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Publisher: Chameleon GamesDeveloper: Chameleon GamesRelease: 2019Platform: PlayStation 4, PC
Remember Jet Force Gemini, Rare's 1999 N64 shooter that commands a small but dedicated base of fans? It turns out some other people remember the game, too! Chameleon Games, which self-describes as being made up of "golden era" ex-Rare employees, is looking to recapture that spirit with the announcement of a new and surprisingly similar game called Tamarin.
You can check out the reveal trailer for the game below.
Click here to watch embedded mediaYou can see a lot of Jet Force Gemini's influences in the game, like the exact same design for the bug monsters and the fundamental shooting and exploration segments. I have my doubts that the Jet Force Gemini market is actually all that huge, but I'm pretty impressed by how directly they seem to just be going for it. That artstyle, though. It is very 1990s Rare, at least.
The game also features music from David Wise, who is most recently best known for his work on the stellar soundtrack for Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze.
Tamarin is announced for PlayStation 4 and PC and launching this summer.
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Publisher: Blizzard EntertainmentDeveloper: Blizzard EntertainmentRelease: May 24, 2016Rating: TeenPlatform: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC
In the newest Overwatch developer update, Blizzard vice president Jeff Kaplan took to the traditional video camera motif to announce the newest feature coming to their premiere competitive shooter called Overwatch Workshop. The new mode is a scripting program that lets players essentially futz with the game's modifiable code to create things and even go as far as to edit their heroes to their liking.
Check out the video explanation below.
Click here to watch embedded mediaThe mode will include some pre-built examples for players to open up and look at, such as a Floor-Is-Lava mode called Molten Floor. Kaplan warns that this mode is intended mostly for programmers and enthusiasts, which he collectively calls power users, that like looking at tinkering with code. However, Workshop does come with its own debugger that will run through the custom modes and explain why things are or are not happening.
Even if you're not well-versed in programming, Blizzard is hoping that this gets people who might be interested in exploring game logic into the idea of video game development, perhaps even realizing they can do this themselves. This isn't a map creator, as players will not be able to edit geometry or anything like that, but it is a small tool to get people interested in tweaking Overwatch variables themselves.
The Workshop is now currently being tested on the PTR and everything made there will be able to be moved to the final release.
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Publisher: AtlusDeveloper: AtlusRelease: April 4, 2017Rating: MaturePlatform: PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3
Atlus has been teasing Persona 5: The Royal for the last little while, and now we finally have a better idea on what you can expect from the upcoming, upgraded version of the JRPG.
The Royal brings several new features to the game, such as new Phantom Thief Kasumi Yoshizawa, a confidant named Takuto Maruki who works at Shujin Academy as a counselor, and a new location called Kichijoji. This expansion will take place during the third trimester of school.
The Phantom Thieves are back.https://t.co/PIifoSigg1 pic.twitter.com/tbVkHN8vXk
— Atlus U.S.A., Inc. (@AtlusUSA) April 24, 2019Furthermore, in Atlus' newest Japanese trailer for The Royal, some other additions are teased. These include an aquarium (a new dating location), and a bar where you can play darts and pool. Polygon reports that selfies through the in-game texting system will be possible, new storylines for Caroline and Justine are coming, and new enemies will also be introduced in The Royal.
Click here to watch embedded mediaPersona 5: The Royal arrives in Japan as of October 31st. In the West (and Asia), fans have a bit longer to wait, with an expected release at some point in 2020.
Read our review of Persona 5 here.
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Publisher: Paradox InteractiveDeveloper: Hardsuit LabsRelease: 2020Rating: Rating PendingPlatform: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC
It still feels moderately strange that a Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines 2 is happening at all, so each new bit of information comes as a bit of a surprise. In this case, Paradox Interactive has information about the thinblood disciplines your fledgling vampire chooses from at the start of the game.
The thinbloods are freshly turned and weaker vampires that are having a harder time in the new world of darkness than full bloods are. However, because Seattle has only recently come under Camarilla control, thinbloods can rise to the top with a little opportunity and luck. Check out the animated cinematic, which contains more rat eating than you might be comfortable with, introducing the thinbloods below.
