NetherRealm Studios offered fans an extended and more in-depth look at the Story Mode for Mortal Kombat X in the latest Kombat Kast episode on Twitch.tv. The development team for the highly anticipated sequel debuted about seven minutes of new footage from the game’s cinematic Story Mode. It looks very much in the style of the Story Modes that made Mortal Kombat 9 and Injustice: Gods Among Us such exceptional game releases. It seems like NetherRealm Studios is about to deliver another fantastic story mode for the next-gen debut of the Mortal Kombat series.
The segment from the Kombat Kast started at Chapter 1 of the Story Mode. An elite soldier unit led by Major Sonya Blade is en route to stage an attack against Elder God Shinnok, who has invaded the temple of the benevolent God of Thunder Raiden. Escorting the military unit to assist in the attack are Johnny Cage and Kenshi. There is clearly still some fun tension between the formerly married couple, Cage and Blade. Unfortunately, the military chopper with the unit is attacked by Scorpion and Sub-Zero. Scorpion takes out the chopper pilot by stabbing his grappling spear into the poor man’s face and dragging him out. It appears that the new Story Mode will have quick time events. I am not so hot on the incorporation of quick time events into the cinematic cut scenes, but it is not a deal breaker for me. I do enjoy how the fights and cutscenes are integrated together. The cutscenes lead into a 2D playable fight, which then transition back into the story cutscenes.
The improved facial animation and expressions in the cutscenes are enjoyable. The development team definitely did a great job of improving the animation of the faces for the character models in the Story Mode. The expressions look a lot livelier and more expressive than those in the previous game.
I am not sure what to make of Scorpion and Sub-Zero’s presence in these cutscenes. Both appear quite villainous. Scorpion is not truly evil, but he has previously been manipulated by dark forces such as Quan Chi. In the Mortal Kombat X prequel comic book story, Scorpion acted as the mentor to Kenshi’s son Takeda and trained and protected him. Somehow, it almost seems as if the events of the comic are not even canon based on these cutscenes. Hopefully, the actions of Scorpion and Sub-Zero will be better explained in the Story Mode.
Mortal Kombat X is due out on April 14 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Windows PC. The PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions will hit the shelves on June 30.
Jeffrey: The scene you spoke of in the beginning of the game took place during the Netherrealm War (i.e. MK4 events with Shinnok getting his ass kicked by Johnny Cage). MKX prequel comics is basically the "Mass Effect: Redemption" of Mortal Kombat (i.e. Set after the beginning of MKX and before the "Cassie Cage and crew are our heroes" chapters)