There’s no pleasing some people. That being said, Mortal Kombat 1 has received a remarkable amount of criticism compared to its contemporaries like Street Fighter 6 and Tekken 8. As a total refresh of the canonical timeline, MK1 was a chance to change up the franchise and try something new. This experiment has paid off in many ways, but has also left subsections of the community feeling aliened and taken advantage of. At the risk of providing a bit of a history lesson, here are some of my thoughts on why Mortal Kombat 1 is way better than folks give it credit for.
After the release of Mortal Kombat 9, there was no question as to whether NetherRealm Studios was going to do the series justice after the collapse of Midway. Creating a second wave of enthusiasm for traditional 2D fighting, the ninth entry in the series put Mortal Kombat back on the map after a half a decade of substantially different 3D fighters. New and veteran fans alike appreciated the returning cast of characters, over-the-top action, and a story that returned the canon to its roots.
The second Mortal Kombat entry in the NRS era brought back flavors of MK3 and a faster pace to boot. What it failed to do was embrace the comic nature of the series, instead marketing the release with a Wiz Khalifa music video while focusing on overly dark stages and hyper-violent fatalities. The arcade silliness of old suffered at the hands of updated graphics and a shift towards taking the game too seriously. Downloadable content focused on bringing in horror movie icons from various franchises kept a trend going from MK9’s Freddy Kruger alongside some fan favorites from previous titles.
Mortal Kombat 11 upped the presentation that the NRS era had become known for with improved graphical fidelity and even more gruesome displays of brutality. Again, the downloadable characters varied between classic kombatants and 80s movie icons like Rambo and Robo Cop. Overall, the community response to MK11 seems to be mixed, comparing it to its predecessors unfavorably in a myriad of ways. That being said, the Mortal Kombat fans who are vocal online seem to be prone to whingeing about whatever gets them the most views on Youtube.
After a decade of alternating between the Injustice series and Mortal Kombat, the twelfth entry was a chance for NetherRealm to respond to some of the criticism from the previous game more promptly than usual. Mortal Kombat 1 (what an awful name) seemed to embrace “fun” in a way that the previous two games didn’t. As a fan of the more cartoony 2D Kombat of the 90s, I appreciated that color, brightness, and interesting character designs were allowed to return to the realms. The Kameo system fully embraced the tag mechanics from other entries that were previously treated like bonus modes, letting players create dynamic team compositions and extended combos.
Now that Mortal Kombat 1 has been out for almost a year, it seems the vocal community is back to its own game of publicly pissing on their favorite franchise for pitifully low ad revenue. What changed? Downloadable content released, promising new fighters and cameos every few weeks. Still, content grifters don’t have enough Mortal Kombat to talk about it seems. The resounding sentiment seems to be that the game appears to be rushed, lacking content, and full of over-priced micro-transactions on behalf of Warner Bros. While it is clearly lacking in substance, the quality of the product has undeniably increased.
The game lacks some of the special features for casual players that Street Fighter 6 and Tekken 8 have launched with, but outside of a cinematic story mode, challenge towers, and the admittedly half-assed Invasion mode, what do players expect? No fighting game franchise has come close to the casual/competitive cross over appeal that the Smash Bros. series has and Mortal Kombat already has more mainstream success than most video game franchises in the West. From a minimum viable product perspective, Warner Bros. doesn’t need to push NetherRealm to cater to the casual market any more than they already do.
The plot for Mortal Kombat 1 didn’t give NetherRealm much room to work with, to be fair. As an IP-reset of sorts, Mortal Kombat 1 was always going to have to get over the hurdle of winning over invested Mortal Kombat fans in addition to bringing in new attention. Changes to both aesthetics and gameplay for traditional kombatants were bound to alienate some just as much as the addition of kameos despite them being a point of interest for others. To its credit, MK1 has done a great job of reimagining an otherwise forgettable story with absurdly silly characters into something actually worth getting invested in.
As the anniversary of its initial launch approaches, an expansion named Khaos Reigns is scheduled to release with three returning characters and three new crossover fighters from others franchises. A full menu of options allow new players plenty of ways to gain access to the features. Needless to say, there’s a lot to be happy about, but it’s too early to say whether NetherRealm Studios will be able to escape the cloud of negativity that more vocal parts of their community seem to thrive on.
tommgoldrick.com 
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