I’m not a fighting game player by any stretch of the imagination, but Mortal Kombat 11 makes me wish I was.
There’s so much to love about it. The presentation is amazing, the roster is top-tier, and it’s just fun to play. Most important to me, though, is that it has one of the best single-player experiences in a fighting game.
The only game I can think of that compares is Super Smash Bros Ultimate, and depending on who you ask, it isn’t a “real” fighting game. Regardless, there aren’t many, if any, traditional 2d fighting games that focus on single-player to the degree that Netherrealm Studios does, and MK11 by extension.
That matters to me, because I’m not really a multiplayer guy. I very rarely play games where I compete against other players, or even play with other players.
I’ve bought tons of fighting games over the years. Dragon Ball FighterZ, Street Fighter V, Tekken 7, I’ve made my way around the block. But almost all of them, I’ve dropped off of. All of those games do have story modes, but it doesn’t really feel like the focus. Especially with Street Fighter V, it was literally an afterthought.
Those games are all about multiplayer. I can’t really fault the developers for that, it makes sense. Fighting Games are traditionally a multiplayer thing, so it makes sense to focus on making the competitive aspects really good, instead of making them sorta good in addition to a kinda cool story mode.
But with Netherrealm Studios, it feels like they care for the single-player gamer. For… ME.
I get the impression that “t h e l o r e” is really important to the developers, and they want to make MK11 for the story mode just as much as the comp etitive multiplayer.
Unfortunately, I can’t really speak to the mechanics/balance of the game, because I don’t really think about it them that much. That aspect of the game really comes into it’s own when you’re playing mind games and thinking about how you can outsmart your opponent.
But you can’t really play those mind games with a computer. Or maybe you can. I can’t.
I’ll leave the talk about that to the FGC. I’m here to talk about how BADASS and BODACIOUS the story mode is.
If you’ve read my other Mortal Kombat reviews, you’ll know I’m not a lifelong Mortal Kombat fan. Hell, I only got into the series the day I bought MK11 and started watching the MK9 and MKX story modes on YouTube.
The coolest fucking thing about the series is the characters. There’s such a wide variety of archetypes and personalities and they all have such unique relationships, it’s awesome to just see them interact.
Writing about it just there, it reminds me of all the Team Fortress 2 shorts. Fundamentally, all the TF2 classes are both well-defined to be quickly understood and flexible enough to fit any situation. The characters and universe are ripe for a story mode, tv show, more animated shorts, whatever. It’s the same with Mortal Kombat.
Take Johnny Cage for example. He’s an egotistical Hollywood actor that was thrust into this world against his own will. At least that was the case in MK9, he’s become a lot more mellow and less entitled where we’re at in MK11, but he still has those tendencies. He’s grown to be more respectful of his peers and is a family man to a degree.
There’s depth for people looking for that, but it’s also simple enough where he could be thrown into any environment against any character and he could be entertaining. You see this in the intro lines before a match starts.
Before a match starts, character 1 will say something, character 2 will respond, and character 1 will say something back, then the fight begins.
Every single character has a handful of unique exchange for every other character. Johnny Cage has something special to say about the whole roster. Just think about all the fun interactions that could happen between some random actor and a ruler of another dimension or a sorcerer that steals souls. It’s practically dripping with potential for jokes.
That’s the thing though, MK11 isn’t just funny, it’s gripping and emotional.
This game feels like the conclusion of a trilogy. The story was rebooted with MK9, continued in MKX, and the end of this game is setting up for another reboot. The character interactions in this game are a culmination of story set up all the way back in 2011. Like I said, Johnny Cage was a egotistical asshole at the beginning of MK9, but over the course of that game and MKX, he learns how much of a douche he was back then. He grew up.
On the topic of character growth, Mortal Kombat 11 strikes it out of the park with their story hook. That being, characters from the past are brought to the present and forced to interact with their future selves. Mellow, family-man Johnny Cage has to work with misogynistic, asshole Johnny Cage. A more understanding Scorpion has to fight against a temperamental and emotional younger Scorpion. Liu Kang of the past has to reconcile with the fact that future him is a bad guy.
So not only are these amazing characters interacting with each other, they’re interacting with themselves.
It’s fucking genius.
It’s so genius, I don’t know where they go from here. This feels like a last-hurrah for the series. Or maybe a send-off for the characters we know and love. Mortal Kombat X had like 8 new characters, and this game only has 4, and one of those isn’t even playable. I could see the next game really focusing on a bunch of new characters, because a lot of the characters feel like they had a good emotional send off. At least in the story mode.
I spent most of my time here talking about characters, because that’s the strength of this game. The plot is fantastic, but it’s in service of the characters.
Would I Recommend It?
I have no qualms recommending this game if you’re interested in the story. Especially now that it goes on sale for $30, even with the story DLC.
For other single player gamers out there, you’ll still find a ton more content after you beat the story. You won’t run out of stuff to do any time soon.
As for the gameplay, I really enjoyed it. I don’t really have the perspective to say how it holds up to all the other modern fighting games, but it wasn’t off-putting as someone who doesn’t want to spend time memorizing combos in the training room or learning a dozen matchups.
Yeah. Check it out.