Mortal Kombat 9 plays like a traditional 2D fighting game. Mid range control (i.e., footsies and anti-aerial attacks) is strong and prevalent. No vortexes exist, but offensive options remain powerful. The game's meta is diverse and nonlinear. Cyrax is a predominately combo character, Johnny Cage is a rush down character, Freddy is a traditional full screen zoning character, Kabal is a high execution character who is versatile, Kenshi is a mid range zoning and defensive character, Kitana is a mid range zoning and offensive character, Kung Lao is a mobile rush down character with great defense, Smoke is an anti-zoning, footsies character, Sonya is a footsies-based rush down character, etc. These aforementioned characters are all top tier characters with varied abilities, strengths, and weaknesses. A gameplay style exists for all types of players, which results in the game being enjoyable to play and watch. The superior player, even among the best of the best, always wins in Mortal Kombat 9, with no exceptions other than the game's poor balance, which leads me to discuss the negative aspects of the game.
Unfortunately, the game is profoundly unbalanced, mostly because of Kabal and to a lesser extent Cyrax and Kenshi. The game is also plagued with some peculiar glitches such as the infamous input bug and the frustrating meter drain glitch. If Mortal Kombat 9 had received one or two more patches, I sincerely believe that nobody would be playing Mortal Kombat X right now.
