Almost a quarter-century of Mortal Kombat has brought us to this, the Xth edition of a series heavy on the blood and liberal with the letter K.
Likewise, the story of Mortal Kombat has been advanced by two decades. The familiar fighters have been given middle-aged makeovers (if not middle-aged spreads) and are still fighting to keep the sinister sorcerers of Outworld from taking over the Earth Realm, blah blah blah. It's Mortal Kombat. The story doesn't change, it just gets cornier.
Like its 2011 predecessor, Mortal Kombat X is centred around an hours-long cinematic story mode which is as ambitious as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon but doesn't come close to rising above C-grade martial arts flicks. Worse, you can't turn away from the cut scenes to Snapchat your mate or grab a fistful of popcorn because of the unexpected "press A to not die" moments that force you to keep watching. Heaven help us if broadcast TV ever figures that one out.
A more classic - um, klassic - single-player experience can be found in the Tower challenges, which dispense with the mind-killing plot in favour of pure fighting. Early online experiences are laggy, and don't do so much to test your might as they do test your patience.
Mortal Kombat X is primed for the new generation of consoles but it plays a great deal like the last. The action's a little more fluid, while the expanded roster of characters adds some sorely-needed variety and fosters hope that the next 20 years of Mortal Kombat won't be all about the deathly dull Liu Kang, but little else has changed in four years.
