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IGN's Mortal Kombat 11 Review

NothingPersonal

Are you not entertained!?
I've thankfully yet to be spoiled, but I'm hearing so many different polarizing things about the story. Someone said it was so bad it made the X story look good, some people were saying it was just ok, and now I'm hearing it's amazing and quite possibly the best in any fighting game ever? All the different reactions are really stirring my curiosity since it seems like they really took some risks this time around, which was my main issue with how safe X played it. Definitely, the first thing I'm doing once I get the game tomorrow.
Imo, it goes like this MK11>Inj2>Inj1>MK9>MKX. I've teared, I've laughed and I've been surprized in MK11, so yeah, i liked it.
 
Ultimately they've done a massive disservice to the single player casual fanbase which is actually a massive disservice to the MK community as a whole. The competitive scene isn't gonna grow like it can, they're not gonna convert casual players into online players into competitive online players into competitive offline players, if they're driven away at the first step.
 

Outworld Slasher

Cannibalistic Humanoid Fleshpit Dweller
I've teared, I've laughed and I've been surprized in MK11, so yeah, i liked it.
That sounds incredibly promising, and just about everything I wanted to hear! I know some people really don't care much for the story since this is ultimately a competitive fighting game franchise, but as a big fan of the lore, I really wanted to see them relish and dive deep with the plot for this game character and emotion wise. I've ranted enough about MKX's story already, but another huge thing that absolutely irritated me about that game was how little I cared about almost anything happening; plot, or character wise. MKX had some good ideas with the Outworld Civil War, and some great select little moments, but overall was predictable and just bland, which wasn't assisted by the drab aesthetic of that game that made everything look so monotone and lifeless. The stakes weren't there, the heart wasn't, and most of all the emotion was nowhere to be found.

While I initially found the time travel plot that 11 was following derivative of 9; I realized pretty soon later on that with the way they were doing it, it'd allow for the humanization of all these characters through a reflection of their past selves. It's kind of silly, but as much as I love the badass fights and well, kombat; I was really hoping they'd take the time to slow down and really dig, take some risks, and make the premise of "defending [insert realms] against [insert threat]" fresh again with a new antagonist like Kronika, who doesn't actually seem to be entirely evil with her intentions despite her ties to Shinnok.

To hear they succeeded with that brings me a lot of joy, and definitely increases my anticipation. Not to get into details, but apparently, lots of the criticism I hear stems from characters dying. While this could be valid if done for shock value alone, from what I'm seeing a lot of it was done in service of the plot and raising the stakes, while not being insulting to the character either; not to mention, it definitely shows they've learned something from how emotionless X was when it came to character deaths, and how almost all were done merely for the sake of it. (Mileena anybody?)

I've gone on long enough already, but tl;dr: I wanted a story with stakes, tension, iconic moments, great fights, emotion, and most of all character. Despite all the black and white reactions, it sounds like they really succeeded and I couldn't be happier. I have a feeling I'll love this plot.
 

Vslayer

Juiced Moose On The Loose
Lead Moderator
To clarify then, what do they affect? I never played Injustice 2, so it's all new to me.
They give you bonuses to help you in the towers so either they boost all damage, damage on specials or they give you resistance to certain types attacks. In IJ2 this used to take effect in player matches, but this time it won’t which is good.
 

HBK3234

Noob
Surprisingly good review from IGN. I'm really glad as a singleplayer type guy that the issue of those towers is being brought up in most reviews, hopefully the devs/WB feel pressured enough to patch the towers up quickly.
 
Imagine if they made character towers similar to combo trials, or focused on game play elements like your character getting caught in a combo vortex and you have to figure out how to get out of it. So many things they could do with towers to actually teach people the game and even their particular character and how to face different match ups, but instead they went with the make it frustrating to make a buck route.

Taking your character theough towers should help you learn that characters strengths and weaknesses plus match up knowledge, not how to use special assists not in the regular game to beat a nearly impossible opponent. How does that help you "get gud".
 

DDustiNN

MK11 Pocket Guide: Koming Soon to the App Store
Imagine if they made character towers similar to combo trials, or focused on game play elements like your character getting caught in a combo vortex and you have to figure out how to get out of it. So many things they could do with towers to actually teach people the game and even their particular character and how to face different match ups, but instead they went with the make it frustrating to make a buck route.

Taking your character theough towers should help you learn that characters strengths and weaknesses plus match up knowledge, not how to use special assists not in the regular game to beat a nearly impossible opponent. How does that help you "get gud".
My thoughts exactly. Learning how to cheese a cheesy fight doesn’t help anyone. It’s just frustrating and annoying.

Still butthurt about the MK9 Shao Kahn final boss fight...
 
IGN Spain review... stupid af.

Score: 88

Pros
  • An evolution compared to MKX
  • Lot of modes and content
  • Online event
  • Tons of tutorials and test to improve your gameplay
Cons
  • Feels similar to MKX (wtf?)
  • Stages kinda generic (rofl)
  • Too many DLC characters (how could this be something bad?)
He also mentions the "we miss MKX stage interactions, and their more inspired and less generic stage", and complais thet they didn't use Unreal Engine 4... seriously wtf?
 
D

Deleted member 35141

Guest
I’m glad to see complaints about Krypt randomization, and Towers of Time being unfairly difficult. Hopefully this forces some fixes.
I have watched a couple people play the krypt and it seems ok,but with the towers being so stupid you barely have resources to buy stuff.
So imo the krypt should stay the same but have better ways to earn resources, especially online players.
 

zerosebaz

What's the point of a random Krypt?
I like that they are giving them shit on the Krypt and towers. If anything, they are not giving them enough.

Imagine if they made character towers similar to combo trials, or focused on game play elements like your character getting caught in a combo vortex and you have to figure out how to get out of it. So many things they could do with towers to actually teach people the game and even their particular character and how to face different match ups, but instead they went with the make it frustrating to make a buck route.

Taking your character theough towers should help you learn that characters strengths and weaknesses plus match up knowledge, not how to use special assists not in the regular game to beat a nearly impossible opponent. How does that help you "get gud".
I always thought the Challenge Tower from MK9 and all of new incarnations should've been the place where you learn. Like the advanced tutorial, but in a funny setting:

"Millena is dead, but Kitana wants to fulfill her last wish: Giving you that teddy bear!
Show her how much you dislike it by performing all your krushing blows on her" And then it shows you the requirements and teaches you how to do them.

"Kotal Khan knocked you down and thinks he won Outworlds Throne. Show him Shao Khan is not so easily defeated by performing a wake up attack into a combo" And you learn about the wakeup system.

So many missed opportunities with this...
 

VSC_Supreme

TYM's #1 L taker.
I like that they are giving them shit on the Krypt and towers. If anything, they are not giving them enough.



I always thought the Challenge Tower from MK9 and all of new incarnations should've been the place where you learn. Like the advanced tutorial, but in a funny setting:

"Millena is dead, but Kitana wants to fulfill her last wish: Giving you that teddy bear!
Show her how much you dislike it by performing all your krushing blows on her" And then it shows you the requirements and teaches you how to do them.

"Kotal Khan knocked you down and thinks he won Outworlds Throne. Show him Shao Khan is not so easily defeated by performing a wake up attack into a combo" And you learn about the wakeup system.

So many missed opportunities with this...
Love how there would be little intros like in deception and the MK9 challenge tower. I feel disappointed we didn't get anything like it again.