Gnome here with an XboxOne review of Mortal Kombat X, the latest installment in the Mortal Kombat series from Netherrealm. Anyone who is familiar with Mortal Kombat knows that this game is all about blood, gore, brutal attacks, a little bit of comedy, and of course the no-mercy Fatalities. No friendships here...I mean unless we are talking Friendshiptalities. But does Mortal Kombat still remain fresh and fun after twenty plus years? Yes, yes it does. With great graphics, terrific controls, and tons of content to unlock, Mortal Kombat X is definitely a game that will appeal to diehard fans and newcomers alike.

The story picks up a few years after where the franchise reboot Mortal Kombat - 2011 (aka MK9) left off. If you haven’t played the reboot I would suggest going on Youtube and watching the cinematic movie of all the cutscenes from the game just to get yourself up to speed. The former Elder God, Shinnok was revealed to be the main villain pulling strings behind the scenes. In MKX he escapes his prison in the Netherealm and travels to Raiden’s sky palace to corrupt the Earthrealm’s Lifeforce. In chapter 1 of the story you play as Johnny Cage, and you intercept Shinnok at the palace. Shinnok has this magic amulet that gives him extra power, but he also took the time to learn Kung Fu, which of course. So anyone who has played Mortal Kombat before knows that Johnny Cage has this green aura that surrounds him when he does special moves like his shadow kick, and shadow uppercut. Lucky for him, this aura makes him impervious to Shinnok’s powers for some reason...and that’s my problem right there. He just happens to be the guy that shows up to fight the villain and he just happens to be the one who can’t be hurt by him. Very lackluster, and possibly bad or lazy writing. This easy plot twist, if you can call it that, telegraphs the rest of the story.

The next chapter has you flash forward twenty-five years and find out that a bunch of the Mortal Kombat heroes have children who have joined the fight against evil. If you ain't fighting, you fuckin'. One of these purebred fighting babies is Johnny Cage’s daughter, Cassie Cage. Hmmm, I wonder who will beat Shinnok this time? Maybe someone with a genetically passed down aura? Let's see how it plays out. You play through the rest of the story and sure enough it comes down to a showdown between Cassie and Shinnok. This time around Shinnok is able to corrupt the Lifeforce of Earthrealm and it turns him into Diablo (I also take drugs, maybe I should write stories). Luckily for Cassie she inherited her dad’s green aura (did not see that coming) and is protected from attacks. After Shinnok is defeated, Raiden cleanses the lifeforce and decides that he’s fed up with the way things have been going. Just like Danny Glover, he's getting too old for this shit. He takes Shinnok’s amulet, goes to the window and yells, “I’m mad as hell, and I’m not gonna take it anymore!”. He then travels to the Netherealm and delivers Shinnok’s severed head (which is still alive since Shinnok is immortal) to its new rulers and tells them he’s done being mister nice guy and following the rules. The story ends with a setup up for the next game with the “corrupted” Raiden as a possible antagonist.

Overall I enjoyed the story due to pacing and the over-the-topness of it, I just didn’t really care for Cassie Cage as the hero or how the rinse and repeat of powers used to stop the villian. Her character seemed really under developed and during the campaign you got no flashbacks to set up her motivations like you did for many of the other characters. All you know about her is that she is the daughter of Johnny Cage and Sonya Blade, and that she joined the Special Forces. Playing as the other characters in the story was fun as hell, and of course this is always the draw to any fighting game like MK or Tekken. It was weird seeing Scorpion as a human again, but when he used his Kunai during a cutscene, instead of the voice actor saying “get over here” they used the classic audio from the previous games. Stuff like these easter eggs bring you back and keep you happy.

One annoying trend that needs to go away in games that aren't really dependant on this type of gimmick are stupid quick time events. You’ll be in the middle of a cut scene, enjoying the movie when all of a sudden a prompt will pop-up on the screen to push a button on the controller. As I scatter to grab the controller while choking on my Surge soda, I have no time to wipe the Cheeto dust from my hands. I hate these so much! During a cut scene, I just want to watch the show and enjoy the scenery, and not focus my eyes on one point on the screen and wait for a button prompt that takes no skill to do. These add nothing to the game and don’t belong in Mortal Kombat unlike say, Tomb Raider or Uncharted.

