Finish Him!

No two words are more effective in sending a shiver down any gamer’s spine. This iconic phrase has been made famous by the Mortal Kombat franchise, and with the launch of the latest installment Mortal Kombat X just a few months away, we sat down to see just how the game is shaping up and to explore two brand new game modes.

When NetherRealm Studios released their Mortal Kombat reboot back in 2011, it was something new and exciting for the series. More brutal moves and fatalities, a varied series of characters, and a competitive online mode kept new and veteran players entertained and truly enriched the player experience. With Mortal Kombat X, NetherRealm Studios promises even more over-the-top action than before, and judging from some of the gameplay footage we’ve seen so far, it looks like there’s plenty of action on the horizon.

But what made the 2011 Mortal Kombat different was its ability to take the game into the online space. Sure it’s fun to sit on your couch and battle against an AI opponent, but playing against a human opponent is an entirely different matter. Mortal Kombat allowed players from across the globe to compete against each other for supreme bragging rights, and it’s something that was certainly warmly welcomed by fans.

Working off of that success, Mortal Kombat X introduces two online modes that shift the dynamic of how you play the game. The first mode is The Living Towers – three towers with a roster of characters for the player to grind through, with each opponent increasing in difficulty. This was first experimented in the previous Mortal Kombat with Challenge Towers, and so NetherRealm Studios wanted to bring this mode back with full force. The first tower is the Quick Tower, which is updated online every few hours with new content and challenges. The Daily Challenge tower offers more player experience, but ramps up the difficulty considerably. Lastly, the Premier Tower features challenges that will be tied to holiday events or occasions throughout the year.

What makes these towers challenging is of course the various modifiers that are applied to each level. On some occasions bombs can drop into the level to hurt both players. On another instance acid rain or freezing orbs can fall from the sky. In another example, random whirlwinds and portals appeared in the level to confuse both players. Beating an opponent may be easy, but when you’re constantly bombarded with distractions (which you can always use to your advantage), then it becomes a completely different game. All three towers will be constantly updated, so there’s always something new for players to experience. You can also choose to swap your selected fighter as you progress through a tower, which is a welcome change.

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Next up is Factions, which is completely new to the MK universe. The studio describes it as an ‘online metagame’, where players pledge themselves to one of five factions that are based on MK lore. The factions are Lin Kuei, Black Dragon, White Lotus, Special Forces, and Brotherhood of Shadow. Once players join a faction, they are given challenges and objectives that they can complete in either single player or online modes. Completing a challenge adds points to your faction, and at the end of the week the faction with the most points is crowned the winner, and the rankings are reset. Each faction has a unique set of unlockables, and the weekly winner is further awarded special items and rewards (including possibly alternate character finishing moves). It’s a great mode for those who are fans of grinding through matches to increase their player rankings, and the promise of rare and interesting unlockables is sure to spike player interest.

With Mortal Kombat X set to release on April 14th of this year, there’s still time for NetherRealm Studios to tease more characters and reveal more of the main storyline to fans. As it stands, Mortal Kombat X is shaping up to be a fantastic game with super-smooth gameplay and graphics to match. It seems that the toughest decision you’ll have to make with this game is trying to decide which one of the many imaginative fatalities you’ll be pulling off on your quivering opponents.

Nick Rego is Senior Editor at IGN ME and still remembers Scorpion’s finishing move for Mortal Kombat on the Gameboy. You can check him out on Twitter.