Mortal Kombat 1 (19th September 2023)

[Julius]

Quote

A new era has begun. Check out the brutal announcement trailer for Mortal Kombat 1, the next game in the fighting series. Discover a reborn Mortal Kombat Universe created by Fire God Liu Kang. Mortal Kombat 1 ushers in new era of the iconic franchise with a new fighting system, game modes, and Fatalities. Mortal Kombat 1 will be available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, and PC on September 19, 2023. Pre-orders are available on May 19, and PlayStation and Xbox players will receive Beta access, available in August.

In Mortal Kombat 1, NetherRealm's Story Mode returns featuring unexpected twists on classic rivalries and original backstories for a wide-ranging cast of legendary fighters, including Liu Kang, Scorpion, Sub-Zero, Raiden, Kung Lao, Kitana, Mileena, Shang Tsung, Johnny Cage, and many others. Mortal Kombat 1 will also introduce Kameo Fighters, a unique roster of partner characters that can assist during matches.

Let's pretend we had no idea that this was happening because NetherRealm seem to want to challenge Ubisoft for the title of Leakiest (totally a word) Ship™ 

Turning into a great year for the big-hitting fighting games, between this, Street Fighter 6, and Tekken 8 being scheduled for later this year/early next! 

Edited May 18, 2023 by Julius

[bob]

Will I know what's going on if I've not played Mortal Kombat.....er...is this the first game in the series?

Didn't we get to 10 already?

[Glen-i]

6 minutes ago, bob said:

Will I know what's going on if I've not played Mortal Kombat.....er...is this the first game in the series?

Didn't we get to 10 already?

I'm gonna guess that it's a "Metroid Zero Mission style" take on the first game. General setting will be the same, but production values will be far higher then back then.

[Dcubed]

I know this was leaked ages ago, but it’s still genuinely surprising that they’re actually going ahead with a native Switch port this late into the console’s life.

Fair play to them.

[darksnowman]

Good to know there's a backup option if my SNES cart packs it in.

[Ashley]

I know it's always been the franchise's thing but something about seeing those violent deaths in realistic graphics is just off-putting to me

[Glen-i]

15 minutes ago, Ashley said:

I know it's always been the franchise's thing but something about seeing those violent deaths in realistic graphics is just off-putting to me

Yeah, the jump to HD has kinda catapulted Mortal Kombat from peak 90's cheesy and edgy-ness to just plain uncomfortable.

Edited May 19, 2023 by Glen-i

[Helmsly]

On 5/19/2023 at 5:59 PM, Ashley said:

I know it's always been the franchise's thing but something about seeing those violent deaths in realistic graphics is just off-putting to me

I know what you mean. Back in the 90's I took Mortal Kombat's violence the same way as seeing the Itchy and Scratch cartoon in the Simpsons. It was so cartoony it felt so ridiculous and funny.

The series has gotten so realistic, that anytime I see clips of it, it feels a little off-putting.

 

Edited August 27, 2023 by Helmsly

[Helmsly]

I've been watching some of the footage that has been coming out for this game recently, its looking pretty good

 

 

[S.C.G]

Mortal Kombat 1 Available Now

Now up on the main page

- - - - -

Check out this excellent article put together by @Josh64 which highlights all the key points surrounding the less than favourable Switch port of the game.

"Mortal Kombat 1 is available now for the Nintendo Switch, but should you buy it? Head inside to see what players, the media and the creators have been saying."

 

[Hero-of-Time]

The last of my Black Friday purchases arrived the other day....

Spoiler

 

...and this was one of them.

I've missed the last couple of Mortal Kombat games but kept up to date with the lore. With what happened in the last game, I was eager to see how things would play out now that the universe was set back to zero.

NeatherRealm Studios have made some amazing games that usually have engaging narratives, with plenty twists and turns on offer. Injustice 2 has yet to be beaten in my eyes. A story that I loved so much that I ended up buying the TPB series to get more out of the story.

I finished the main campaign yesterday afternoon...

...awesome stuff. Resetting the MK world made for a very interesting storyline and there were so many nods for fans of the series. I was smiling throughout most of the cutscenes, most of which featured some epic battles. 

Spoiler

The story being flipped so Scorpion is the good guy and Sub-Zero was the one to betray the clan was genius. It was made even better by Scorpion being the one who ended up with the scar across his eye.

Kenshi having his eyesight was another nice twist. Shame that it was once again taken away from him. Still, the moment he regains it was very hype worthy.

Shao Khan being relegated to a general was an interesting choice but he still managed to cause chaos.

Raiden being picked to defend Earthrealm in the tournament instead of Liu Kang was another great choice. With Liu Kang now doing Raidens job the roles were once again flipped.

Jonny Cage was hilarious throughout the whole thing. He kept throwing out movie lines that nobody else had a clue about. 

The last few chapters are absolutely bonkers. It involves various timelines and characters from each of them appearing. It puts the Marvel Multiverse to shame.

There are 15 chapters to play through, which feature roughly 4 fights each. You have to use a different character for each of the chapters and who your use is dicated by the storyline. It keeps things fresh and gets you used to using most of the roster.

There's still a load more content to get through. There's Invasion mode (currently grinding on this) that has you walking around giant maps and taking part in fights with a variety of handicaps and different rules being thrown at you. There's also Tower mode where you are pitted against a variety of opponents that get progressively harder as you make your way up. 

I had a quick go of the online modes. Thankfully I only need to play a couple of these for trophies. The matches I played I got absolutely butchered by my opponents. Most of the time I didn't even get off the starting blocks and was instantly thrown into a combo.

Invasion mode is where the majority of my time will be now that the story is over. This has seasons in it which means maps rotate every couple of months. It's due to change in the next 11 days and so I'll need to hammer out what I need before this change happens otherwise I lose certain progress and have to start from scratch. There's a trophy requiring you to max 5 of your Kameo characters in Invasion mode. It's a massive grind and appears to be the platinum killer for most people.

NeartherRealm have once again made a cracking fighting game with MK1 and I think the story from Injustice 2 has finally been topped.

[Julius]

1 hour ago, Hero-of-Time said:

The last of my Black Friday purchases arrived the other day....

  Games (Hide contents)

 

 

Sees Armored Core VI

(also, great write-up on MK1 )

[Hero-of-Time]

The game is Komplete

I spent most of the day grinding towers in order to level up my Kameo characters. I had to go from a tower of level 10 all the way to level 56. There are 10 fights per tower and every time you finish one it levels up by one. That's close to 500 matches I had to do, each one getting harder as the levels went up. It wasn't too bad though because I had created a talisman that I could equip that makes short work of most matches. Still, it took a fair bit of time to do though.

What was a nice surprise was finding out I'm number 1 in the world for how quickly the platinum was achieved.

Again, loved the game to bits. That's both Sonic Superstars and now this that are both GOTY contenders on my list. Once I get around to playing it, it will be interesting to see how Street Fighter 6 compares with this.