Mortal Kombat X is a fighting video game developed by NetherRealm Studios and published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. It is the tenth main installment in the Mortal Kombat video game series and was released on April 14, 2015 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. NetherRealm studio's mobile team developed a version for iOS and Android devices. Versions for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 were originally planned for release, but both were later cancelled.
Like previous Mortal Kombat games, Mortal Kombat X's gameplay consists of two players, or one player and the CPU, fighting against each other with their selected character, using a large, varied array of character specific attacks. The game contains several modes, such as a story mode, which takes place twenty years after the previous Mortal Kombat game, several 'Tower' modes, which feature dynamically changing challenges, numerous online modes, and the 'Krypt', a mode played in a first-person perspective where players explore the areas unlocking a variety of in-game items.
The console versions of Mortal Kombat X received mostly positive reviews from critics upon release. Most praise was directed at the game's controls, overall gameplay, graphics, story, and characters, with some reviewers calling it the best game in the Mortal Kombat series. However, the PC version of the game was met with mixed reception, with reviewers blaming numerous technical issues (including frequent crashes and slow netcode) for severely hindering the experience. Some critics also particularly disliked the tutorials, microtransactions, and downloadable content. Selling more than 5 million copies, the game was the fastest-selling game in the franchise and the ninth best--selling game in 2015.
Gameplay:
Mortal Kombat X is a fighting game in which two players fight against each other using a variety of attacks, including special character-specific moves, Brutalities, and gruesome Fatalities. The energy meter, first introduced in the previous Mortal Kombat game, allows players to perform techniques such as "X-Ray" special moves. Similarly to NetherRealm Studios' previous title, Injustice: Gods Among Us, fighters are able to interact with the environment, bouncing off areas to reposition themselves or using parts of the environment as weapons. In addition, each fighter has three different variations, each featuring a different set of moves they can use during the fight: for example, the character Scorpion features a Ninjutsu variation which gives him combos utilizing dual swords, a Hellfire variation which relies more on fiery special moves, and an Inferno variation which allows him to summon hellspawn minions to aid him in the fight. The sprint gauge, which was last seen in Mortal Kombat 4/Gold, returns in this game, but unlike in that game, this game no longer limits on a target combo moves since it was removed in Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance. MKX features two new types of finishing moves: Quitality, which instantly kills the player's character if they quit during a multiplayer match; and Faction Kills, finishing moves tied to each of the game's five factions. Brutality finishing moves make a comeback, although different from the ones featured in Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. Brutalities now take the form of enhanced versions of certain moves that are triggered when said move is used as the final blow to win the final round in a fight, provided certain conditions are met. In addition, the game features stage Brutalities (largely equivalent to the Stage Fatalities featured in previous games), which are triggered when certain environment interactions are used to finish the opponent.The game's play modes include Story, 1 vs. 1 Ranked, King of the Hill, Survivor, and Test Your Luck. A new addition called Living Towers is an evolved form of Mortal Kombat's Challenge Tower where the play conditions change. Another new mode is Faction Wars, where the players choose one from the five factions (Black Dragon, the Brotherhood of Shadow, the Lin Kuei, Special Forces, and White Lotus) to align with and join a persistent online cross-platform competition with the others, winning points for their faction to contribute in the conflict between them, ranking up personally, and earning special rewards such as faction-specific finishing moves (one of which is unlocked to the player if their faction wins at the end of any given week).
Characters:
New playable characters are listed in bold.
Along with series staples such as Scorpion, Sub-Zero, Liu Kang, Kitana and Raiden, several new fighters are added to the series' roster: D'Vorah, an insect-like humanoid who controls other insects; Ferra/Torr, a pairing consisting of a small armored female warrior and a giant masked brute; and Kotal Kahn, an Aztec-inspired "blood god" described by series creator Ed Boon as the new emperor of Outworld. With the game's story mode spanning 25 years, the game also introduces the offsprings of several characters, such as Cassie Cage, the daughter of Johnny Cage and Sonya Blade; Takeda, son of Kenshi; and Jacqui Briggs, daughter of Jax. Other series newcomers include Kung Jin, cousin of Kung Lao and an archer; and Erron Black, a Western-style gunfighter. A non-playable demonic form of Shinnok called "Corrupted Shinnok" appears as the final boss, and two of the downloadable characters, Tanya and Bo' Rai Cho, also originally appeared in the story mode cutscenes, with Tanya being a non-playable opponent. Additionally, three non-playable characters appear as opponents in the story mode: Rain, Baraka, and Sindel. Aside from that, Kabal, Sektor, Smoke, Nightwolf, Stryker, Fujin, Jade, Shao Kahn, Shang Tsung, Li Mei, Sareena, Frost, Shujinko, Daegon and Taven make brief appearances during cutscenes in story mode or in arcade endings for playable characters.
