Mortal Kombat might just hold the distinction of being the most rebooted fighting game franchise of all time. Sure, it might have only been twice at this point, but compared to the likes of Street Fighter and Tekken, who are still carrying on the same storyline after decades, Mortal Kombat is not the same game that it once was. This second reboot has led to Mortal Kombat 1, a full blown re-imagining of the series with new mechanics and gameplay, and this new direction bodes well for the future of Mortal Kombat going forward.
Mortal Kombat veterans will find much of the gameplay in Mortal Kombat 1 to be immediately familiar, as each character has a massive movelist filled with combo links and special moves, with players able to build huge combos by cancelling normal moves into specials. Meanwhile, those who are either of a lower skill level, or just like playing Mortal Kombat because they love watching the new fatalities, can skate by playing against their friends with the universal low sweeps, uppercuts and jump kicks.
Speaking of the fatalities, from what’s been shown in the Stress Test alone, it seems like Mortal Kombat 1 is taking the gore into a more comedic and goofy direction than Mortal Kombat 11’s hyper realistic, “traumatise the developers” approach to gore. On a human level, hopefully this style of violence will be healthier for the dev team as a whole, but the player isn’t losing anything in the process as there’s still plenty of “ugh, gross” moments that’d get a channel demonetised if they showed it. Trust us, we know.
However, it’s the new additions to Mortal Kombat 1 that really set the game apart from its predecessors, especially for those who love to spend hours in the lab working on new combos. Firstly, NetherRealm have reached back into the past, specifically MK: Armageddon, by somewhat reviving air kombat as a concept. Each character now has a specific set of combo strings in the air, giving players greater freedom of combo expression while making the gameplay much more dynamic.
The biggest new change to the formula this time around though is the introduction of kameo fighters, a separate roster of characters that players can choose from before a fight. Each kameo has their own moves and abilities, and can be called in with just the press of a button and a directional input. Like assists in tag fighting games, these kameos can be used to make certain moves safer, cover different parts of the screen to stuff aerial offense or just create even more intricate and beautiful combos.
For those who have been playing the single-player content of Mortal Kombat for the past two instalments, you’ll know that kameo fighters have basically been a long time coming, especially after Mortal Kombat 11’s Towers mode. The amount of assists and ludicrous power-ups you could call in during a fight made for some entertaining gameplay, especially when proficient players found perfect combo set-ups for a mode where they wouldn’t fight against other players. Why not bring that to the forefront and see what players can do when they’re competitive instead?
The stress test only features four characters and three kameo fighters, but the amount of combo expression and genuine creativity that’s been displayed by people who are much better Mortal Kombat players than me is truly staggering. It feels like the community is way more excited to get hands on with Mortal Kombat 1 than they ever were with Mortal Kombat 11, and that’s not to say MK11 was a bad game. It was great too, so if Mortal Kombat 1 is an improvement on that, we’re on to a winner come this September.
What some might also love about the Kameo Fighters is how they embody the history of the franchise, with the three that were available (Jax, Kano and Sonya) all sporting their classic attires and even using their old school fatalities too. Not only do they serve a gameplay purpose, but they also offer a lot of nostalgia for anyone who might be long-time MK fans who aren’t immediately sold on this new direction for the franchise.
But are they the be all and end all of the gameplay in Mortal Kombat 1? Yes and no. A skilled player without Kameo fighter assists can still body anyone who’s throwing out assists with reckless abandon, so it’s not like pressing RB/R1 is an instant win button for new players. Instead, they’re there to make a good or great player even better, giving them more options, tools and decisions to make during a fight, which should surely help the longevity of MK1 after it launches.
Considering the fact that an enhanced focus on combos and player expression is something that players were really asking for after the release of Mortal Kombat 11, it’s wonderful to see NetherRealm Studios apply that feedback to MK1 with the Kameo system. It’s somewhat sad to see the Variation system go, especially with the Kustom Variations players created in MK11, but Mortal Kombat 1’s Kameo system should make for a fun system for all players.
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