Shoah_Kahn
Noob
(Disclaimer: My opinions -- O P I N I O N S !! -- are based on what I've seen so far -- everything is TBC and subject to refutation / change)
There are some presentation issues that are increasingly coming to my attention; if not, becoming confirmed with each reveal. Here they are, bullet-pointed:
- No select screen character interaction, as was present in Injustice 2 and MKX
I really liked these pre-intro intros, as they gave the characters personality, as well as allowed them to showcase their traits in a non-combat setting (and the obvious trolly aspects of these exchanges were also fun). Stuff like "The Flash" hitting opponents in "Bullet Time", or even Johnny Cage's "Call me!" gesture (esp. when directed at the MUTE Jason Vorhess!
), were quite amusing, and they made this otherwise arguably pointless U.I. segment much more interesting (technically, / hypothetically, all char./stage selection U.I. could be dropped and players given only simple lists to make their selections from -- the game would still operate identically, perhaps with faster loading, and even allow customisation in tournament mode/s, without "pros" whining about time constraints!) . I mean, I even chose (chose, nay played) all MKX / IJ2 chars., just to see what they'd do and say. It's very disappointing that this aspect of the game/s has [seemingly] been dropped for MK11. (Even some distinctive selection char. animations / dialogue would being better than nothing, if fully animated, char. specific interactions are no longer possible to implement).
- No menu / theme / U.I. (a.k.a. "Faction") customisation
As little as the whole "Faction" component interested me in MKX, I did actually like the different aesthetics that the various factions' art styles imbued upon the game. These gave the game had different feel upon start-up (than the generic main menu screen of IJ2, for comparative example), and made things seem a little less homogenised / more individualised.
- Lack of stage weather effects / ambience diversity
For me, Mortal Kombat has always been a dark and almost "nihilistic" universe -- with its slap-stick humour conveying the cynicism of its hapless protagonists. In this sense, I'd like to see more (mostly) dark, rainy / stormy, otherworldly and foreboding settings to fight in; as distinct from the increasingly "urban" environments that series has started pushing with / since MKX. This also plays to the whole "escapism" aspect of video games -- we want to be whisked off to fantastical realms, not plonked into real-world environments. Tangentially, the increasingly "busy" nature of the stage designs (example: literal WARS taking place in the background), smack heavily of the "Star Wars prequels syndrome" -- the designers trying to shovel was much crap into peoples' eyeballs as possible, [apparently] in an ill-conceived effort to woo people with the CGI crafting prowess -- and, in line with said analogy, more does not always equal better. Minimalist stages with ambience that reflects the MK themeölgy, can convey much more mood and atmosphere than comic book schlock tie, migraine inducing chaos. MK is not an "Avengers" movie; and it should not strive to look like one.
- Inconspicuous BGM / musical themes
Other than the menu / U.I. themes and that techno "Mortal Kombat!" ditty from the 90's, I cannot recall a single MK theme... And this is coming from someone who has their MP3 player filled with video gaming themes. Do the MK characters even have their own themes?!... 'Cause I could not name / recognise even one, if they do. I wish the game had more distinctive musical scores to accompany its stages and / or characters. Suffice to say, music resonates with people -- perhaps more than any other artistic medium -- and for a game to all but ignore this tool of presentation, is hamstringing the impact it could otherwise have. I find this lack of distinctive BGM / musical themes in MK games that much more glaring / galling, when juxtaposed with series' promotional side seemingly so obsessed with shoehorning non-sequitur ghetto rap into every trailer...
~
These are the main presentation shortcomings that I've observed so; and I have to say, this runs constituent with the "homogenisation" that the game's overall design seems to be taking -- examples: similar char. heights (irrespective of species, race, sex); universal gameplay abilities / mechanics as or more evident than ever; similar damage outputs on FB's and KB's (and likely non-discriminating damage-scaling to exacerbate thus); not much distinction between "heavy-hitter" chars. (of what have been show so far, or even exist in the game) and the traditionally lithe combatants; "Teleportation Kombat" (to quote another user's thread title); Injustice styled projectile near-universality across the roster... In light of thus, I think the pressure on the presentation side of the game to carry the "freshness" of proceedings, weighs that much more heavily. Hence, this post.
