Ever since the announcement of Mortal Kombat 1 at the PlayStation Showcase, there has been a constant stream of news, announcements, leaks and press releases to stoke the proverbial hype train for the game. Between Ed Boon showing famous players enjoying early versions of the games to gameplay from this weekend’s latest network stress test, there seems to be a considerable amount to talk about regarding Mortal Kombat 1.
Mortal Kombat 1 – Back to Basics
Now many of you will be wondering exactly how we’ve ended up at the start, naming convention wise. Well, like a lot of film and gaming franchises, Ed Boon and the team at NetherRealm Studios have taken the opportunity with the previous game’s ending to reset not only the timeline of the franchise, but the name.
For those who didn’t play Mortal Kombat 11 or it’s universe-altering downloadable content Aftermath, it features two endings, one ‘good’ and one ‘bad’. With the announcement of Mortal Kombat 1, it looks like the developers will be considering the good ending to be canon.
Related: Summer Game Fest: ‘Mortal Kombat 1’ Finally Has A Gameplay Trailer – And It Is A Brutal Watch
Long time fans of the franchise will know of the hostility between Liu Kang and Shang Tsung, present ever since the first game back in 1992. Fast forward thirty years and it seems almost poetic that the last battle in the original universe would be between these two foes, the winner getting to control and decide the destiny of more than just one world, one realm, but all of them.
Liu Kang comes out victorious and after watching Shang Tsung crumble to a pile of sand before his eyes, he proceeds to ‘reset’ the universe to a simpler version with the help of Kitana. With the game’s cinematic ending after Liu Kang has taken on Raiden’s role of Protector of Earthrealm, it seems that he’s spending his time training ‘The Great Kung Lao’ – not the one from the games, but one decades prior – for a future threat. Will this be another tournament, or in his universe-meddling did Liu Kang allow the likes of Quan Chi, Shinnok and others to exist? We’ll find out with Mortal Kombat 1.
Mortal Kombat 1 Features a Unique Punishment for those with Anger Problems
In preparation for the release of the game on 19th September, NetherRealm Studios and Warner Bros. had a networking stress test for the game, designed to be an open beta test of the game to work out any last minute bugs a more competitive environment would highlight, as well as testing the networking capabilities of the game itself.
For all intents-and-purposes it seemed to go without a hitch, with various brutal gameplay videos floating around the internet, featuring players with far greater abilities than us here. It also showcased some unexpected gameplay features, the best in our opinion, being the unique way the game will punish those who rage-quit before the match has concluded.
Rage-quitting in competitive online gaming isn’t anything new, and developers over the years have attempted to find solutions to dissuade the communities of their games from doing it, from FIFA’s hit to the DNF (Did Not Finish) modifier and coin forfeiture in Ultimate Team, to the dunce hat awarded to those in GTA: Online.
Whilst not quite as harsh as the day-long ban that Street Fighter 5 placed on rage-quitters, Mortal Kombat 1 brings back a popular Mortal Kombat 10/11 mechanic in the ‘Quitality’. Those who decide they can’t wait the precious few seconds at the end of a winning round and leave when they realise they’ve lost are subjected to the ‘Quitality’ in question. Previously in Mortal Kombat 10 the culprit would see their character’s head explode, whilst in Mortal Kombat 11 they’d witness an impalement on a giant spike, or explode in a shower of gore fans of the franchise have grown accustomed to.
However, with the upcoming release it’s something much simpler that’ll befall players who leave early. Far quicker, less intrusive and a different type of brutal, as shown below players will see their avatars break their own neck before falling to the floor. Certainly quicker than the previous instalments, but there’s something lost without all the blood.
It’s yet to be known whether there will be any long-term punishments for those rage-quitting regularly or if this is the only ‘Quitality’ available. Hopefully it’s not out of the question to see a variety of them to keep the near-constant quitting players face on Mortal Kombat.
Will you be buying the upcoming Mortal Kombat 1? Let us know what you think in the comments below!
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