Mortal Kombat 1
BLOODY GOOD
BRIEF HISTORY
» FORMAT REVIEWED: PS5
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ALSO ON: XBOX SERIES X/S, SWITCH, PC
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RELEASED: OUT NOW
»PRICE: £64.99
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PUBLISHER: WARNER BROS INTERACTIVE
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PLAYERS: 1-2
» [PS5] The graphics have been nailed, as characters and their moves look fantastic in action.
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» [PS5] Kano pulls out the heart of his opponent, but he’s just a Kameo Fighter.
This is probably going to sound hypocritical coming from Retro Gamer, but NetherRealm Studios may be dangerously obsessed with the past. The post-Midway era of Mortal Kombat began with a reboot, and only one regular sequel followed before the developer went back to the nostalgia well with a timetravel adventure. Now we’ve got another reboot, but where the 2011 reboot seemed intent on recapturing an audience that had lost interest, Mortal Kombat 1 has been designed with the knowledge that the world is already paying attention.
With that in mind, NetherRealm has been relatively conservative with the fighting model. The most notable introduction is the Kameo system, which is much like the Striker system from The King Of Fighters ’99, allowing each fighter to pick an assisting character. These characters include the likes of Kano, Goro and Frost, and they can be brought into the fight to perform special attacks, assisted throws and combo-breaking interventions, as well as Fatalities. Beyond that, Fatal Blow attacks return from Mortal Kombat 11 but split offensive and defensive gauges are gone, replaced with a simplified segmented gauge. The Variation system has also been axed.