Mortal kombat 11 switch review series#

These details are bought to life through impeccable presentation. As always, fatalities are the big draw, but environmental attacks and special moves have a chance to trigger the X-Ray vision of bones breaking and organs puncturing. This slower pace does nothing to stem the viscera – Mortal Kombat’s violence has always walked the line between the ridiculous and the wince-inducing, and Mortal Kombat 11 feels like the purest form of this.

Simply put, every fighter feels dangerous – and an excellent suite of tutorials help onboard newcomers and veterans alike. Of course, they aren’t guaranteed to hit, so working them into a combo can be the best course of action. These replace the previous X-Ray moves, and can turn the tide of battle – dealing huge amounts of damage.

If a fighter’s health drops, players can execute a 'Final Blow' attack. Fights feel more tense thanks to a 'Perfect Block' mechanic, which paired with the larger window of counter-attacking left after an errant flurry can cause all sorts of problems for players reliant on spacing special moves. Mortal Kombat 11 is weightier than its predecessors, and will feel glacial for those accustomed to Street Fighter and other contemporaries.

Mortal kombat 11 switch review series#

For a franchise that built its reputation on over-the-top violence, it’s easy to forget how well the series has controlled. Thankfully, it’s a (very) bloody good one at that. These instances of ludonarrative dissonance are surprisingly funny, like a game so irreversibly set on violence trying to reconcile with the more human elements of its own storyline only to remember that it is, first and foremost, a beat-'em-up. Watching Cassie Cage spar with her mother Sonya Blade seems neat until she shoots her in the kneecaps or cracks her skull with a handgun. It’s easily up there with NetherRealm’s work on the Injustice franchise, and shows how it's been honing its craft for so long. Heads roll, castles are stormed, and there are twists and turns galore across the story’s six to eight hour runtime. The idea of timelines colliding leads to pure fan-service, and each cutscene is more bombastic than the last. There’s comedy, tragedy, and drama throughout, and these characters have never felt more believable – no mean feat considering the series’ history of jumping between dimensions, worlds, and alien races with plenty of hamminess. While seeing young Johnny Cage meet his older self may sound like it borders on fan-fiction, the smart writing and excellent voice acting throughout make for some surprisingly effective moments. Kronika’s time manipulation powers allow the campaign (or should that be kampaign?) to bring together fighters from across the storied franchise’s history. After he executes Shinnok, new antagonist Kronika appears to attempt to rewrite the history of the Universe.

Picking up after the events of 2015’s Mortal Kombat X, Raiden is now acting as judge, jury, and executioner of all threats to Earthrealm – including the undead versions of his former comrades. NetherRealm’s latest is a solid kontender for the best PlayStation 4 beat-em-up, but its heart has been korrupted by a baffling progression system. Mortal Kombat 11 sees the return of the nearly 27-year-old franchise, and likely for its last hurrah on this generation of consoles.