I can't remember anticipating any other game's release in the past with quite as much excitement as I had before Mortal Kombat X's debut on Tuesday (besides Blizzard's announcement of Diablo 3 in 2008). Overall, MKX is truly an incredible game. Amazing graphics, satisfying combos and fatalities, and a cast of interesting, well rounded characters.
I downloaded the game from The Playstation Store, and played through the traditional towers a bit while anxiously waiting for the file to finish downloading Story Mode. After a play through as Cassie Cage, Mileena, and Sub Zero (all great characters) on the towers, I checked back to the main screen and was incredibly excited to see Story Mode was ready to play.
For what Story Mode has to offer, it's truly amazing. Beautiful, epic cinematic's boasting an interesting story and detailed character models flow fluidly into satisfying, classic Mortal Kombat battles of past and present. I also love the user interaction within some of the lengthy cutscenes, where you are required to hit specific buttons on the remote that pop up on the screen to perform or block an attack, keeping you involved and evoked through every moment. Most favorably, in D'Vorah's chapter, there is an awesome cinematic where you are able to execute a fatality by properly entering the correct sequence of buttons on the screen (having that happen more than only one time for the entire duration of Story Mode would have been even better).
Each chapter included within is done very well, molding together the history of MKX's characters while unfolding the new plot. Suddenly, I found myself so compelled and drawn in, I couldn't pull myself away from playing it! That was when it all came to a surprising, and slightly disappointing, conclusion- I was able to complete the series' new, highly anticipated, captivating Story Mode on the first day I purchased the game, which only lasted around 4-5 hours. I have been a big fan of the Mortal Kombat series since I was a kid in the 90's, and I do understand that Story Mode is something relatively new and not necessarily the main focus of the game when you look at the longevity of the franchise. However, for me, it instantly became my favorite part of the series since it's introduction and the element of the game I was looking forward to more than anything with MKX. I have to say, the content that does exist in Story Mode in this game is almost perfectly created, but it's short length makes it feel more like a snippet of something truly expansive and epic.
I hope this isn't the finale of the content Neatherrealm has to offer for MKX's Story Mode. I would love to see additional chapters released as DLC to explore more of the history of Mortal Kombat's characters and expand the content for those of us who can't get enough (and didn't quite get enough) from Story Mode this time. (And hopefully there will be more interactive fatalities during the cutscenes like the one in D'Vorah's chapter!)
In the meantime, I'll definitely be replaying through Story Mode again, battling it out on the towers and exploring more content in The Krypt.