Click here to watch embedded mediaThe three thinblood disciplines players pick from at the beginning are Chiropteran, Mentalism, and Nebulation. The much more detailed information comes from Paradox right here:
Chiropteran - Strong affinity for bats, allowing vampires to move through the air and summon swarms.
- Glide — Greatly lower the weight of the player character's skeleton and muscle mass and create an updraft to briefly float in the air; gliding into an NPC will knock them down. This can be upgraded to allow the player to swoop down on NPCs while gliding above them.
- Bat Swarm — Summon a small swarm of bats to attack target NPC, temporarily disabling them and dealing low damage. Bat Swarm can be upgraded with a Pheromone discipline that increases its duration, as well as with a Maelstrom of leathery wings that surrounds the player and damages any enemies that come too close.
Mentalism - Use telekinesis to manipulate objects and even allows the vampire to pull weapons from enemy hands.
- Pull — Manipulate target inanimate objects using telekinesis. The range of Pull can also be upgraded.
- Levitate — Pull target NPC to the player and telekinetically suspend them in the air for a brief period. The strength of this discipline can be upgraded, allowing the player to levitate all NPCs and objects around their target, and even throw them around like ragdolls.
Nebulation - Allows the vampire to summon and command mist.
- Mist Shroud — Summon a shroud of mist that surrounds the player for a short period. The shroud muffles the sound of footsteps and reduces the range at which the player can be seen. In addition, the player may fully transform into a cloud of mist to perform a choking attack on an NPC or travel through a tight space, like a ventilation fan or duct. Mist Shroud can be upgraded to increase its power as well.
- Envelop — Create a stationary, swirling cloud of mist on a target that surrounds, blinds and forcefully enters the lungs of the first NPC that it touches. This discipline can be upgraded to increase its reach and area of effect.
Players can eventually join fullblood clans down the line, each with their own disciplines and abilities for you to eventually raise your character up to. Paradox plans to detail those clans within the upcoming weeks.
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Planet Zoo is an upcoming management sim by Frontier Developments, the company behind Planet Coaster. We recently got to watch a 15 minute demo of the game in action and came away rather impressed by Frontier's ambitions and the promise of their take on running a zoo and caring for its animals.
Here's why we're excited to play the game when it releases this Fall.
The Developer Knows The Genre Well
If you haven't played Planet Coaster, but loved management sims like Rollercoaster Tycoon and Zoo Tycoon, you should give it a go. Frontier Developments showcased the it knows how to bring the park sim into the next generation by striking a fine balance between meticulous management and wacky shenanigans, and we look forward to seeing the result with Planet Zoo.
The Animals Are Impressive
The occupants of your zoo are more than just units you have to care for. Frontier is working hard to make sure each individual animal stands out, with genomes affecting major things like behavior to small details such as coat patterns. Every species of animal reacts realistically to their real-world counterpart, with wolves following a pack mentality while other species might just go off and do their own thing.
Click here to watch embedded mediaThe Management Side Of The Game Is Strong
You'll need to do more than feed your animals to take care of them. Every animal has different needs you'll need to respond to in some fashion. Do you have a zoo in the desert? You'll need to build cooling pads beneath the floor of your timberwolves' den (not to mention power generators) to accommodate them as well as shelters for your lions to hide in during storms. Hippos will need deeper ponds than other species so they can swim and bathe, and so on. There's more than enough here to keep nitty gritty management fanatics excited.
The Game Looks Beautiful
Whether you're watching everyone explore your park from a distance or you're zoomed into a patch of fur on one of your lions, everything looks realistic and colorfully vibrant. The visuals here really pop everywhere you look.
A Story Mode
One of the biggest criticisms directed at Planet Coaster was the lack of a substantial campaign or story mode. Frontier Developments wouldn't go into details about what Planet Zoo's story mode is about but the developer did say there would be one, which will hopefully delight those in search of a narrative reason to become the best zookeeper possible.
Click image thumbnails to view larger version
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Hello zedas,
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Publisher: Bandai NamcoDeveloper: Arc System WorksRelease: January 26, 2018Rating: TeenPlatform: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, PC
A very, very short trailer for Dragon Ball FighterZ's next character has appeared, showing off Dragon Ball GT Kid Goku's super attacks. These attacks include his transformations, including the either maligned-or-loved Super Saiyan 4 Goku.
