No. 264305 [PM]
In my Mortal Kombat 9 review for Backloggd i remember complaining about the games that would follow for implementing what i'm sure i described as pointless gimmicks, or something along those lines.
After getting the itch to buy Mortal Kombat X for the first time in a few years, experimenting a bit with the different playstyles of some characters in its roster, i gotta admit that was very stupid of me to say. Not only does it not feel like stuff is being taken out of them to create the mere illusion of variety, but depending on the character and the style each of their iterations can feel impressively distinct.
Environmental interactables aren't as oppressing as they were in Injustice, but they do feel more integral part of the action than they would in Injustice 2, reaching a sweet spot that i'm happy with.
I'll have to reiterate this every time i review a fighting game, but mine is merely a casual's perspective on the genre, mainly orientated towards single player and very shallow button mashing, without a comprehensive grasp on how the characters and their mechanics mesh well in a more competitive setting. With that said… i really liked the gameplay, i had a lot of fun coming back to it and looking at the other reviews it wouldn't seem like there's any glaring issue i'm failing to notice.
The controls feel "fluid" and "responsive", whatever those 2 buzzwords even mean; the action is fast paced and the dopamine juices flow whenever you accomplish something. It's a good game and i like it.
Another thing that i said in the MK9 review was that i liked the way X looked. To elaborate: it's not an aesthetic that i would have necessarily liked if it became a permanent fixture in the series, but as a one and done? Really gorgeous looking game, unless you have such a hard time looking past the lack of muh colors. Outside of Jaqui and Cassie, all the newcomers have designs that i like, and outside of Shinnok, who i don't think has ever had a truly good design anyway, all of the returning characters have at least one or two costumes that i jive with. Personal favourites are D'Vorah, non-revenant Kitana, Ermac and Kano. The different playstyles feature outfit changes that can sometimes look goofy on the characters, unfortunately.
No notes on the stages though, they're easily the best ones in the series for my money. They're so full of details and moving parts and i love how the story makes them all feel interconnected in some way. Personal favourite is the Quan Chi tower, easily.
Fatalities, X-rays and brutalities are also very much to my liking, being elaborate to a comical degree, but not taking too much time away from the action.
I literally cannot remember a single track from this game's OST. I tried maximising the volume of the music in the options settings to see if they would leave much of an impact… nope. Just as forgettable as ever. Dire.
Only thing i could complain about on a purely technical level is that the way hair tends to look in this 11 years old game sometimes isn't all that great, but i've seen many games from this period age much worse, especially when it comes to hair and stuff of that descriotion.
I've talked about being mostly a single player peruser, so how's MKX's selection like? It's quite decent, but with a couple of annoying asterisks.
Let's start from the story mode: my fuzzy memories from when i played it in italian years ago and 4th Snake's dissection were all i could remember from it, i tried to go in without any expectations but still mantaining a critical mindset and i have to say… it was alright. I will not spend a word defending its many stupid decisions, but unlike 9 and 11 i could sense a genuine attempt both at pushing the series forward with the Kombat Kids, Kotal Khan and all the other undercard villain losers whom i love so much, while also giving the spotlight to a villain that had been mostly forgotten by that point in Shinnok. Even the DLC roster has some deep cuts in it, giving a new lease of life to Tremor and turning him into a fan favourite, who has not come back once since… The results were all over the place, yes, but i think people would look back at this game's story more favourably if its sequel didn't squander literally everything it attempted to build up. Dark Raiden disappearing 2 chapters in, the more interesting half of the Kombat Kids disappearing for no reason, Kotal not doing ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥… rings a bell?
As for the gemeplay within the mode, its the usual NRS low effort rigamarole, with cinematic QTEs thrown in for good measure. I did like fighting the occasional unplayable characters carried over from the prequel, made the story feel more unique in a way.
The Krypt is really cool: it's this fairly large area that you can explore in first person, with key items that you have to pick up to access enclosed areas and such. Nothing too complex or anything, but compared to what other fighting games do to store their collectibles, often existing within the spectrum of "jack" and "♥♥♥♥", i'm overall happy with its inclusion.
As for the content it offers, it's a lot of what you'd expect: concept arts for all sorts of things, which i really like, with the artist's commentary included, which i REALLY like; extra costumes, fatalities, brutalities, stages and that kinda in-game stuff; fanarts, another thing i greatly appreciate, but i don't think they were properly credited weirdly enough; music that you can't even assign to different arenas or characters, not that i'd imagine anyone would care for that.
Unfortunately, the Krypt suffers from a mild case of that same enshittification that once in full swing would prevent the one from its sequel from reaching its full potential, wasting a lot of its treasure chests on easy fatality and match skip tokens, that you can't even sell off for koins. Nothing major, but it is lame.
And speaking of enshittification: the towers! Outside of the usual ones for arcade endings, Survival, Endless, Test your Might and whatnot, there's a lot of extra towers that make creative use of the impressive amount of match customizations, what fun! The problem? They're timed events. AAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!! Same issue i had with the Multiverse mode in Injustice 2, why is NRS so hellbent on this stupid phone ♥♥♥♥? Why can't i experience this stupid game that i paid money for at my own pace and without needing to be costantly plugged to their ♥♥♥♥♥♥ servers that keep disconnecting? I just want towers with fixed challengers, fixed customizations, and i want to play them whenever i ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ please. GOD.
This is the third kcmilan steam review I have opted to share with staffas today. Now time to drink another beer, decompress and do some taxes.