are absolutely stunning. Almost too
good, in fact.
Those infamous gory MK finishers
are sickeningly realistic displayed in
vivid 4K, and feel more excessively
gratuitous than ever. Mortal
Kombat 11 revels in its own sadism,
its development team having been
allowed to put crayon to padded cell
wall to sketch out the series’ most
‘imaginative’ killings to date. Fatalities
in MK11 play out as lengthy clips of
gut-churning ultraviolence, the kind of
horrors Alex from A Clockwork Orange
is subjected to with his eyes prised
open during his Ludovico technique
aversion therapy. Dismemberment,
beheading, disembowelling, eye
gouging, skull splitting, face removal,
bodies ripped in two... all while the
victor laughs at the sick murder
they’ve just gleefully committed.
But don’t worry, you’ll soon become
desensitised to the whole horrific
spectacle. So that’s alright.
Finish it
That the series is pushing 30 years old
and still able to please fans long-term
and new is quite an achievement.
Quite what longevity the game has,
only Kronika knows. You’ll be through
the main story in one dedicated
afternoon, leaving you with a very
comprehensive online offering, and
two types of Tower modes, Klassic
and Towers Of Time. There’s also the
somewhat mystifying option to watch
AI teams battle it out (online as well),
like some Fight Club management sim.
The Krypt returns, basically a
dungeon full of chests that you
unlock with coins (sorry, ‘koins’) you’ve
earned. They’re usually full of old crap
(sorry, ‘krap’) you don’t want, not the
skins you do. Different areas have
different requirements to unlock:
items you need to locate from chests
in order to progress, such as a special
hammer to break down a wall, or gems
to unlock doors, or Scorpion’s spear
to pull items to you, and thereby
access more chests. But even if you’re
not paying with real-world cash, it’s
still loot boxes full of unnecessary
things like concept art, so it can feel
like a massive and pointless grind
that fails to reward your time. The
game’s economy is a mess of different
currencies too: koins, hearts, time
crystals. Certain Krypt chests can onlybe opened with hearts gained from
doing Fatalities and Brutalities, but
which are quite meanly awarded. You
get time crystals from chests, which
you spend on Konsumbles for use in
Towers, Brutalities and skins but these
can be bought with real money from
the Xbox store. The way you equip new
skins and augments is a via overly
complicated Kustomize menus, but
the game’s training mode is clear and
comprehensive, allowing you to hone
your kombos, and even your finishers.
In some ways there are only
marginal and cosmetic differences
from Mortal Kombat XL. That’s no
bad thing, as fans of the series as well
as fans of NetherRealm’s last fighter,
Injustice 2, will be comfortable with
the feel and mechanics, but those
tweaks and enhancements, as well as
the excellent story mode, mean that
with MK11, Mortal Kombat has pretty
much now been perfected. QFATAL
ATTRACTION
The series’ infamous
Fatalities have been
ramped up and are
more gory than ever.
NetherRealm studio
head Shaun
Himmerick had this to
say when OXM asked
how the team comes
up with new
Fatalities: “That is
always a fun
challenge. There has
always been such an
awesome history of
the characters’
Fatalities. There are
always a few emails
that go out to the
entire team to,
‘Please send in your
Fatality ideas!’ With a
large studio, that
generates a lot of
great ideas. They also
look back at old
Fatalities and see if
there is any homage
can be done with our
newer technology
that can be awesome
fan-service.”“Fatalities in
MK11 play out
as lengthy clips
of gut-churning
ultraviolence”
OXM VERDICT
A near-faultless 2D
fighter that stays
true to its legacy,
and revels in its
violent identity.9
LEFT Poor
Cassie, she’s got
a massive
nosebleed before
the match has
even begun.
FAR LEFT
Showboater
Johnny Cage
brings the
comic relief
and mystical
green kicks.Noob Saibot is named after creators Ed Boon and John Tobias. It’s their last names backwardsMore Xbox news at gamesradar.com/oxm THE OFFICIAL XBOX MAGAZINE 077REVIEW