Mortal Kombat 1 (PC)

By Daniel Parker 21st Oct 2023 | 4,203 views 

   

The fighting genre is my favorite when it comes to video games.  I don't play favorites between Street Fighter, Tekken, Virtua Fighter, or the others.  And I don't care whether it's 2D or 3D.  I am however a bit of a purist, in that I specifically like traditional 'versus' fighting games, and the genre that spawned them - the side-scrolling beat-em-up.  For that reason I don't like Super Smash Bros., nor do I care to touch Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm.  There is one outlier in all of this: Mortal Kombat, a franchise which has disappointed me more often than not.  

  

While most Mortal Kombat games have been on the cutting edge in terms of graphics (with the exception of Mortal Kombat 4), that's really all it's ever been for me - the attractive yet slow and clunky fighting series with lots of blood and guts everywhere.  In the 2000s, the only fighting series with regular new entries were SoulCalibur, Tekken, and Mortal Kombat, so I would get the Mortal Kombat games regardless, although I felt like Deadly Alliance and Deception just wanted to be SoulCalibur II when they debuted.  By the time Armageddon came around I'd grown tired of the formula, and I never even purchased Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe (who wants to play a T-Rated Mortal Kombat?).  That's in stark contrast to all the other major fighter series; when it comes to Street Fighter, Tekken, SoulCalibur, and Virtua Fighter, I own every mainline entry.

   

  

While I haven't played every Mortal Kombat game, I have owned every entry since Mortal Kombat (2011), including the new Mortal Kombat 1, which actually has some pretty neat things going for it. But, before going into that, I can't help but touch on how much I dislike the game's title first.  I believe it to be the single worst decision made regarding this release.  Sure, it's the second time the story has been rebooted in the series so far - I get that.  However, with the previous game not only being called "Mortal Kombat 11", but also looking similar to Mortal Kombat 1 in terms of graphical fidelity, I can't help but feel this will have led to confusion.  Even the font that makes up the Mortal Kombat 1 logo is exactly the same as it was in Mortal Kombat 11.

   

Fortunately the gameplay in Mortal Kombat 1 is quite strong in its own right.  This isn't a statement that I make lightly either; the Mortal Kombat series hasn't exactly been top-notch in terms of fighting mechanics.  But this is certainly the best Mortal Kombat title I've ever played. It retains the usual control scheme from past games: Back Kick, Forward Kick, Back Punch, Forward Punch, as well as a block button.  The tutorial mode located on the main menu gives newcomers a way of understanding the basics, but if you've played the previous two Mortal Kombat entries then you should already have a good understanding of the combat functionality.  Oddly, the game's Super Attacks, called "Fatal Blows," are not tied to the Super Meter.  I suppose it's called a "Super Meter" within the game to not overly complicate things.  Enhanced Attacks take up 1/3 of your bar, and Combo Breakers consume the entire meter. 

   

   

It should be noted that in previous Mortal Kombat titles, the Super Attacks were never used by experienced players because Enhanced Attacks for extending combos, or using a Combo Breaker for getting out of game-ending damage, or not sacrificing your positioning were all more desirable than using the Super Attack itself.  This problem was solved in Mortal Kombat 11 by attaching Fatal Blow parameters to the health bar.  You could only do it once per match, and the option was only available if your health was below 30%.  The Fatal Blow itself only dealt 30% damage, as well, and if it was unsuccessful it would go on a recharge timer.  All of this appears to remain true here as well.  In terms of defensive abilities, along with the aforementioned Combo Breakers, Flawless Blocking has returned from the last game too.  

   

Playing on PC, I also took serious effort to play on keyboard.  Keyboard is second only to the Hitbox when it comes to playing fighters, and then only because the Hitbox reduces the chances of striking inactive keys.  Playing Mortal Kombat 1 on the keyboard has been fun, and all the special attack sequences can be typed-in faster than they can be pressed with a controller.  Moving a lever, or rocking a directional pad from left to right will always be slower than typing two keys in succession, and there's simply no way around it. 

  

Mortal Kombat 1 isn't just a great Mortal Kombat game either, it's a great fighting game full stop.  One of the best, in fact.  It borrows several features from the Marvel vs. Capcom series.  No, the tag feature didn't return, but Assists are present in the form of Kameos.  Kameo characters are on a resource timer, and function similarly to the Assist characters of Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes, but they also assist in Combo Breakers, grabs and Fatal Blows.  Mortal Kombat 1 also takes notes from Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes, as some attack strings are tied to one button when the move makes contact.  All of this, along with the usual character attack strings and special moves assigned to each character, brings a new level of fluidity that hasn't ever been in Mortal Kombat before.

