Mortal Kombat 11 Review

Kronika, the Keeper of Time, created all life in the realms at the beginning of time and Raiden's actions change the course of destiny -- to Kronika's displeasure.

Mortal Kombat 11 arrived on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch on April 23. All following screenshots captured by Riley Golden.

Having arrived on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch on April 23, Mortal Kombat 11 can provide different experiences depending on what console you play it on. I probably would not have gotten the NetherRealm-developed game if it only came to the home consoles, but for some reason there's a huge appeal for me when AAA, third party games make their way to the Switch.

Graphics

Naturally, there is a pretty big difference in the appearance of the game between consoles, and while beautiful, realistic graphics are usually a plus, I think it's okay that the textures in the Switch version of the game look like they're out of the early days of the "PlayStation 3-60" era.

Watch him get right back up after this...

Reason being that Mortal Kombat is an extremely gruesome and gory franchise, and the more realistic graphics on the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 are actually kind of unsettling. They're a bit too real, for me anyway, especially in light of recent comments made by NetherRealm employees, which I briefly touched on in our first Special Topics podcast.

But on the Switch, a lot of that realism is lost and it's easier to laugh at how ridiculous fatalities and brutalities are. The game is a bit less of a spectacle and more humorous, and in this case, I actually prefer that.

That being said, the cut scenes in the Story mode look great.

Story

Raiden's actions at the beginning of the story lead Kronika to merge past and present, basically so that she can recruit the now-dead Shao Khan, and two versions of all of the Mortal Kombat mainstays that despise Raiden, because, y'know, good versus evil and all that.

Kronika might be trying to turn time inside-out, but she's serving looks while she does it.

The twist is that some of the present versions of EarthRealm's heroes have been "hardened" and are also allies to Kronika.

In one chapter, the player might be choosing to play as the past versions of Liu Kang or Kung Lao, only to fight against the present, revenant (or hardened) version of one or the other Shaolin monks.

Me: This is just a game, don't get mad at your friend just for beating you. Also me: You're too good of a gamer to be losing right now, start pouting so maybe they'll go easy on you.

Then, in the next mission the player could take control of the past version of Sonya Blade and be forced to fight Johnny Cage, who she is married to in the present.

All in all, the story of Mortal Kombat 11 is rather convoluted -- especially to a newcomer to the franchise like me -- but it basically plays like a movie in which you take control of a character during the fight scenes, and it is quite enjoyable.

Game Modes

One of the other things players can do when they are fighting solo is to play towers or wander the Krypt.

Klassic Towers play like towers always have in the Mortal Kombat series, working like a tournament of various lengths, and Towers of Time are the same, but constantly changing.

Then, there's the Krypt, which is very different than anything I've ever done in a fighting game. The Krypt is an area where players can roam around in third-person and collect things by opening chests. Its pretty boring but its also an interesting mechanic to include in a fighting game.

The Krypt's third-person perspective is an interesting addition to the fighting game genre.

The downside is that the Tower modes and the Krypt mode require the player to be online to play, so I just haven't played them a whole lot. Most of the time when I play Mortal Kombat, I'm in public where I don't have internet, as are -- I'm sure -- a lot of others, so this always-online thing does a lot more harm than good.

Because of that, most of the time I'm either playing the Story or Fight modes.

In the Fight mode you can either do Local play, a Tournament, play Online, or conduct an AI Battle.

Local lets you either fight the computer or a friend and finish out with a Fatality, and its super fun to play with friends -- but be warned, one of you might rage-quit... and not talk for a few days. That's okay though because one of you will eventually want a rematch and because of the convenience of the Switch, you can do it anywhere.

Ready... FIGHT!

Tournament on the other hand would be kind of hard to play just anywhere because, well, its not exactly clear what it entails. The in-game description says "Fight a Human Opponent with Tournament Settings Enabled..." but that's all the description that's given, so I'm not really sure how it's supposed to function.

There doesn't seem to be anything special about it, so my friends and I usually just play the Fight mode.

Online is the same thing as a local game but you're playing online with some 12 year old kid that's either button mashing or "spamming" you with the same attack over and over again, but I didn't really have any connectivity issues, which I appreciated.

There is also a Kustomization function that allows players to kustomize the armor, klothes, and gear that the different characters wear, which is pretty cool but also not something I really do too much in fighting games.

Konclusion

My biggest complaint about Mortal Kombat 11 on Switch is that Klassic Towers, Towers of Time, and Krypt exploration all require Nintendo's online service, which just doesn't make very much sense for a game that is predominantly played alone, or in-person with friends, on a portable console.

The game almost requires a constant internet connection, or at the very least pesters you about being online before it lets you do anything, and while this is overall an annoying trend in the industry, its especially hindering on this hardly-ever-online, portable console.

All things considered, Mortal Kombat 11 on Switch is a sometimes-enraging blast to play at home or on-the-go with your friends, and the below average graphics just make the outrageous gore that much more ridiculous and funny.

I give Mortal Kombat 11 on Nintendo Switch an 8 out of 10.

8/10