Click here to watch embedded mediaFor his level 1 super, Goku goes Super Saiyan 3 for a short blast, but his stronger super turns him into the adult and decidedly hairier Super Saiyan 4. This form has been more or less scratched out of canon, but so has Super Saiyan Bardock and we saw that super move a billion times during Evo last year. Maybe non-canon moves will just end up being stronger for some reason.
The newest Goku to join the roster lands on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, and PC on May 9.
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Publisher: Electronic ArtsDeveloper: BioWareRelease: February 22, 2019Rating: TeenPlatform: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC
I am not sure if it has been a bumpy road for Anthem or not. It seems like it crested the hill it needed to crest and then just sort of stalled after that. Bioware has promised to fix the major complaints about their multiplayer shooter as soon as possible and, at least as far as today's update goes, some of that is true.
The 1.1.0 patch released today makes some much-needed quality of life changes to the game, namely having to do with how often you need to go back to Fort Tarsis or the launch bay. You can now select contracts from the mission board without needing to physically be in front of the mission board, and you can also choose a new mission right from the end of the mission you just finished. Perhaps most crucially, you now possess the ability to access the Forge during missions, strongholds and freeplay.
So that's all good! Unfortunately, it looks like the roadmap for the future is going to take a little while longer in the meantime. On the game's subreddit, Bioware's head of live services Chad Robertson and Anthem's lead producer Ben Irving wrote that a detour is being taken at the moment.
"While we have delivered many of the Act 1 features on time, we are not going to hit all the goals on our Act 1 Calendar," the two said in the subreddit post. "We have been prioritizing things like bug fixes, stability and game flow over the new features of Act 1. We set aside time for this work, but the reality is there are more things to fix and improve than we planned for. While this is the best thing to do for the game, it means some items from the calendar will be delayed."
That list of what will be delayed includes a few freeplay events, the second phase of legendary missions, guilds, the weekly stronghold challenge, leaderboards, the mastery system, and Cataclysms, the expansion-style content meant to come out every so often. It is not a small list. Bioware says that, when they have information on when these things will come, they will release it.
Anthem is currently available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.
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Publisher: UbisoftDeveloper: Ubisoft MontrealRelease: February 14, 2017Rating: MaturePlatform: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC
There was a time where it looked like For Honor may be on the short list of Ubisoft live service games that just don't make it very far and the company would eventually move past or take another run at with a sequel. But here we are, several years and updates later, and For Honor is still keeping its community fairly strong. It looks like there will be another reason for fans to keep playing, as Ubisoft reveals For Honor's newest character, a warrior named Sakura.
With a ghostly yet demonic voice and a bloody weapon, Sakura comes equipped to the battlefield with everything she needs to defeat her foes. Check out the cinematic trailer introducing her below.
Click here to watch embedded mediaThere's not a whole lot of details about the new Japanese warrior yet, but she will be in the third year's second season, so it won't be too a wait. I just know that if I saw that at the other end of a bridge in Sekiro, my personal terror bar would probably go up.
For Honor is available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.
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Publisher: ThunderfulDeveloper: Image & Form GamesRelease: April 25, 2019Rating: Rating PendingReviewed on: Switch
The fantasy/steampunk SteamWorld Quest: Hand of Gilgamech offers a streamlined and highly accessible foray into a genre known for complexity and strategy. While this classic, turn-based affair hinges on cards and decks, anyone who’s ever leveled up and explored a dungeon has everything they need to dive right in to this adventure. SteamWorld Quest is a colorful and fun (if woefully linear) dive into the new age of deck-building, role-playing fare.
Click here to watch embedded mediaYou assemble of a team of three characters from a larger pool to take on chapter after chapter of straightforward dungeons and puzzles. With little room for exploration and deviation, the dungeon-crawling does little to impress – but the characters, combat, and cards carry the experience. Deciding who to place in your lineup and what abilities to use forms the core of the decision making, and you have enough options there to keep things fresh. Rather than just simply playing an attack or a heal, your cards form ability chains that trigger special moves, employ special combos that work with your other characters, and keep a healthy balance of buffs, debuffs, swings and skills in order to craft the best possible turns. Destroying a chapter boss after selecting the perfect selection of skills is satisfying, even if the trappings surrounding the encounter leave something to be desired.
