So, you managed to score a PlayStation 5 or an Xbox Series X but not the other. You’re frustrated that bots keep buying up dozens of consoles only to resell them on eBay for $800+. You tried on Black Friday but never got a console into your cart because of website crashes. What better way to take out that frustration than breaking a few bones and murdering a few opponents?
The game has been around for over a year, but it has been ported to PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series S | X with everything that has been released for it so far! Welcome back to the brutal world of Mortal Kombat 11!
Title: Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate
Platform: PlayStation 5 (Reviewed), PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and Series S, Microsoft Windows
Developer: Netherrealm Studios
Publisher: Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
Original Release Date: April 23, 2019
Price: $59.99 | Available at Amazon
Aside from an updated roster, patches to fix rewards, make towers actually playable, and a whole new story chapter that came in a massive DLC patch called Aftermath, this is still the same Mortal Kombat 11 that you knew and loved from April of last year.
Obviously, you can take a look at my original review if you want to know how my first impressions of the base game; however, I will say that next-gen does provide some nice little perks.
The first is the load times. Everything loads incredibly quick; however, I wonder if the game is truly optimized because I still encountered a little bit of lag when going through the menus… especially in the Kustomize section when I was loading up skins. Don’t mince my words, though… it only happened probably two out of ten times, but it wasn’t as smooth load every time.
Little minor hiccups like this are usually forgivable; however, I am unsure where to put the blame for it. Both Sony and Microsoft touted that their SSD hard drives would reduce load times drastically and provide for an ultra-smooth gaming experience and, to be fair, I received that about 99.5% of the time.
Again, my gripe is insignificant but it still makes me wonder about the hardware and if it is truly capable of doing what it says it can do.
I didn’t experience any of this in the gameplay, though. It was as smooth as it has ever been and the details of each character really shined through on the upscaled version of the game.
One of the things that surprised me was that everything was there for me without transferring my information over from the PlayStation 4. I had disconnected my PS4 and decided to do the data transfer on a rainy day; however, when it came to MK11 Ultimate, I decided to actually start fresh over from scratch. I actually wanted to experience the story, going through the Krypt, and unlocking everything again; however, Netherrealm and their cloud saving robbed me of that joy because as soon as the game finished installing and updating, all of my inventory, Koins, Skins, etc. were there waiting for me. Heck, it even remembered where I logged out in the Krypt and spawned me right where I was (Goro’s Lair, by the way).
It makes me wonder if other developers used cloud saving in addition to local for situations such as this?
While I would have liked to start over, I was pretty impressed with how everything was just there despite being on a whole new console!
I did play with the new characters and if anyone out there knows me and my preferences, I prefer fast-paced action which is why Persona 4 Arena is one of my favorite fighting games. I would say that the one character I played that I fell in love with because of their fast style was Mileena. Her combos are quick and with her teleport and roll, she can get out of a plethora of situations. I didn’t care for her fatalities, though, as I just felt they were a bit too generic (come on… can’t jam a sai into the eye, sweep the leg, then Mario stomp that thing through the skull? Hmm.. I’m starting to think I have anger management issues…)
She really fits my playstyle well and I’m heavily considering on making her my new main (Sorry, Sub-Zero).
Although not part of the game, I did plop down the $5.99 and picked up the Movie Skins pack. To hear Christoper Lambert, Linden Ashby, and Bridgette Wilson as Raiden, Johnny Cage, and Sonya Blade, respectively, again was amazing! These are now my permanent skins for these characters, no matter what variant I use!
All in all, what else can be said about this game? It’s Mortal Kombat 11, it has a bigger roster, and everything that you enjoyed about the game is here in upscaled graphics. If you’re a Mortal Kombat fan and have a new next-gen console, this should be an instant pick up. If you’ve never played any of the extra content or played any of the DLC, there is a Krypt’s worth of Kontent here for you to go through!
My original score was a 4/5… due to the extra content and amazing new characters, I’m bumping this up to a 4.5/5!
Review Disclosure Statement: Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate was provided to us by WB Games / Netherrealm Studios for review purposes. For more information on how we review video games and other media/technology, please review our Review Guideline/Scoring Policy for more info.
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Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate
Summary
Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate offers everything that MK11 gave up plus all of the DLC plus a few new characters. It’s perfect for those who played the original and want to continue their experience on a next-gen console but even better for those who only played the base game or haven’t played it yet at all!
Pros
- Upscaled graphics look good
- Very smooth combat
- Load times are ultra-fast
- Lots of content for new players
Cons
- Still a loading hiccup here or there but that’s about it.
- Movie skins pack wasn’t included in the package
