Mortal Kombat: Deadly Volleyball - Cassie + Jacqui

Probably the last MK by ! (and that's supposed to be bubblegum on her face!)

Released to much fanfare, MKX is the latest in the long-running series of just about the only western-made fighting game out there.

On the left, Cassie Cage, daughter to Sonya Blade and Johnny Cage; on the right, Jacqui, daughter of Jackson 'Jax' Briggs.  Both are kombatants in Earthrealm's Special Forces faction, taking after their parents.

*SPOILERS* for MKX's story follow, obviously!


Overall, I thought MKX was a decent instalment, though it didn't hit  the heights of Deception or MK2011 for me. The graphics have never been better, but in MK that's not always a good thing... The fatalities are now so lifelike they are horrifically gruesome, even offputting. I miss the days of the early games where they were over-the-top silly and the simple graphics rendered them funny (where a character gets blown up and explodes in a shower of blood and bones that would be enough for a dozen people).  Yeah, I guess complaining about the violence in MK is like complaining about the bouncing boobs in DOA, but still.  The series seems to have taken a hit in the fanservice elements too, with the girls wearing a lot more than in the previous episode.    
 
Mortal Kombat always did have a better story than the Japanese-made games, and this one is no exception. Set 20-odd years after the last one, the characters have grown up and had kids. Actually, one thing that stood out for me is that this is the first MK where I thought the guys were a lot sexier than the girls... Johnny, Kenshi, Scorpion and SubZero look really hot as older men!

The expected cull of old characters didn't really happen, and in fact, only a few villains perished this time - Mileena (which may not stick as her ending involves lots of clones...), Baraka (a mercy kill at this point), Quan Chi (about time, he was a horrible Mary Sue) and the big bad, Shinnok, who literally suffers a fate worse than death.

MKX tries to do what Soul Calibur V did in bringing in a new cast of younger characters too - only it does it a lot better by actually giving them a story.  Perhaps surprising is how likeable Johnny Cage has become - no longer the jerk of his youth, he's now in his fifties, a cool older guy and mentor to the kids.  Sonya has become the hard-assed working mother who doesn't have time for her family, but they don't overdo it and she shows she still loves them in the end.  In fact, for all its blood and gore, MKX has a surprisingly sweet heart.  Scorpion, of all people, is greatly humanised and finally makes his peace with SubZero.  My favourite scene was the one where Quan Chi begs for his life, calling him 'Scorpion', causing him to roar with anger 'my name is Hanzo Hasashi!' before doling out a long-deserved fatality to the man who murdered his family. 

The game focuses on the new characters, the 20-something new generation, who are a mixed bag.  Jacqui is beautiful (see above!), but they don't do much with her beyond a lackluster budding romance with Takeda, and trying to live up to her father's reputation.  Early concepts depicted her as more of a rebel and street-rat - I think the gangbanger image might have been a better one for her, though perhaps they felt a mixed-race girl being a hoodlum was too stereotyped, or even offensive. Cassie herself is basically Sonya with young Johnny's personality - loudmouthed and brash.  She's cute, and distinctly dykey-looking enough for me to hope she'd be crushing on her pal.  No such luck, alas.  She's depicted as very 'modern', chewing bubblegum, with references to facebook, tumblr, and even has a 'Selfie' fatality.

Takeda, Kenshi's son, is handicapped by the fact that everything he can do, his dad can do better while looking MUCH cooler. He doesn't have a lot of development beyond the daddy issues all the new characters have.  By far the most interesting of the new characters for me was Kung Jin, descendent of Kung Lao. He has a background that's actually intriguing - a thief turned diplomat for the White Lotus monks -  and his bow and skull-staff are cool, unique weapons.  He's the first openly gay MK character, which actually causes him some angst, as he fears the other monks won't accept him. Raiden puts him at ease, gently telling him that 'it only matters what is in your heart... not who your heart desires'.  He gets a fair bit of dialogue about it - Liu Kang seems to disapprove, telling him that he's 'always been aware of your proclivities'.  Jin himself laughs at Tanya when she hits on him, telling her 'lady, you're barking up the wrong tree!'  It feels natural for the character, he's not some silly camp stereotype, and his sexuality is integrated into his persona without overwhelming it. A good job all round.

The new Outworld leader is Kotal Kahn, who has an Aztec king look going on, and is... just about adequate really. He's a million miles better than Shao Khan, but that's honestly not saying much.  He's still evil, but in a small-e way, not the silly cartoonish villain that Skeletor was, and can actually be honourable at times.  Outworld has always been the part of MK that really draws me, and there's some intriguing new characters - insect-queen D'Vorah, old-west gunslinger Erron Black, and 'master-blaster' types Ferra (a dwarf girl) and Torr (a hulking brute that Ferra rides into battle).  The treacherous D'Vorah gets her own storyline, as well as killing off some old villians, but the others are sadly just used as standard bad-guy goons, despite their interesting backgrounds. Reptile and Rain and Tanya are still around, still being pointless goons and picking the wrong side. Tanya's wearing less than usual, though, and she's always been a favourite of mine.

It's nice to see some of the old characters are still around as NPCs - Fujin, Bo'Rai'Cho, Sareena, Frost and Li Mei.  It would be great to have them back as playable characters.  (Frost, as usual, is just depicted as an idiot, attacking Hanzo as he tries to make peace with Kuai Liang... a waste of an intriguing character, I feel).   There are also plenty of characters who we don't see, although most of them are still active in the comics - I'd love to see truly ambiguous characters like Kira, Hotaru, Havik, Nitara and Shujinko back as playable. 

Despite the seeming end to the Black Dragon vs Red Dragon story - an evil vs evil plotline I thought was very interesting - there are still a few good twists to the story this time around. Raiden in particular is slightly corrupted during his imprisonment by Shinnok, and is no longer the peaceful, wise, compassionate leader of Earthrealm's good guys, but violent and vengeful.  In a really cool twist, he doesn't turn heel, but is still devoted to Earthrealm's defence, only now he's no more Mr Nice Guy.  He decapitates Shinnok and brings his head to the new rulers of the NetherRealm (Kitana and Liu Kang!) with a chilling warning that this is what he will do to them if they even think of attacking EarthRealm. Further, the ending suggests that Raiden intends to launch a pre-emptive attack on Outworld, convinced that eventually, Kotal Khan will betray them, and deciding to do it to him first.  This puts Earthrealm in the role of aggressors for a change, a potentially intriguing set-up for MK 11.