Mortal Kombat 1 Beta: So far, so good as series prepares for second reboot

(Image: NetherRealm Studios/Warner Bros. Games)

As far as fighting games go, Mortal Kombat sits alongside Street Fighter as the holy grail. The origin stories of these two franchises are as interesting as the action they’ve brought into millions of homes over the decades. From arcade cabinets and home consoles to cinema, popular culture, footwear and beyond, the two franchises have been battling it out on numerous fronts. The fifth episode of Netflix show High Score titled ‘Fight!’ is a great starting point to understand the rivalry.

This year carries the remarkable distinction of being the first in a long time (possibly even the first time ever) that sees both franchises launching a game. What’s interesting is how Capcom and NetherRealm Studios are moving Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat respectively in almost polar opposite directions. While the former (that released in June) implemented a vaguely Yakuza-esque semi open-world complete with main quests and side quests, the latter appears to be going back to its roots. The last time NetherRealm did this was with 2011’s Mortal Kombat, the ninth main game and first reboot of the series.

I watched the game’s announcement trailer a few months ago, but could barely make sense of what was happening. Now, having spent a couple of hours on the four-day Mortal Kombat 1 Beta that went live on Friday night, I have a much better idea of what to expect.

Screen grab from Mortal Kombat 1 Beta on PlayStation 5. (Image: NetherRealm Studios/Warner Bros. Games)

While recent evidence (the latest Mortal Kombat games and the Injustice series) points to a cutscene-rich story mode, this wasn’t present in the beta. In fact, the preview only allowed you to play two modes — Towers and Versus (online only) — with six playable characters. Right before you fire up a fight, NetherRealm’s biggest divergence from ‘going back to the start’ emerges: Kameos. This new system introduces pre-selected fighters who sit in your corner until you call upon them to launch an attack on your opponent. It’s a nice touch that adds a bit more strategy to proceedings.

Once the kicking, punching and impaling begins, it becomes clear that Mortal Kombat 1 is a very slick and polished game. I found the on-screen action to be very responsive to my input and extremely smooth in transitioning from one move to another. A complaint I’ve frequently had with fighting games is that combat can appear clunky between attacks — like a series of animations crudely stuck together, rather than one smooth flowing animation.

That doesn’t seem to be the case here. On the basis of my extremely limited exposure to the game so far, the process of speeding up or slowing down the speed of a fight (to capitalise on your momentum or disrupt that of your opponent respectively) is more intuitive and dare-I-say organic than in recent fighting games. I was, however, slightly disappointed to see the lack of ‘modern controls’, as seen in Street Fighter 6, where shoulder buttons can substitute for multi-button combos. Cards on the table, I deeply dislike combos and what they do to my controllers over time.

So far though, the biggest example of Mortal Kombat returning to its roots is the manner in which it doubles down on what distinguished it from Street Fighter in the first place — gratuitous and wanton gore. Some of the fatalities on show were as brutal as an entire spinal column being ripped out of an opponent’s body in the first Mortal Kombat game.

Screen grab from Mortal Kombat 1 Beta on PlayStation 5. (Image: NetherRealm Studios/Warner Bros. Games)

So far, I’ve seen enough gameplay to suggest that we’re in for an entertaining time when Mortal Kombat 1 launches next month. However, it’s what we haven’t seen so far that has my levels of anticipation high. Among these are, of course, the full complement of fighters with their own fighting styles, movesets, fatalities, babalities and what-not to look forward to.

Then there’s the way the environment could add to the experience, in terms of environmental damage, props that can be used as weapons and arena transitions (generally triggered by throwing your opponent through a wall). And finally, there’s all the modes that will be part of the full game.

The game releases on 19 September worldwide, with buyers of the Kollector's Edition or Premium Edition getting access on 14 September. And if you want more bang for your buck, you can pick up a t-shirt and the in-game Shang Tsung playable character by preordering Mortal Kombat 1 from Games the Shop.