Plot:
Two years after the defeat of Shao Kahn, Shinnok attacks Earthrealm with his army of Netherrealm demons, as well as the Earthrealm warriors who were killed during Kahn's invasion and are now resurrected as revenants under Quan Chi's control. After fighting their fallen comrades, a strike team led by Johnny Cage, Sonya Blade, and Kenshi open a portal to Raiden's Sky Temple and head to the Jinsei Chamber, the source of Earthrealm's life force, where Raiden and Fujin are seen battling Shinnok and his Netherrealm forces. When Shinnok tries to kill Sonya, Johnny rushes to defend her, inadvertently awakening ancient superhuman powers within himself. Using his newly-found powers, Johnny holds Shinnok at bay long enough for Raiden to steal Shinnok's amulet and imprison him inside it, but Quan Chi escapes. Johnny, Raiden, and Sonya track him to his lair in the Netherrealm and defeat him, successfully restoring Scorpion, Sub-Zero, and Jax to human form in the process, though Quan Chi escapes again. In the years that follow, Johnny and Sonya marry and have a daughter, Cassie, though they later divorce. Scorpion, now known as Hanzo Hasashi reinstates his Shirai Ryu clan while mentoring Kenshi's son Takeda, and Sub-Zero becomes the new Grandmaster of the Lin Kuei after killing Sektor. Sub-Zero uses the data from Sektor's memory banks detailing Quan Chi's manipulations to help end his feud with Hasashi.
Twenty years after Shinnok's defeat, Johnny assembles a team of fighters composed of Cassie, Takeda, Jax's daughter Jacqui, and Kung Lao's cousin Kung Jin. After undergoing a training exercise with Sub-Zero, they are deployed to Outworld to resolve a civil war between former empress Mileena, who has obtained Shinnok's amulet from Kano, and Outworld's current emperor Kotal Kahn, with whom Earthrealm has a peace treaty. Meanwhile, in an Outworld refugee camp in Earthrealm, Sonya captures Kano and forces him to reveal Mileena's location. Using this information, Cassie's team aids Kotal in recovering Shinnok's amulet and capturing Mileena, who is subsequently executed on Kotal's orders. No longer believing Earthrealm capable of keeping the amulet safe, Kotal decides to keep it in Outworld's hands, and takes Cassie and her friends hostage as leverage against Raiden. Kotal's second-in-command D'Vorah, who is revealed as a double agent for Quan Chi, steals the amulet. Cassie and her team escape captivity, and inform Earthrealm of D'Vorah's intentions.
Hoping to stop Quan Chi from getting the amulet, Jax and Kenshi, aided by Sareena, lead an assault on the Netherrealm. After fighting his way through the revenants, Jax captures a weakened Quan Chi, who is brought to Earthrealm and held at an Outworld refugee camp. Hasashi infiltrates the refugee camp alongside his clan with the intent of assassinating Quan Chi, defeating Kenshi, Johnny and Sonya in the process. As Hasashi prepares to kill Quan Chi, D'Vorah arrives with the amulet. Quan Chi manages to finish a spell moments before being beheaded by Hasashi, releasing Shinnok from captivity. Weakened by the Shirai Ryu's previous attack, Johnny is taken hostage by Shinnok and D'Vorah. With the aid of Quan Chi's revenants, Shinnok and D'Vorah assault the Sky Temple, and subdue Raiden and Bo´Rai Cho in the process. Shinnok then enters the Jinsei and corrupts it, transforming himself into a powerful demon in the process.
Cassie's team pursues Shinnok, only to be intercepted by Kotal Kahn and his army. They inform him of Shinnok's return and Kotal decides to kill them, hoping to appease Shinnok and buy time to bolster Outworld's defenses, but Sub-Zero and his Lin Kuei warriors appear just in time to repel the Outworld forces. At the Sky Temple, Jacqui and Takeda occupy the revenants, while Cassie and Jin enter the Jinsei chamber. Cassie defeats D'Vorah, though Jin is knocked out, leaving her to face Shinnok alone. When Shinnok begins torturing Johnny, Cassie gains her father's superhuman powers, which she uses to defeat Shinnok. A grievously-wounded Raiden then purifies the Jinsei, stripping Shinnok of his powers and forcing the revenants to withdraw. Sonya and her soldiers arrive to take Shinnok and D'Vorah away, and the Cage family reunites.
Some time later, the revenants Liu Kang and Kitana are revealed to have assumed leadership of the Netherrealm. Raiden, now in possession of Shinnok's amulet and corrupted in the process of purifying the Jinsei, warns them they will face "fates worse than death" if they threaten Earthrealm. Before departing, Raiden leaves behind Shinnok's severed, yet still living head as a final warning.