The story is forgettable if you can even be bothered to follow it, but you’re free to go back and replay earlier chapters to make sure you don’t miss any rare cards. You can also head to an arena with unique challenges and rewards, but most of the game is a straight line with simple puzzles. You may have to grind depending on your difficulty selection to increase your base stats and collect resources for new cards, but it never feels overbearing. Coming up with new ways to use various moves together is refreshing, like creating a sustaining regeneration team, or using powerful abilities that may take a crew member out of commission in exchange for dealing insane damage.
Click image thumbnails to view larger version
While the environments may lack punch, your crew is a smorgasbord of charm and engaging skill baskets. One your party members is a blast, bringing a synergy of axes and arcane damage that completely steals the show with powerful debuffs and devastating attacks. Other characters, like the buff-based robo-frog and mask-swapping samurai, add enough flavor to keep the card-swapping and switching compelling to the end.
Seasoned deck-builders will lament a lack of options for more advanced strategy like distilling decks down to a few potent cards via card removal, but the game deftly dips into more advanced territory via a few abilities that let you stick cards in your opponent's deck or add special ones to yours. On the flip side, players who enjoy pure RPGs shouldn’t feel any trepidation at the card-fueled gears, as it’s highly accessible for anyone that enjoys a light-hearted adventure.
SteamWorld Quest plays it too safe to satisfy hardcore card-crawlers, but the campy characters, gratifying combat, and splashy synergies make it an enticing option for those looking for a traditional turn-based RPG that’s easy to wade into.
Score: 8
Summary: Campy characters and a cache of cards carry this traditional RPG.
Concept: Pick the perfect team of adventurers and cards to hunt down a dark presence and the mysterious Necronomicog
Graphics: The colorful visuals are cute and light-hearted, though many enemy assets are overused
Sound: The music and effects don’t stand out, but they’re not bad either
Playability: Easy to pick up and play, with a lengthy onboarding process that makes sure you understand what’s going on
Entertainment: Cobbling together the right assortment of cards, combat, and characters is fun. However, shortcomings in progression, story, and complexity create a sterile experience
Replay: Moderate
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Publisher: ActivisionDeveloper: From SoftwareRelease: March 22, 2019Rating: MaturePlatform: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC
If you're one of the many still working your way through Sekiro, From Software's recently-released ninja action game, there might be some respite coming for you soon. An update scheduled to go live tonight will make a few changes in the game and attempt to make it easier for players to diversify the way they fight enemies by using more shinobi tools.
To begin with, the Blazing Bull has been toned down in the new update. The midboss, who appears shortly after the game's first real boss, ended up being a real wall for a lot of players. Up to that point, most enemies you fight are some manner of pragmatic human that acts with some rationality, while the Bull kind of stomps your face in with reckless abandon. The bull's posture and vitality have been "slightly" reduced, so it's not a walk in the park now, but it's a bit more manageable.
The bulk of the other changes are centered around the shinobi prosthetic. Seemingly From has gotten feedback of players not using ninja tools because they're afraid they'll run out of spirit emblems, so a number of tools have been made more efficient. You'll be spending fewer spirit emblems to use them, because From Software really wants you to use them.
You'll also find more divine confetti as drops from vanquished foes and information from Anayama the Peddler will decrease in cost post-patch.
Sekiro is currently available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.
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Publisher: Epic GamesDeveloper: Epic GamesRelease: July 25, 2017Rating: TeenPlatform: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, PC, Mac, iOS
A few weeks ago, dataminers discovered a reference to Thanos in the game's update files, strongly suggesting a return of the Thanos mode in Fortnite Battle Royale that had appeared a year prior. That mode was made fairly quickly due to an unlikely mutual fandom between Epic Games and the Avengers: Infinity War directors, the Russo brothers, but it looks like an extra year has given Epic time to do the collaboration justice.