There are some presentation issues that are increasingly coming to my attention; if not, becoming confirmed with each reveal. Here they are, bullet-pointed:
- No select screen character interaction, as was present in Injustice 2 and MKX
I really liked these pre-intro intros, as they gave the characters personality, as well as allowed them to showcase their traits in a non-combat setting (and the obvious trolly aspects of these exchanges were also fun). Stuff like "The Flash" hitting opponents in "Bullet Time", or even Johnny Cage's "Call me!" gesture (esp. when directed at the MUTE Jason Vorhess!
), were quite amusing, and they made this otherwise arguably pointless U.I. segment much more interesting (technically, / hypothetically, all char./stage selection U.I. could be dropped and players given only simple lists to make their selections from -- the game would still operate identically, perhaps with faster loading, and even allow customisation in tournament mode/s, without "pros" whining about time constraints!) . I mean, I even chose (chose, nay played) all MKX / IJ2 chars., just to see what they'd do and say. It's very disappointing that this aspect of the game/s has [seemingly] been dropped for MK11. (Even some distinctive selection char. animations / dialogue would being better than nothing, if fully animated, char. specific interactions are no longer possible to implement).- No menu / theme / U.I. (a.k.a. "Faction") customisation
As little as the whole "Faction" component interested me in MKX, I did actually like the different aesthetics that the various factions' art styles imbued upon the game. These gave the game had different feel upon start-up (than the generic main menu screen of IJ2, for comparative example), and made things seem a little less homogenised / more individualised.
- Lack of stage weather effects / ambience diversity
For me, Mortal Kombat has always been a dark and almost "nihilistic" universe -- with its slap-stick humour conveying the cynicism of its hapless protagonists. In this sense, I'd like to see more (mostly) dark, rainy / stormy, otherworldly and foreboding settings to fight in; as distinct from the increasingly "urban" environments that series has started pushing with / since MKX. This also plays to the whole "escapism" aspect of video games -- we want to be whisked off to fantastical realms, not plonked into real-world environments. Tangentially, the increasingly "busy" nature of the stage designs (example: literal WARS taking place in the background), smack heavily of the "Star Wars prequels syndrome" -- the designers trying to shovel was much crap into peoples' eyeballs as possible, [apparently] in an ill-conceived effort to woo people with the CGI crafting prowess -- and, in line with said analogy, more does not always equal better. Minimalist stages with ambience that reflects the MK themeölgy, can convey much more mood and atmosphere than comic book schlock tie, migraine inducing chaos. MK is not an "Avengers" movie; and it should not strive to look like one.
- Inconspicuous BGM / musical themes
Other than the menu / U.I. themes and that techno "Mortal Kombat!" ditty from the 90's, I cannot recall a single MK theme... And this is coming from someone who has their MP3 player filled with video gaming themes. Do the MK characters even have their own themes?!... 'Cause I could not name / recognise even one, if they do. I wish the game had more distinctive musical scores to accompany its stages and / or characters. Suffice to say, music resonates with people -- perhaps more than any other artistic medium -- and for a game to all but ignore this tool of presentation, is hamstringing the impact it could otherwise have. I find this lack of distinctive BGM / musical themes in MK games that much more glaring / galling, when juxtaposed with series' promotional side seemingly so obsessed with shoehorning non-sequitur ghetto rap into every trailer...
~
These are the main presentation shortcomings that I've observed so; and I have to say, this runs constituent with the "homogenisation" that the game's overall design seems to be taking -- examples: similar char. heights (irrespective of species, race, sex); universal gameplay abilities / mechanics as or more evident than ever; similar damage outputs on FB's and KB's (and likely non-discriminating damage-scaling to exacerbate thus); not much distinction between "heavy-hitter" chars. (of what have been show so far, or even exist in the game) and the traditionally lithe combatants; "Teleportation Kombat" (to quote another user's thread title); Injustice styled projectile near-universality across the roster... In light of thus, I think the pressure on the presentation side of the game to carry the "freshness" of proceedings, weighs that much more heavily. Hence, this post.
