Anyone who grew up in the days of the arcade era knows all about the hours spent trying to master Mortal Kombat and any of its successors. As the quarters vanished new strategies and ways to finish an opponent became the stuff of many conversation in the pre internet age.
As the games came to gaming consoles, more and more fans joined the fight and the arrival of web episodes, films and even more titles only increased the popularity of the series.
During my coverage at E3 2014, I got a look at the new Mortal Kombat X which is the first of the series for the next generation and brings a new level of graphics and brutality to the series.
Aside from new characters the game has a new mode which allows players to select a combat feature ahead of time. For example, Scorpion can select blades, fire, or other options which results in a character look based on the style chosen as well as new moves.
A fight between Sub Zero and Scorpion showed the various modes such as using a knife to repeatedly stab your enemy as well as being able to pick up and throw the ice clone at your enemy. The background also comes into play as the branches were used for defense as well as offense as a launching off point to press home an attack.
One of the new characters is the daughter of Johnny Cage and Sonia Blade and while we did not see her in action the new characters were great. One was a humanoid and insect hybrid who would impale here enemy and use a range of venom based attacks. The match had her facing off with a dual threat. A giant creature with a blade touting girl riding in tow.
The x-ray system was still around and you could get highly detailed looks at the devastating damage that your attacks were doing on an enemies skeleton.
Of course fatalities are a huge part of the game and anyone who has spent time trying to figure out the correct sequence for each character knows how this all works.
Since this is a next-generation game the fatalities have a new level of brutality. In one example, Scorpion blasted Sub Zero and then sliced his head with a blade. This resulted in a gory mess as the face slid off and we were left with a severed skull with the severed brain and still twitching severed tongue as a reward. It was highly graphic even according to the history of the series as it takes the brutality to a new level. One had a player ripped in two halves but the severed brain and tongue set the tone.
The game still has a few months before players see the final release but based on what I saw I can say that it looks like the best of the series yet and that the future looks bright for the series, as bright as the blood that freely flows from the game.