Development:
NetherRealm Studios began publicly hiring for the eighth generation development in April 2012. In July 2013, it was confirmed that a new Mortal Kombat game was in development and was said to be released alongside the film series' reboot in September 2015. At the 2013 San Diego Comic-Con, Lance Sloan, producer of the web series Mortal Kombat: Legacy, confirmed the next Mortal Kombat game to be in production, and that there were intentions of a simultaneous release between the game and a new Mortal Kombat film. In February 2014, actor Kiefer Sutherland claimed he was participating in this "huge game" in an unidentified role. The following June, Sutherland's involvement was denied by series creator Ed Boon. According to the resume of Karen Strassman, who voiced Kitana and Mileena in 2011's Mortal Kombat, the game's working title was Mortal Kombat 2. The game's poster was leaked and an updated version of the series' iconic dragon logo was revealed on May 28, 2014. Boon posted daily riddles on his Twitter account that constituted a countdown suggesting a June 2 announcement date, hinting at the game's title being Mortal Kombat X. One of the Twitter clues left by Boon teasing this title was the image of a Lincoln MKX emblem posted with the comment, "I wonder what the X stands for?"
On June 2, 2014, the title was indeed officially revealed as Mortal Kombat X, alongside an official reveal trailer featuring a fight between the iconic characters Scorpion and Sub-Zero. The game made its first public appearance at the Electronic Entertainment Expo 2014, starting on June 10, where four new characters were revealed, apart from the two already revealed by the trailer. With over eleven million views, it was the third-highest viewed trailer on YouTube in the second quarter of 2014. NetherRealm Studios said they are only working on the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions of the game. The game, which runs at 1080p screen resolution and 60 FPS, has been said to feature the most brutal finishing moves in the series. Boon said: "We have these meetings and everyone comes up with ideas for Fatalities. The ones that people say ‘there’s no way we can do that’ – they’re the first ones we work on."
Due to heavy criticism for the porting issues in the PC version of the game, almost all references to Mortal Kombat X have been removed from High Voltage Software’s Facebook page. On August 28, 2015, Warner Bros. announced the cancellation of the PS3 and Xbox 360 ports of Mortal Kombat X due to the inability to get the version for the last gen consoles to reach the quality standards set by the current generation. NetherRealm Studios community specialist Tyler Lansdown has stated that Kombat Pack 2, Mortal Kombat XL, and the enhanced online netcode will not be available on the PC version.
Release:
Mortal Kombat X was released worldwide (except Germany) for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One on April 14, 2015. For reasons relating to the initial refusal by the German USK to issue the game with an age rating, the official German release of Mortal Kombat X was delayed until September 1, 2015. On August 28, 2015, the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 ports were cancelled. Four characters, including two classic Mortal Kombat characters and two guest characters, as well as character skins, will be released as downloadable content, both individually and through the game's season pass ("Kombat Pack"), which offers early access to the content. The game's Kollector’s Edition includes a figurine of Scorpion and character skin based on it, as well as the season pass.
Mobile version : On March 2, 2015, NetherRealm Studios announced that their mobile division would release an iOS/Android version of Mortal Kombat X in April 2015. The mobile version is described as a "free-to-play fighting/card-battler hybrid" and players will be able to unlock content in the console version of the game by playing the mobile version (and vice versa). The iOS version was released worldwide on April 7, 2015, while the Android version was soft launched on April 21, 2015 in select Asian countries and was officially launched worldwide on May 4, 2015.
Downloadable content : Before the game's launch, Goro was offered as a pre-order bonus. Later on, upon the game's release, he was also made available for purchase. There is also an option to buy easy fatalities, which allows players to perform a fatality with one button instead of the required button streak. On March 13, 2015, Jason Voorhees from the Friday the 13th franchise was announced as the first downloadable bonus character in the downloadable "Kombat Pack" season-pass bundle. One week later, Predator, from the eponymous franchise, was revealed as the second DLC guest character after he was inadvertently leaked by the Xbox Games Store, with Tremor from Mortal Kombat: Special Forces and Tanya from Mortal Kombat 4 later rounding out the cast of the Kombat Pack. The pass includes fifteen additional character skins and costumes, including one for Jax using the likeness and voice of actor Carl Weathers from the first Predator film. On September 2, 2015, Ed Boon teased a "Kombat Pack 2" DLC, which would include four new characters. On December 3, the characters for Kombat Pack 2 were revealed to be Bo' Rai Cho from Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance, a new character named Tri-Borg (a cyborg character composed of Cyrax, Sektor, Smoke and Cyber Sub-Zero as its variations, which in turn is the first character to have 4 variations in the series), Leatherface from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise, and a Xenomorph from the Alien franchise with traces of Baraka's Tarkatan DNA, giving it armblades.