A new tease on the Fortnite Twitter account isn't being subtle about the fact that Avengers content is coming to Fortnite and likely soon. The tweet simply reads "Whatever it takes," followed by the date for Avengers: Endgame's theatrical release, and the hashtag "#FortniteXAvengers" at the end.
While definitely expository, the tweet doesn't give us a whole lot of information, as is typical of Epic's Fortnite teases. The shield in the picture is obviously Captain America's, so there will probably be Avengers-themed items in the mix this time around. Will you be able to don the Iron Man suit? Can you swing around buildings like Spider-Man? Will you have to gather infinity stones? There's a lot of different possibilities.
Fortnite is available now on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, PC, and mobile devices. Avengers: Endgame releases on April 25 in theaters.
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Developer: Age of LearningPlatform: PC, iOS, Android
As an elementary school student, I loved computer class for the video games our teachers worked into the curriculum. One game taught me typing skills. While we played, our teacher covered up our keyboards with orange, plastic slips that shrouded the keys, but when she wasn’t looking, I would lift the slip to peek underneath, giving me an edge over the other students on the leaderboard. Playing these games, and the competition that spawned from them, gripped me much more than sitting in a classroom, listening to a teacher drone about math and geography.
Adventure Academy takes these types of learning games and presents them within the context of an MMO. You still practice your typing skills, read in-game books, expand your vocabulary, and solve basic math problems, but you experience all this within the context of an MMO developed by Age of Learning, the team behind ABCmouse. We spent some time with the game’s beta learning about Beowulf and Joan of Arc while exploring a charming 3D campus.
Each wing features an exhibit for players to interact with. In the library, students can read about the printing press and learn about Joan of Arc.
Character creators are part and parcel of many games today, but its inclusion in an educational game might feel novel to a third grader. After sculpting a Lara Croft-inspired character with brown pants and a long braid, the game dropped me into the titular academy. You’re encouraged to explore the campus, featuring wings for each major discipline: science, literature, history, and math. One thing kids will appreciate in Adventure Academy is that it allows them to focus on activities they enjoy. Don’t like math? You can read full-length books like Titanicat. Does history bore you? There’s a library of videos you can watch to learn science.
You participate in these activities by interacting with kiosks in each wing of the academy, and they take the form of simple flash games. I tried a number of games myself – they’re mechanically simple, and they don’t look as flashy as the game’s 3D world, but each one plays differently, which is another great way the game caters to different players. Some will like the drag-and-drop matching games while others enjoy Jeopardy-style vocabulary activities.
Most of the exploration-based quests we tried took the form of easy fetch quests, like this one that tasked us with planting trees in the garden.
A teacher oversees each area, and they issue you a variety of quests to explore on campus. Some take the form of fetch quests, like finding the missing finger bone of the T-Rex on display in the history wing or planting trees in a hidden mulch bed. One interesting quest asks players to locate pages of lore detailing the academy’s history, which are scattered around the building. While these quests were the type of mission I don’t like to see in MMOs, I think their inclusion might excite kids the most. Other players mill about completing quests, and there’s an in-game chat feature that third-grade-Hunter would have loved to use in a classroom. My best friend Jimmy’s assigned seat is across the classroom? Ha! I’ll just message him on Adventure Academy!
I expect the game to be some players’ first exposure to video game progression systems. You earn experience for completing each activity, and new quests open when you level up, as well as entirely new areas for kids to explore. New wardrobe options, like butterfly wings, backpacks, academy-branded sweaters, and infinity scarves, unlock at higher levels, which are incentives for kids to complete the game’s more educational activities at the kiosks. I was thrilled to see I could unlock a sword for my Lara Croft-themed avatar, and I know with certainty that, in elementary school, I would have obsessed over earning new cosmetic items long after class time.
Cosmetic items get more unique at higher levels. We saw top hats, cowboy hats, and every type of backpack in the marketplace.
While the bevy of unlockable cosmetics will stir competition within classrooms, I’m surprised Adventure Academy doesn’t include leaderboards for its skill-based games. The ability to rise through the ranks of your peers is a feature that lends itself naturally to a game that’s otherwise pretty social. Another head-scratcher is the decision to make the game download while kids play; traveling to new wings or hub spaces for the first-time requires long load times. These moments weren’t unbearable, but I imagine they could be for a teacher with a class of twenty students who just want to play the game. I’m curious to see if players can download the game entirely at launch instead of having to confront these first-time loading screens.
