The review is made following my experience, it doesn't mean the game is laggy....ehm, bad or good in a particular way.
This game Lags....
I know this must sound like a terrible pun but i'm 100% serious.
Mk 2011 is universally acclaimed and every casual fan of fighting game may enjoy this title, expecially for its replay value: Story mode, test your sight, test your might, test your luck, ladder, tag ladder, Netherrealm makes a great effort to create a decent game....unfortunately the gameplay have a lot of flaw that i can't ignore.
Lag Nightmare:
If you are used to japanese fighting games like who writes this review you know that responsive inputs is a staple and probably you are so used to this mechanics that you don't even notice during the transition, for example, from a Street Fighter 4 to a BlazBlue, the player may notice the difference in the speed of gameplay but the responsive input gives to the player the total control of that speed.
Unfortunately Mortal Kombat 2011 suffers a huge lag between the time of pressing the button and the execution of that command on screen (this feats is also named input lag).
The character's animations are cluncky and the footstep is so slow that all those submechanics like Footsie, spacing or punishing are compromised by the slow paced gameplay.
Call of duty's hit detection system:
One of the worst nightmare of game developers is without any doubt the hit detenction or hitboxes if you prefer.
The hit box is that invisible square surronded the character that repersent the point where he will be hit. To be as clear as possible, the more the invisible box is as big as the character's dimension is, the more accurate the hit will be.
Somehow the hitboxes of this game seems to follow the infamous hit detection system of call duty series: You may be hit by your opponent despite the animation suggests that you have avoided that landing punch, kick or special move.
Boss plot armor??:
It may be strange but another game's problem is the fact that Shao Khan, Goro and Kintaro (The final boss and sub bosses respectively) may have a sort of indestructible armor that put shame of the most infamous plot armor of action flicks.
Armor is another staple of 2d fighting game but in more balanced games like Street fighter or BlazBlue armor is an high risk/high reward move, your enemy cannot stop your startup animation but he can cause you damage during the startup and break your armor if he lands a multi move. Unfortunately, Shao Khan and the two Shokan warriors can use an overpowered version of this mechanics, transforming the match in a nervous waiting for a taunt, because the taunt is the only way you can deal damage to those bosses and the slow paced footsteps prevent sub-mechanics like punish, footsie etc.
In other words:
Mortal Kombat is always seen by the fans of fighting games as a cluncky, broken fighting game with such great wasted potential and this title may be good but only at casual level.
Rate: 3/10, wasted potential.