Promotions : DC Comics has published a comic book series based on the game, with the first issue released on January 6, 2015. The debut trailer and opening cinematic features an original track by Wiz Khalifa titled "Can't Be Stopped". The official television commercial and launch trailer for the game were directed by System of a Down member Shavo Odadjian and featured the band's 2001 track "Chop Suey!". The Mortal Kombat X logo was featured on NASCAR driver Erik Jones' #20 Xfinity Series car (sponsored by GameStop) that won the O'Reilly Auto Parts 300 on April 10, 2015. Mortal Kombat X has been used in eSports competitions, with international tournaments in Europe, Asia, and North America with $1,000 weekly tournament prizes starting on 19 April 2015 with a season final on 11 July 2015 worth at least $100,000. The ESL Pro League Season 1 Finals was won by Critical Reaction's Dominique "Sonic Fox" McLean using Kitana with Erron Black as a secondary. McLean earned a grand total of $60,000 from the Season 1 Finals. Season Two of the ESL Pro League for Mortal Kombat X begins on October 18, 2015 and concludes in early 2016.
Mortal Kombat XL : On January 20, 2016, NetherRealm Studios announced Mortal Kombat XL, which includes all previously released downloadable content. It was released for Xbox One and PlayStation 4 on March 1, 2016 in North America, and March 4, 2016 in Europe.
Reception:
Mortal Kombat X received mostly positive reviews. Aggregating review websites GameRankings and Metacritic gave the Xbox One version 85.97% based on 15 reviews and 86/100 based on 21 reviews, the PlayStation 4 version 84.18% based on 58 reviews and 83/100 based on 80 reviews and the Microsoft Windows version 75.20% based on 5 reviews and 76/100 based on 10 reviews. It became the fastest selling game in the history of the Mortal Kombat series and topped the PlayStation 4 sales charts in the month of release.
Brian Shea of Game Informer called Mortal Kombat X "more than the continuation of NetherRealm's successful vision for the franchise; it's one of the best fighting games in years", adding that the core gameplay was complex and varied while he enjoyed the multiplayer options. GameSpot's Peter Brown enjoyed the overall gameplay, saying it had "the best fighting mechanics of any game in the series" but was critical of the downloadable content as "there's so much to love about the new Mortal Kombat that it's a shame to see such blatant monetization practices overlap with your experience". Lucas Sullivan of GamesRadar described the story mode as "ceaselessly entertaining", having "great voice-acting and a surprisingly enjoyable script", and "a pretty tough act to follow", criticizing the other single-player modes outside of the main story, and "sparse" tutorial options.
Destructoid's Chris Carter scored the game an 8 out of 10 and called it "one of the biggest fighting games of 2015". Carter felt that as more characters are added via DLC, the game will get better over time. VideoGamer.com's Brett Phipps gave the game an 8/10 and called it "absurd, gruesome ridiculous fun". Phipps mostly praised the story, character gameplay variety, and gore, but was annoyed by online "hiccups". Nick Tan from Game Revolution commended the gameplay, particularly complimenting the character variations, environmental attacks, Brutalities, the Krypt, and the Tower system. Tan also liked the overall presentation and the story's concept, but missed Stage Fatalities and tag-team matches, disliked the story's ending, and felt that the game was purposefully "truncated".
Michael Huber of GameTrailers called it a "superb entry in the franchise", noting the gameplay, story mode and new online components. Vince Ingenito of IGN gave it a score of 8.4. He claimed that Mortal Kombat X was the best Mortal Kombat game in the franchise's history, lauding it as deeper, mechanically richer and more fully featured than the previous Mortal Kombat games. He also praised the presence of the new characters as the major roster shakeup made the game feel new and exciting to longtime series fans and casual fans. Michael McWhertor of Polygon called the game "one of the best fighting games in the series", praising the gameplay in addition to the newer systems in place and overall presentation. Stephen Kleckner of VentureBeat was more critical of the game, citing in his opinion confusing move animations, a system favoring close range mid-to-high combos, having to use the block button to execute a run, poor online play, and easy Fatality DLC. He also mentioned an issue where save data would be erased due to a bug in the PC version. Matt Elliott of PC Gamer had mixed feelings about the online gameplay and said that "Mortal Kombat online simply isn't sturdy enough to remain competitive".
In October 2015, Warner Bros. confirmed that Mortal Kombat X has sold 5 million copies worldwide. It was the fastest selling game in franchise and was among the best-selling games of 2015.
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