Gripes aside, I think Adventure Academy has the potential to be a great educational tool for classrooms or a fun kid-friendly MMO that parents could introduce to their children. There’s course material for every type of student – from the bookworm to the kid who just wants to earn a bunch of experience watching science videos. Adventure Academy launches on May 1 for PC and on Android and iOS devices. You can purchase a monthly subscription for $9.99 or an annual subscription that comes out to less than $5 per month when you pay up front.
Many of our editors at Game Informer are parents themselves. Read Javy’s column on what it’s like to be a gaming parent in a gaming world, or Matt Miller’s column on great tabletop games to play with your kids.
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Each wing features an exhibit for players to interact with. In the library, students can read about the printing press and learn about Joan of Arc.
Most of the exploration-based quests we tried took the form of easy fetch quests, like this one that tasked us with planting trees in the garden.
Cosmetic items get more unique at higher levels. We saw top hats, cowboy hats, and every type of backpack in the marketplace.
Mortal Kombat 11 Review – A Disgusting Delight
in Game Reviews
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In each new Mortal Kombat installment, we look on in horror as combatants are dismembered, mutilated, and devoured in disturbing and comedic ways. Even when their bodies are reduced to unrecognizable heaps of flesh and bone, most of these characters find ways to bounce back into fighting form for a sequel, making it seem like the war between realms will never end.
Mortal Kombat 11 repeats this bloody dance, and is even more ridiculous in its narrative setup than previous entries. A new character named Kronika is messing with the timestream and wants to rewrite history, so characters don’t just kill their enemies – they also kill the past versions of their enemies. The champions of each realm are divided; good guys turn bad, bad guys stay bad but unite with their past selves to do even more ambitious bad things, and all kinds of glorious chaos erupts. Key characters die, some come back from the past, and it all ends up being a hell of a ride. It's silly in the best ways.
This time-travelling narrative is sharply written, offering a number of clever era-specific jokes, such as an older and wiser version of Johnny Cage having a serious chat about decency with his younger self. The story also slows down to have heartfelt moments, and I’m not just speaking about a freshly squeezed heart beating in someone’s hand (although that does happen). This dramatic tale is huge in scale, powerful in its surprising twists, and appears to be written with the words “The End” in mind. This story delivers a legitimate conclusion to the saga. If another sequel ever come to fruition, it will likely begin from a clean slate. NetherRealm Studios does a nice job of wrapping up character arcs and bringing this epic battle to a close.
The concept of retreating to the past dovetails into the combat, unlockables, and modes. Plenty of modern ideas are woven into the combat, like customizable move sets and gear to level up, but the flow of the battle hits more of a classic Mortal Kombat tone. Characters generally move faster than they did in Mortal Kombat X, but the removal of the run button results in a slower and more nuanced fray. Creating combos and managing space are still at the heart of combat, but new offensive and defensive meters offer up strategic choices mid-fight, such as cashing in energy to amplify a special move. Using Crushing Blows to increase damage based on meeting certain conditions is another strategic layer. If you’re on the verge of death, a powerful last gasp comes in the form of the ridiculously violent Fatal Blow (replacing the X-Ray move), which chips away at your enemy’s health as their body is shredded. The Fatal Blows are a little too long, but increase the tension and can give you a shot at a match that may not have started well.
Click here to watch embedded mediaThe combat absolutely hums, and NetherRealm does a fantastic job of communicating every little facet of it through extensive tutorials. The idea of spending time in tutorials may not sound fun, but they are excellently crafted and break down everything from frame data (how long it takes to start a move) to character-specific lessons (like teaching you how to master Scorpion’s Hell Port). Spending 15 minutes in them for your character of choice will help you immensely, especially in figuring out which moves you bring into battle. Being able to customize your move set is an awesome addition that gives you ownership over your characters.