   

   

Never would I have expected to not see a single newcomer in a newly-released fighting game, though.  That sounds bad, but in practice it's not a big deal; the Mortal Kombat series as a whole regularly cycles its characters in & out of sequels, to such an extent that there isn't a single Mortal Kombat character that's been present in every game (although, yes, technically there have always been characters under the name Sub-Zero and Scorpion, but these have sometimes been different characters under the mask).

  

Mortal Kombat 1 shifts the focus onto PS2-era characters from Deadly Alliance and Deception - characters who for the most part have been absent since before the series' first reboot in 2011, with Kenshi being the only exception.  Returning playable characters who missed the previous game include: Li-Mei, Ashrah, Kenshi, Reptile, Havik, Reiko, Tanya and Smoke, and one character I was waiting to see return for literally decades, Nitara... whose performance was ruined by Megan Fox (thanks for being the only one to come in and simply read the lines, while everyone else was acting).  What makes it worse is the fact that Megan Fox didn't even do the vampiress' screeches and hissing.  That was done by Christina Vee.  Perhaps Vee should have just done all of the character's lines.  Of course, Sub-Zero and Scorpion also return, however here Sub-Zero is Bi-Han and Scorpion is his brother, Kuai Liang.

   

   

Which brings me to Mortal Kombat 1's story, which is mostly... OK.  I have so much distain for 11's story mode that, even to this day, I haven't finished it because it became so incredibly silly and stupid.  One small example is the infinite blood ocean which, if you were to fall into it, you would apparently fall forever...  but that's not how gravity works. There were various things throughout the story that just left me scratching my head with how stupid they were.  Mortal Kombat 1 isn't completely out of the clear in this respect, though.  It seems to mix the Japanese and Chinese cultures into one, while still mispronouncing Raiden's name.  The same can be said for the Shirai-Ryu clan (which isn't Japanese anymore?).  The levels of ignorance shown within the story really tested my patience at times.  But the story is otherwise very enjoyable and unpredictable.  I only wish it had been a little bit longer, and included a more substantial final boss fight, as in all honesty it gave me Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception vibes in that respect -  it's so underwhelming to the point of disbelief.

   

Outside of your traditional game modes, Mortal Kombat 1 doesn't really offer all that much added value.  There is one new mode called Invasions, which is more-or less a board game where you traverse to different squares on the board and have short matches against the AI for some in-game rewards.  It's fine, but I wish the team had expanded on the Krypt from the last entry instead.  Oh, and the Replay feature is tucked away so deep in the game's menus I literally had to use Google to figure out if it was even included or not. 

   

   

There also exists a rotating shop which accepts a few different types of currencies.  Dragon Krystals are the equivalent of the Time Krystals from the last game.  You cannot link your Mortal Kombat mobile game support to assist you with unlocks this time around though, sadly.  Silver and Gold coins can be earned playing naturally and are used for various things throughout the game.  I honestly expected it all to go in the direction of Fortnite and various mobile games with a battle pass, because it even there in the mobile title, and of course most recently Street Fighter 6 jumped on the battle pass craze, but there isn't one here.  What there is instead is a character progression chart, which is free.  You level up your character and get various free rewards for doing so, which was a pleasant surprise.

   

  

Another minor pleasant surprise: this is the first fighting title I've played on PC to have voice chat.  Obviously, I understand perfectly well why this isn't a feature in the other fighting games: people are going to talk their smack.  It can make the victories more enjoyable though.  However, with this in mind, it made me want to go over a few things when playing against human opponents.  First, complaining about someone doing the same attack actually makes you look bad.  There's absolutely no reason to be losing against someone using the same attack or string.  You mean to tell me this guy did a thing against you seven times in a row, and not once did you figure out how to beat it?  If you lose to that, it's a loss well deserved.  Second, the fatalities.  We've all seen them for the most part, so at this point there's no need to perform them after every match.  They take a lot of time to play out and it's increasingly viewed as a form of disrespect.  You've already won - move on.  

   

In conclusion, Mortal Kombat 1 is the greatest Mortal Kombat game made to-date.  The story mode is well done, outside of a few gripes, and the core fighting gameplay is nice and smooth; I don't feel like it has the usual stiffness that the series is known for.  Bugs that have cropped up also appear to be getting fixed (most notably the Player-1 advantage bug).  Just remember, if you opt for the PC version don't play it on a standard mechanical hard drive; moving it to a Samsung 990 NVMe significantly improved load times for me from nearly 30 seconds to being almost instant.  Since that I've been able to seamlessly enjoy the game and can comfortably say that it will be in my gaming rotation for months to come.