Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate PlayStation 5 Review

Mortal Kombat has a long legacy as of the most defining pieces of entertainment of all time. Setting into motion a new era of graphic content and complex combat systems for video games. Mortal Kombat 11 carries that legacy forward with one of the best fighting games ever made whether you're a veteran fighting game player or a newcomer like myself. The Ultimate Edition giving you access to all the new characters and the Aftermath story mode. If you ever wanted to experience one of the best fighting game franchises of all time Mortal Kombat 11 will deliver on that and more.

Mortal Kombat 11 takes place following Shinnok's defeat. Raiden decided to make Shinnok an example by decapitating him and posing his head as a threat to anyone who challenges Earthrealm. Shinnok's mother Kronika decides to alter history to erase Rainde's interference. After years of planning the timeline starts to twist and turn, with dead characters being brought to life and clashing with modern events.

The story is difficult to follow if you haven't experienced any Mortal Kombat title. Even though I understood the basics I had to do about 1 hour of research to get a footing of everything that's happening. This should be expected as Mortal Kombat has been around for more than a decade and has years worth of lore.

The story is set into 2 parts, 1 is the active cutscenes, and the second being combat. During combat, players will sometimes get the chance to choose from 2 fighters while the other does something else. Players still need to adapt to the chosen fighter but giving an option helps alleviate that stress by picking someone you're more comfortable with. In addition, there are difficultly options that you can change mid-chapter is 1 fight is giving you trouble. If you wish to experience a specific event during a chapter you can go back without issue and NetherRealm went the extra mile to animate the chapter select screen.

The campaign takes around 5-6 hours to complete plus an additional campaign Aftermath that takes place after the game's core ending. It's more of what the campaign offered, which is great high action with a lot of incredible cutscenes. I can't say more for spoilers reasons but it's well worth it especially if you love Mortal Kombat.

If you're the best fighting gamer there is an extensive tutorial to teach you the basics step by step. I'm not a seasoned fighting game player but even I was able to grasp the core concepts because of this robust tutorial system. You'll still need to dedicate time as Mortal Kombat 11 is not an easy game. There's a lot of complicated strategies to learn, combat, and defend against but thankfully the tutorial gave me the skills needed to stand on my own and learn the complex combat system over time.

Mortal Kombat 11's visuals and presentation are exceptional. Every character model, stage, animation, has a high-quality degree to it. I was often floored by how incredible the game looks from single strains of hair flowing to tiny drops of blood dripping from a recent fatality. Facial animations are outstanding with the player to easily tell how the character is feeling based on their faces. This level of quality extends to the game's voice-acting with iconic characters easily recognizable through their voices.

Mortal Kombat 11 is not perfect. There are a lot of menus to navigate and understand, especially when it comes to customization. While I love how the menus look they can feel cluttered at times, especially when customizing fighters. The game may teach the player the basics when it comes to fighting but most of the ways to unlock the various gear and cosmetics are hidden. The gear and cosmetics available are amazing, with each weapon, armor, and trinket designed with alluring elements. There's a lot to unlock here and you'll be busy for months getting it all.

The roster of characters is large, with 37 characters in total. You have classics like Sonya Blade, Johnny Cage, Sub-Zero, Scorpion along with guest characters like Spawn, RoboCop, and Rambo. Each one has its own unique brutality, fatality, custom dialogue, and so much more. You can easily pick out a favorite fighter and thanks to the customization options make them your own. With each character gaining new unlocks the more you play them. Each character also had unique endings through the Klassic Tower option.

If you're feeling confident you can take your skills online. Getting into a match was easy and often I was placed into matches with evenly matched opponents. Occasionally I got someone way out of my skill range who beat me into the ground but that's expected. Plus you are always progressing towards something with each match so you never leave empty-handed.

There are 25 stages to choose from, each incredibly designed and animated. The backgrounds always have something going on and the levels have environmental hazards players can use. The developers, like with the chapter selection, took that extra step to make a selection that more eventful as you can see the selected characters fighting each other when selecting a stage.

So what does the PS5 version of Mortal Kombat 11 offer? Well, load times have been shortening to the point they're nearly gone. Some cutscenes during the campaign require a few seconds but that's it. The controller also plays sounds when in battle which I didn't hear because I had headphones and heard it when taking them off. If you already own a copy you get it for free but the upgrade is a definite improvement.

Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate is a bloody fun time that provides an extensive amount of quality reasons to keep coming back. The massive roster of fighters, the brilliantly brutal fatalities, and the wonderful tutorial system gives newcomers a chance to learn how to play. The campaign is hard to follow if you're new but once you understand the lore you'll see this series has more to offer than just blood-soaked attacks. Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate is everything you could ever hope for from a fighting game and more.
 

Adam Siddiqui,
Managing Editor, NoobFeed
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