Mortal Kombat 1 will get the T-1000, Conan, and the Scream guy alongside a new story expansion
Cry Havik
The story of Mortal Kombat games in recent years has been a mish-mash of double-crosses, weird friendships, and alternate dimension wobbles. They often feel like a casualty of Marvel movie bloat. Mortal Kombat 1 was marketed as a "reboot", for example, but is really just a continuation of previous nonsense, with developers NetherRealm saying "I don't know, stick a multiverse in it." Yet from that multiverse now arrives another bad guy, bringing new story chapters for the fighting game's first big expansion, as well as extra characters like the liquid metal murderer from Terminator 2, a Conan of the barbarian persuasion, and the masked killer of the Scream movies.
The new story chapters will see the various realms of reality threatened by an alternate world version of Havik, the gravelly voiced, zombie-faced C-lister of the Mortal Kombat franchise. Some other characters will appear alongside him, including a bizarro-land Noob Saibot and a gender-flipped Sektor and Cyrax. Heavens knows how they're going to make any of this sensible. Then again, the most fun part of the base game's storyline came from ascending a pyramid swarming with mash-up characters, and pulverizing said hybrids into pulp. So maybe, just maybe, the storyline doesn't matter a damn?
The "Khaos Reigns" DLC will come out September 24 and also include a bunch of guest characters. Like I say, the T-1000, Conan, and Ghostface will all make an appearance. A free update releasing along with the expansion will also add "animalities" to the biff 'em up. These are a zoological spin on the series' traditionally violent finishing moves, and first appeared way back in Mortal Kombat 3. When you perform one, your character will transform into a gorilla, hippo, or other charismatic megafauna, and then tear your opponent asunder. The trailer shows Mileena transmogrifying into a giant preying mantis and nibbling on her foe's head, for instance. It remains unknown if Johnny Cage's kangaroo kill will reappear, but one can dream.
Like I said in our Mortal Kombat 1 review, I was not keen on the Marvel-esque kliché of its storytelling. But the fighting was solid, with a fun "kameo" system that allowed for other characters to appear on screen and briefly throw a spanner into the brawl, by saving you from a hit or extending a combo. It's not my go-to fighting game if I'm in the mood for getting pummeled by strangers online (that's still Tekken), but put the comic book bloat aside and you'll find MK1 isn't too shabby.