Mortal Kombat 1 Review: How Does It Fare?

It has officially been more than a week since Mortal Kombat 1 released on Sept. 19 for the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5 (PS5), and Xbox Series X, and PC.

Longtime fans of the Mortal Kombat series were excited to hear that Mortal Kombat was making a return with a remake of the story that started it off, while being a continuation of the previous installation, Mortal Kombat 11. 

With casual and competitive players picking up copies, fans and newcomers alike have voiced their opinions about the games content, performance, and quality of life features. However, the opinions have been rather split between the fanbase. 

While the gameplay is refreshing with new characters, stages, and mechanical aspects. There are some quality of life changes that are missing that perhaps should have been included.

For example, in the training room, players can no longer pin inputs or special moves on screen anymore. Making practicing combo strings tedious by having to go back to the menu screen to look at the inputs over and over. 

The online experience

Online, there is also no report system, so players can almost freely get away with unacceptable behavior that goes against guidelines of online play. For players wanting to mute players, it is a setting that is adjusted to be “off” so players will have to manually turn it “on” to mute players in voice chat. 

Another factor that could contribute to the dissappointment of the online mode is that there is currently no crossplay. Street Fighter 6 has crossplay capabilities and Katsuhiro Harada, Tekken’s game director confirmed that Tekken 8 will have crossplay.

While NetherRealm has given fans the news that they will implement it in the future, though a date was never confirmed. It is simply that it was not available upon release, which could have left fans wishing they had it like other fighting games.

Rematching online can lead the game to sometimes “black screen” where the game just stays that way and you have to force close it and start it up again.

In fact, Mortal Kombat 1 has added a “bug reporting” system, which allows people to vote on bugs they have encountered. All the major bugs found have at least over 150 votes. 

While the game has added much in terms of single player content, the “Invasion” mode, which is a overworld map with several routes and battles the players partake in, can require a good amount of time playing just to unlock cosmetics for characters that you not even want or have many tedious battles that players may not enjoy.

Performance has also been an issue with some consoles and PCs. Specifically with the Nintendo Switch version. Compared to other platforms, the Switch falls behind in almost every way imaginable. From long load times to graphics having to be stuffed severely to be able to run properly on the switch, all while being the same price at $70, despite performing and looking better anywhere else. 

However, players are enjoying the game. New and old characters returning to Mortal Kombat can bring fans a new and refined gameplay with the addition of the “Kameo” system, which is a support system, something that has not been included in a Mortal Kombat game before. 

With different movesets for characters making their reappearances, new interactions, new fatalities, and new combinations of fighters and kameos. Mortal Kombat 1 is a game that has potential to be a fantastic fighting game with patches to fix recurring problems for players who face them.

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