Review: Brutal ‘Mortal Kombat X’ Dials Up the Gore — and the Grins

It’s not just about Fatalities.

You’d be forgiven for thinking that’s all there is to Mortal Kombat X. The latest in a fighting game series best known for its gruesome kills turns the Disgust-o-Dial up so high, your eardrums just burst and blood is shooting out of your head like the fountains at the Bellagio.

You’re going to wince while playing this game. You’re going to instinctively grab at whatever body part one insane fighter tore off another just to reassure yourself that you’re OK. You’re going to make all kinds of awful sounds and faces and pretend as best you can in front of your family that you’re not secretly loving every second of this demented horror show.

Because you are. Mortal Kombat X doesn’t hide its gleeful gore, but it doesn’t use it to mask an inferior game either. This is a beautifully built, miles-deep brawler that somehow works for both new players and vets of the fighting game scene. It’s confident, fast, fun, and yes, absolutely, gratuitously, gloriously violent. It’s just what it should be.

Developer NetherRealm Studios, led by original Mortal Kombat creator Ed Boon, has retrofitted just about every part of the excellent 2011 Mortal Kombat reboot on which the new game is based. You’ll see plenty of familiar faces among the 24 fighters — fans of Sub-Zero, Scorpion, Sonya Blade, Johnny Cage, and the rest of the old-school crew will be pleased as punch — but you’ll also find 8 totally new ones.

The technologically enhanced ninja Takeda, wielding chain whips and lightsaber-like swords, effortlessly slides into the lore. Crazy Outworld characters like the winged, insectoid D’Vorah and the Master Blaster-esque brute Ferra/Torr are as playful as they are potent. It’s a family thing, too, as characters like Cassie Cage and Jacqui Briggs fight alongside their famous parents. Best of all, these aren’t just color-coded variants of other fighters — they’re deliberately crafted and smartly balanced.

You’ll meet them all in the game’s Story Mode, a brisk four-hour journey through the disjointed, multifactioned world of Mortal Kombat. If you’ve come to this game searching for narrative consistency and meaningful character studies, you’re bananas and you’re lying to yourself. No one comes to Mortal Kombat for the story, but credit NetherRealm for going for it, because wow, do they go for it.

It’s all here: young love, old grudges, family strife, reckless double-crossing, terrible one-liners, and countless gallons of blood. There’s a core plot here — it’s about the evil elder god Shinnok breaking out of a magical amulet and rebuilding the world in his dark vision — but fans will get more of a kick out of the character backstories. Wondering what Jax has been up to? Curious how Reptile fits into this mess? It’s a “Where Are They Now?” episode of a soap opera embedded in a gross-out action film, the telenovela version of Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky. Though it falls back a bit heavily on noninteractive cutscenes (you’ll spend as much time watching as playing) and dated quick-time event sequences, it’s a fine introduction to the cast.

New features abound in Mortal Kombat X. Each fighter now has three “Variations” that grant different moves and abilities. Scorpion’s Ninjitsu stance, for example, adds a handful of powerful sword attacks, while his Hellfire variation turns him into a flame-wielding nightmare. Understanding how the variations change each character’s play style — one variation might encourage aggression, while another grants defensive moves — adds a thick layer of depth to what’s already a pretty burly combat system.

But it’s also surprisingly welcoming. If you’ve played any Mortal Kombat game in the past 23 years, you’ll feel comfy with the sharp controls and familiar move sets. Scorpion still uses his trusty “Get Over Here!” harpoon. If Raiden’s “Electric Fly” move was your jam, well, it’s still your jam. Concise tutorials, a practice mode, and even a Fatality training section help ease you in.

Granted, you’re going to need to spend a great deal of time perfecting the art of kick-ass if you want to actually play against other people, but even here, Mortal Kombat X delivers. The single-player experience is robust. Aside from one-off fights, you can hop into a variety of tournament-style Towers to hone your skills. Online-only “Living Towers” are frequently updated by NetherRealm, which has gone to great lengths to add variety to the basic match type.

Hundreds of crazy modifiers turn a straightforward fight into a comically insane cartoon. Perhaps you’ll be assaulted by rockets, or the world will randomly tilt, or you’ll gain a suit of armor, or slip on puddles, or wear low-gravity jump boots. It sounds gimmicky, but the modifiers introduce fun new challenges even many hours into the game.

At the very start of Mortal Kombat X, you’re asked to join one of five Factions. Pretty much everything you do both on- and offline can contribute to your Faction’s standing in the Faction War metagame. If your Faction is ahead at the end of the week, you’ll gain some Faction-specific rewards, like new Fatalities. You don’t need to play online to help your Faction — score high in a few Towers and you’re doing your part. It’s a clever way to keep you invested, and the fact that noncompetitive play contributes means even shy fighters can be part of a global team.

The secret-filled Krypt returns as well, though this time it’s a bizarre first-person jaunt through a spooky graveyard. This is where you spend earned cash to unlock costumes, art, and moves, and while I appreciate the more immersive look and feel, it’s needlessly hard to navigate and wonkier than it should be. I just want a new Fatality for Sub-Zero, not a crummy adventure game.

And I really want that Fatality, because despite what I said at the start of this review, of course it’s about Fatalities. It’s Mortal Kombat! You’re here for blood and guts and hoo boy, are you gonna get it. You will laugh, you will cry, you will gag at the wonderfully depraved things these fighters do to one another. I could describe a few, but why bother? Imagine something nasty involving a sharp object and a squishy body and it’s probably in there. I will say this much: brains, eyeballs, and innards. You’re gonna see them all.

NetherRealm has even added a few new ways to dispatch its cast. Brutalities are essentially tricky Fatalities, often requiring specific final moves to trigger. Factions get their own kills as well, and they’re mercifully easy to pull off (though less exciting than the standard Fatalities). No matter which kind of -ality you choose, you will feel pretty great/lousy about it.

Unfortunately, the Fatalities also bring up a sore spot with Mortal Kombat X: A weirdly heavy focus on microtransactions. You’re granted a few “Easy” Fatality coins at the outset, but if you want more, you’ll have to randomly find them in the Krypt or cough up real-world dough ($1 for five Fatalities). “Press Triangle to Buy Goro” is parked on the startup screen. You can unlock the entire Krypt for $20. A $30 “Kombat Pack” unlocks four extra characters. It’s just entirely overbearing for a $60 game, and while you can totally not pay anything extra and have tons of fun, it’s hard to ignore the greed emanating from the game’s menu.

Besides, it’s not like Mortal Kombat X needs more meat. This is already a full package, a hilariously nauseating, content-rich fighter that will entertain casual fans and die-hard contenders alike. Just don’t play it on a full stomach.

What’s hot: Fast, fluid fighting; character variations; tons of depth and modes; those fabulous Fatalities

What’s not: Those not-so-fabulous microtransactions; no Friendships

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