Story Mode: Netherealm has once again created an awesome story experience. Rendered cutscenes seamlessly turn into matches, which is something I've never seen before. The story is engaging, and has a good ending. The focus has shifted from Liu Kang to the Cage family, which is a nice change of pace. I was impressed by how much kombat there was in the cut scenes, its an action packed cinematic experience that would rival a production value film. The story experience is the same as MK9, where you get to play as a number of characters throughout the story. The game is worth buying for the story alone. New Characters: I have put in hours trying out all the new characters. In total there are 8. Here is the rundown. Kotal Kahn, the brother of Shao Khan and ruler of outworld. D'vorah, the insect queen that serves Kotal Kahn as a bodyguard. Erron Black, the gunslinger from Earthrealm that acts as a mercenary for Kotal Kahn. Ferra Torr, large brute that Kotal Kahn controls. Cassie Cage, child of Sonja Blade and Johnny Cage. Jacqui Briggs, daughter of Jax. Kung Jin, cousin of Kung Lao. Takeda, son of Kenshi, pupil of Scorpion.
The strongest of these new characters is between Cassie Cage and Kung Jin. The most fun to play with is the gunslinger Erron Black. Despite adding new characters, the strongest characters in the game are still in the classics. I currently main Mileena and Ermac, but I see a lot of Scorpion and Sub-Zero when I play online.
New Modes: There is a new element called Factions. The first time you boot up the game, you will be prompted to select a faction. There are random events that happen that will influence how well your faction does as a whole. Every player in the world is in a faction, so there is an ongoing battle between your faction and the rest of the world which is a cool element. You can enter new modes called faction towers and defeat faction bosses to increase the standing of your faction. When playing online against a rival faction, the faction fatality is enabled. These are unique for each faction. For example, my Lin Kuei fatality allows for Smoke to come out of nowhere and finish off my opponent with a fatality. Winning 5,000 koins or so for winning a week long faction battle though, doesn't really feel rewarding. I typically don't participate much in faction related battles.
Variations: The variations are a great addition to the game. I've spent hours trying to figure out which character I like best, then finding which variation suits me best. It's very time consuming but fulfilling at the same time. You can play with the same character in multiple ways and it keeps the game feeling fresh. When you first start the game, it feels overwhelming to have all these options, but at the same time it feels like there is so much to do. Characters are easy to grasp but difficult to master, which makes for a great fighting game. Online: I have only participated in 1v1 versus and ranked matches. I've noticed most of the players I play against have yellow or red ping values. I'm not sure if the people that buy this game have crappy connections or the WB servers Netherealm utilizes are only in select locations. This does effect matches online which can be annoying. I'd rather have matchmaking find me someone with a closer ping value to reduce lag. Even though Netheralm has done a good job creating a balanced roster, most of my opponents consist of Scorpion, Sub-Zero, Cassie Cage, and Kung Jin. I main Mileena, so this is good for me. I pulled a 13 game winning streak the other night because I'm getting used to playing against these characters. I did not have this experience when playing Injustice, and I have played 800 ranked matches in that game.
Conclusion: The best part about this game is that no character feels more powerful than any other. I feel like if I put the time in, I could be great with any character. Mileena just tends to suit my style and I like her attitude. If you like fighting games, this is a must buy. After the story mode, head to training, find your character, then tackle players online. The game has consumed hours of my life and will for a while. www.thegamereviewjournal.com