or rebranded) as Mortal Kombat 1. This weekend was the first online stress test and an ideal moment to try out some of the new things added to the game.
Reboot
I remember the days of the original Mortal Kombat arcade cabinets being crowded by many kids and adults at my local arcade. The game looked incredible for the time and was an instant favorite to gobble up my coins. The console versions of that time were best sellers although they couldn’t quite get the feel of the arcade. With later iterations on better hardware, the games started to shine with blood splatters all around the screen. Combining the “horsepower” of newer-gen consoles with an arcade stick felt like the ultimate form of what I experienced in the arcades years back. The games kept expanding and added a gigantic roster of fighters both from the Mortal Kombat canon and other franchises to become an even bigger success. This was cultivated in Mortal Kombat 11 a behemoth of a fighting game. I remember wondering what would be next.
Mortal Kombat 12 would’ve been a logical continuation but Warner Brothers Games and NeatherRealms decided differently. A reboot was needed and as such they aptly named the newest iteration of the game: Mortal Kombat 1. A blank canvas to tell a different story with familiar characters. The trailer narrated by Liu Kang explained a new era has started to bring peace to all. As expected… there is always something to fight over. This time you can fight against your usual rival but you can also decide to stand next to each other as brothers and sisters and combine forces in battle.
Kameo
At first, I wasn’t sure what they meant with the whole combining forces thing during the trailer but now I know they were referring to the “Kameo’s”. A reboot would’ve been great to get rid of the obnoxious use of the letter K for every word beginning with a C but alas one “Kan’t” have it all I guess. But back to the Kameo mechanic. In the stress test, we got to choose our main fighter after which you can also choose an extra fighter. This extra fighter will then act as a sort of hype man during the fight and can occasionally interfere during the fights to get you out of a sticky situation or to deliver that blow to start your epic combo and finish your opponent. This adds other possibilities to an already big list of moves. They also add a bit more cinematic flair to the “fatal blow” attack and the fatality.
Feels familiar
Changing the name to Mortal Kombat 1 might entice players to think they will get a fresh new version of Mortal Kombat but that might not be the case based on what I experienced. The game felt very familiar and in my opinion, that is a good thing. As a fan of the game, I don’t want big changes. I want great gameplay, bone-crushing punches and kicks, extraordinary gore, and maybe a not-so-much-game-changing new mechanic to spice things up. I think Mortal Kombat 1 will just deliver that and I’ll be a happy gamer.
A lot to be revealed
With this stress test, I got to test out Liu Kang, Sub-Zero, Kitana, and Kenshi as the main fighters. For the Kameos I could only get Kano, Sonya, and Jax. With 20 greyed-out slots on the character selection screen, there is obviously still much to come. More Kameos, more locations, more modes, and more epic fatalities all lie ahead. I for one, am already getting excited for what’s to come on September 19th. The servers for online gameplay worked like a charm for most of my time spent on the game. Knowing WB games, they will make sure everything works smoothly for release.
