It has several readings, but you can’t deny that the three big shows on the Summer Game Fest scene are throwbacks to three beloved ’90s classics: Prince of Persia, Sonic, and Mortal Kombat. Games come in larger or smaller budgets and ambitions, but effectively revert to the style that put them on the map back then, just with today’s means. A third example, obviously, is the AAA blockbuster, a full-blown reboot of the franchise, finally taking into account the power of the new PS5 and Xbox series (even thought it was ported to the Nintendo Switch as well), and, for the past few years, For those who eventually distance themselves from the collection (like you), it means a breath of colour, slickness and fresh air, reason enough to return to it.
The MK1 looks absolutely spectacular. Not only because these levels are some of the most detailed I’ve seen in a fighting game to date, with multiple planes in the background, animated elements and characters, and depth and light work unmatched in the series, but also because they’ve been slightly overlooked lately The stakes are high on two aspects: the colors and the animation of the fighters.
NetherRealm’s Director of Art Development, Thiago Gomes, couldn’t help but be proud when he mentioned the impressions I got while playing. Ed Boon, the creator of the series 30 years ago, later confirmed to me in an interview after my theater session: They were actively looking for the lively tone of that decade, but without losing the series’ signature realism. At the same time, just adding more polygons and textures doesn’t improve realism and fidelity in my opinion; it needs a complete overhaul of those robot animations that look next to games like Killer Instinct or Tekken It sounds a little silly.
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Then, with the controller in hand, Mortal Kombat 1 responds in a more natural and fluid manner, even as it maintains the combat system fans know and love. It just feels more right. You still get your usual button mapping, your exaggerated jumps and “turn-based” special attacks. Now, in addition, you can enhance these finer movements with the press of a button, and of course, then comes the big new feature that tweaks or expands the entire game: Kameos.
In my Klassical Towers game (traditional MK arcade mode, although a new game mode hasn’t been announced yet), I’ve been playing with Kitana and her throwing fans, but I can also play in Sub-Zero, Kenshi, and in charge of creating this new Choose among universes, timelines and storylines. But as Gumi fighters, there are Kano, Sonia, and Jax. In the demo version, the rest of the 24-character and 16-Kameos rosters are locked, but players can make any combination they want between any of them. Yes, their relationship in the story will be reflected through specific lines during their cameo.
My Kameo character of choice is Kano, and every time I press R1 at any time, even during an ongoing fast-track or grab, he plays really well. But I’m a total noob here, because according to Gomez and Boone, Cameos can be used in other situations, even as a defense, or to extend the chain attack time. The one I tried, though, was Gumi’s death, and Chitana had Kano deal with the bloodshed. Great when you’re tired of the same “finishing them”.
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These definitely fit right in the middle of the action, no doubt, and allow for some serious creativity, but at the same time, I’m a little worried that we might end up seeing specific combos that could break the game, mostly on competitive levels. Boon admitted that this is the most they need to polish before the game’s release in September.
When you’re away from MK and fighting games for a while, my medium difficulty games progress as expected: you’ve lost muscle memory, but as it gradually recovers and kicks in, you also start kicking some butt. Liu Kang and Sonia, Subzero and Jax, clones of my Kitana-Kano couple, and finally Kensi and Sonia, complete My Tower with a very violent and hilarious hit to end the franchise Classy style. The back is Yokai, Mortal Strike (L2+R2), Punishment, and more, but again, that doesn’t mean this will play like MK10 or MK11: it’s better connected, and it adds new moves.
I climbed up the tower after taking a few beatings here and there and delivering a bunch myself, performed some easy deaths (those down, down, button, far away with Kitana and up close with Kano) , and was completely blown away by the quality of the models, lighting and staging. I still haven’t seen a good Jean-Claude Van Damme as Johnny Cage.
So, with Kameos as a big variable, we’ll have to see how this tricky balance turns out, but the animations, colors, fluidity, and humor this new entry introduces, for what little I’ve seen and played so far, Got me excited to be back there on “Day One” for the September 19th series. This doesn’t even know what kind of crazy shit awaits us in the new cinematic story mode!