Yet another long running franchise is getting a brand new installment for both generations. Also, it’s a fighting game. . . aaannd it’s Mortal Kombat. Wonderful news since we truly need yet another fighting game with the same formula as all the others with nothing interesting to show for it.
You may have guessed I’m not delightfully running up the walls for the new Mortal Kombat as, well, it’s just a fighting game.
I know most games have endless sequels or the same design as before, but most other series usually add new features and dynamic game-play changes that evolve not only the series but the genre. Other genres tend to be more interesting than just beating the crap out of your opponent thanks to other mechanics, from blowing them up to sawing them in half with a chainsaw. Even racing games evolve, bringing players improved experiences with new features like open worlds or changing the styles from arcade fun to organic like simulation for the hard core driving fans. Still, they too are just the same as fighting games in many respects.
In my opinion, one of the only recent fighting games to come with a gust of fresh air would be Xbox One’s Killer Instinct. The fighting style and speed of the combat is so fast and fluent, its great fun to play compared to others such as Injustice: Gods among Us. Still, Killer Instinct is still a pretty standard fighting game. There’s nothing to differ it much from another or make it. Yet I can appreciate that it’s been some time since we had a Killer Instinct game and now the fighting styles along with the mechanics have vastly improved to offer the ultimate KI experience.
Yet fighting games have now reached that point were developers wondered in great difficulty how to make them better. The answer? Do nothing! What many developers do often enough is jump back and forth between making a fighting series great by improving the formula and then ruin it by dumbing down the overall design and experience with silly additions we don’t want. Enter Mortal Kombat.
Things haven’t been great for MK over the years, as its failed to evolve and only adds in very tedious and lame additions.
MK Deadly Alliance gave gamers (back in 2003) a true next gen experience of the series. It was pretty much the same as Killer Instinct’s return, having been missed by gamers for many years and all of a sudden it makes a grand comeback. So we loved Deadly Alliance for its fighting styles, vast unlocks and graphics. It also took itself seriously once again as the previous games started to feel shallow and aimless in what they offered fighting fans.
About two years later, we got its let-down of a sequel. It stayed the same and instead of doing something to improve from the previous game they thought of compensating this lack of development with some shoddy mini games and unsatisfying extras. Then there was the Mash up with the DC characters, which was pretty lame too. This new game only added the DC characters as the main “improvement” and nothing more. The combat was sluggish, slow and the DC characters were underwhelming as it didn’t feel like you were fighting with Superheroes but rather with MK characters in DC skins. I wasn’t too impress when I was beaten by Baraka and I was freaking BATMAN! So with each sequel came no innovations and MK was laid to rest for some time. Then in 2011 came the return, and what evolutionary feature was added to MK?
X-ray style imagery when you do a super punch or kick or something! MK has again brought us nothing and after a couple of years, standard in development of most AAA games like Call of Duty, we get another instalment.
What will MK X bring? Some new moves and interactions with the environment? These have been done before in other much older fighting games such as Dead or Alive 4.
This trend to improve and leave things to go stale may be all thanks to the fact that fighting games are difficult to make interesting now days. Fighting games can only go so far without over complicating matters and they stay the same because that’s all we need from them in order to enjoy. But do we need shallow sequels? I know I’m having a moan about a genre that focuses on one concept of gameplay, but maybe we should we try something different?
One fighting game that has an enjoyable twist on the genre is DiveKick. It’s hysterically brilliant! It does something simple in terms of mechanics and it works well within a fighting game.
I could be wrong, though. MK X might be good. No matter what era it’s in, it’s still just a fighting game.