Every time a new Mortal Kombat arrives I think it might be the one that is so freaking gross I can't stomach it anymore. MK1 threatened to be that game when Netherrealm trotted out a montage of body mutilating fatalities to show off its latest skin shredding tech, but playing it at Summer Game Fest, the gore didn't give me that same ick. It's just punctuation. In Mortal Kombat, every sentence ends with a big red❗and the only thing this game has to say is: This is going to be the best year for fighting games ever.
Mortal Kombat 1 is more polished than a crystal skull, almost as if Netherrealm could have just made a fighting game in its sleep and used the bulk of the last few years to focus on flair. The detail on these faces? Johnny Cage's cakes? The way two fighters square off in a short cutscene that masks loading, before flowing seamlessly into the fight? Mirror sheen.