Finish a tutorial and you may get a new costume for that character. Complete a Tower of Time and you could be showered with coins, consumables, and augments. Players are rewarded for almost every action they make in Mortal Kombat 11, but the gathering of goods isn’t satisfying most of the time. The vast array of unlockables ends up being a problem considering how low the odds are of getting what you want. Most rewards are hidden in chests that offer a random selection of stuff. Not all chests are random, but most are. You are at the game’s mercy, hoping it delivers something of note for a character you use. On one hand, you can sink a ridiculous number of hours into this game and continue to earn new things. On the other hand, if you just want to unlock gear for Sonya Blade, it’s a crapshoot with terrible odds.
The chests you open are all located in the Krypt, a sprawling maze that you explore from the third-person perspective. Just navigating the Krypt can be confusing, but you encounter a number of interesting (albeit simple) puzzles along the way, and I love the nostalgic trappings (like Goro’s Lair, complete with the corpse of the big guy). The Krypt is a fun little game in itself, pushing you to hunt down items to progress. As you do this, you come across those damn chests. One chest may require 6,000 coins, another demands 250 hearts, and a third 100 souls. The abundance of currency types is an annoying aspect that needlessly dilutes your earnings and leads to far too much grinding. Even if you get a mask you want for Sub-Zero, you may not have augments that fit it, which requires more grinding.
NetherRealm fully anticipated this, and incorporated Injustice 2’s A.I. battle systems to allow players to earn stuff without even touching the controller – but only five times per day (outside of their general use in the Towers). This is completely optional, but oddly, some character skins can only be unlocked through A.I. battles, which again offer random rewards. Pushing you to earn rewards by having the A.I. play the game for you is a bad idea.
You have no easy paths to the loot you want, unless those items show up in the premium store. This marketplace uses its own currency type that is doled out in minimal quantities, but (you guessed it) can be obtained in bulk with real money. The entire loot system has a disgusting feel to it, which is a shame because the combat and variety of challenges are damn good.
The Towers of Time embrace more of an old-school design (in showing you exactly what you’ll be rewarded most of the time), and deliver fun rotating challenges over the course of a day. You just have to move quickly to get what you want before the Tower disappears. The challenges in the Towers are good fun, and throw different fighting conditions at you in each match. In the first bout, an opponent may summon Kabal to lend a hand for a hit or two, and the next match may take place in an arena with fire shooting out of the floor. To overcome the increase in difficulty these fights bring, you can use consumables to create combat augmentations of your own, like giving your punches electrical properties, or the ability to recover 50 percent of your health. The challenges can be a workout, but they offer an incredible amount of depth and are legitimately enjoyable to play. Sadly the consumables you use are gone after one use, so you have to ration them.
The Towers also reward you for finishing matches with Fatalities and Brutalities. I can’t emphasize just how violent and crazy these finishers are. NetherRealm clearly put a lot of thought into making them as ridiculous as possible, and you can’t help but laugh at just how over-the-top they end up being.
A variety of versus modes are offered for offline play, and you can also battle online casually, in private lobbies, or in ranked matches. The online play was mostly stable, but I did run into matches that were nearly unplayable due to my opponent’s terrible connection. I also ran into a few instances where I would be kicked out of modes (even the Krypt) when my online connection was lost.
Mortal Kombat 11 may have loot issues, but the combat has never been more rewarding. You can finish the entertaining story mode in one sitting, but getting the gear for the character you want could end up being more of a time-stealing tale than the one the game tells.
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Score: 8
Summary: Mortal Kombat 11 shines in its combat and story, but struggles in its delivery of loot.
Concept: The past and present unite to create one of the deepest and most satisfying Mortal Kombat experiences to date
Graphics: We used to gawk at the blood and gore, but Mortal Kombat 11’s eye-stealing qualities are the detailed facial animations and colorful backdrops
Sound: Ronda Rousey doesn’t click as Sonya Blade, but most of the voice work is solid or appropriately campy. The sounds of violence and agony may also be a little too good
Playability: Signature Mortal Kombat special moves and combos with customizable move sets and plenty of challenges to complete. The flow of combat is fantastic. Easily the best playing in the series
Entertainment: Most of the content is amazing and fun, but the loot issues and microtransactions come close to being a self-inflicted Fatality for NetherRealm
Replay: High
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