What is this? Another Mortal Kombat, barely a year after the last one? We inserted the disc into our Playstation 4 and already on the main screen were met with déjà vu. The reason is simple – it’s the same game we played last year. XL in the title doesn’t mean 40, like the X meant 10 last year, it’s simply a term to describe that the game is bigger than ever. And that’s it, end of review, you can turn the page… we’re joking of course.
The most obvious difference between this and the original version is the number of characters. From the original 26 (27 if you own Goro from the pre-order bonus), the number rose to staggering 33. Over the last year the game had two Kombat pack expansions with 4 characters each and so many cosmetic DLCs that we can’t imagine how Ed Boon and friends aren’t red with shame (probably because they’re swimming in money). XL packages all of that onto one blu-ray disc, without the need for further downloads or extra purchases.
Among our old acquaintances there is the alluring Tanya from MK4 and the drunken sensei Bo’Rai Cho. Tremor joins the ninjas as a walking earthquake generator and a character that should have been a fighter for a long time coming, but the studio never found a good time to include him. Cyborgs Cyrax, Sector, Smoke and Cyber Sub-Zero are back in the form of the robot Triborg, whose variations are actually based on the mentioned robots that we know from the previous games in the series. Why there’s Tri- in his name when he’s made up of four (Quad-), we have no idea.
The rest of the newcomers are licensed movie characters. If you were thrilled to have Freddy Krueger in MK9, you’ll probably faint when you hear that now you can play as Alien, Predator, Jason Voorhees and Leatherface. In true MK style – only horror movie characters were included. And they really fit well with the rest of the fighters, something we were suspicious about when NetherRealm started announcing DLC packs. Of course, each has three variations, but no alternative skins, i.e. none of the eight DLC characters has any, which we don’t mind, but is a missed opportunity.
Mortal Kombat XL is still that good fighting game we played last year, with no drastic changes except for the mentioned new characters and cosmetics, and of course with all the patches and fixes that were introduced over the last year. Essentially, it’s what is sometimes called “GOTY Edition”, or “Complete – oops, “Komplete”. This version is meant for those that still didn’t get MKX, while it might be too pricey for active players (luckily, you can buy the upgrade for half the price), and is a meaningless purchase for those who kept up with the DLCs. Even in this XL edition, we still recommend getting MKX, because it’s a great package that will provide you with tens of hours of brutal fun, however only on consoles since NetherRealm completely neglected the PC version. Namely, the PC version of MKX is listed as “non-existent” because the studio officially gave up supporting this version of the game, and therefore neither the second pack of characters, nor the netcode patch saw the light of day on Steam.
Author: Bojan Jovanović
Mortal Kombat XL
Pros:
- Improved netcode
- Famous movie characters
Cons:
- Besides characters, nothing’s really new
- Abandoned PC version