Enough about the story, Mortal Kombat is all about the fighting. The game does a really good job of balancing the characters which is a breath of fresh air. No infinite leg sweeps..."to infinity and beyond". I don’t really care for Kotol Khan because he seems really slow to me but I suppose this is what thicknecks and brute force would be like. Additionally, is Ermac a cheap bitch? The jury is out. In the past you could spam Scorpion’s Kunai or Sub-Zero’s ice blast and cheese your way to victory, but those moves are slowed down now so you can see them coming or have time to recover. Each character now has three variations to choose from, each with unique play styles and appearances like Raiden's Thunder God, Diplacer, and Storm Lord. I thought that was a really cool addition, so if you don’t like the way a certain variation plays, you can just pick a different one and see how that feels. It gives you more incentive to try different characters that you may have just dismissed otherwise and provides more replayability.

The combos are where the real damage comes in plus, they are pretty intuitive. Chaining a few punches and kicks together isn’t too tough. Throwing in a special move or air juggle into your combo will take a little more practice, but it’s doable. The devastating X-ray moves are back and just as hilarious as ever. It’s so funny to watch your character break someone’s spine or impale them through the face, and they just get right up and keep fighting. It’s like performing a fatalily in the middle of the match and your opponent just shrugs it off. These moves are cool to watch and look great on the next gen platform, but I feel like they slow down the pace of combat and take me out of it. You’ll be in the middle of an intense match, and then get a five second break to watch this move that you can’t get out of once it connects (you win some and lose some).

The Fatalities on the other hand are amazingore, and that’s what Mortal Kombat is all about. The developers do such a good job of coming up with creative/disgusting ways to finish your opponent, and it makes you wonder whao hurt them as children. Some of them are just so over the top that you almost have to laugh. For example, Raiden electrocutes his opponent till their eyes pop out, rips their head off, throws it in the air, and blows it up....like, yes? I do love it. 12 yr old me loves it even more. This as always, is what makes this game so great. For all its blood and gore, it’s really entertaining, and immensely satisfying pulling these moves off to get the KO. When Johnny Cage jumps behind his opponent, rips him open, and smiles through the hole saying “heeeere’s Johnny!” it's this kinda comedic gore that brings the whole franchise together.

While not fighting online you’re probably gonna be spending a lot of time in the Towers. The Towers are like mini-tournaments in which you face a bunch of different opponents in a row. Some of the Towers, however, have different match conditions such as bombs falling from the ceiling or player movement speed up/slow down based on your combos. The Towers rotate in and out on an hourly, daily, and weekly basis adding a lot of replay value to the game. FYI, if you fail the "Test Your Might Tower", the penalty is hilarious.

Playing online and competing in the Towers earns you coins that can then be used in the Krypt. The Krypt is a mini-dungeon where you can spend your coins to unlock new fatalities, brutalities, and concept art. There is the occasional monster that will pop-up, but there is no penalty for taking a hit. If you kill the monster you gain a few extra coins. You don’t know what you’re going to get from each chest in the Krypt, so if you’re only interested in unlocking new finishers for the game, I suggest looking up a map online so you don’t waste your currency on concept art.

If you are an achievement completionist, get comfy, 'cause you’re gonna be here for awhile. Reaching rank 50 in all five of the factions is gonna take some time and can be a little tedious to say the least. You gain experience and rank up by playing the story, fighting online, or competing in Towers. If you’re good and have a lot of time on your hands, you could probably finish one faction in a couple of weeks. The achievement to win 10 online matches in a row will probably be a challenge as well as human players tend to pack the most punch and aren't as predictable as AI fighters. Most of the other achievements don’t seem too difficult, just time consuming.

Overall I would say that Mortal Kombat X is a great game and a clean entry into the franchise. The improved graphics on the next-gen consoles goes a long way to help any game really, but actually do wonders here with all the blood and gore. The fighting is just as fresh and brutal as ever with balance of characters, and the constantly changing Towers add a lot of replay value. The final verdict is 4 out of 5 severed heads. The only weak points is the predictable story coupled with the quick time events.