Mortal Kombat X

Great new characters, and sharper gameplay hooks make Mortal Kombat X the best game in the series.

Mortal Kombat X successfully continues the tradition of mixing a fighting game with gore-laced slapstick.

That's Mortal Kombat in a nutshell: looking cool, even if there's not that much going on behind the curtain. Mortal Kombat X has some new tricks on offer, but the fun of the game is in its blood-splattering finishers and cocky jokes.

Fine fighter with an enjoyably daft story, marred by wobbly port to PC.

After a bumpy initial roll out, the Faction Wars component seems to be mostly working as intended — though the reward for participating in faction-based battles feels like little more than a well-meaning distraction. Faction Wars just doesn't add a compelling reason to invest more time in Mortal Kombat X beyond the game's other competitive fighting modes.

Mortal Kombat X has tons of polish, unique mechanics, and the genre's best story mode, but it doesn't do enough to keep players invested if they weren't already planning on it.

Brutally satisfying and enjoyable in its absurdity, Mortal Kombat X carries the franchise's flag high

Mortal Kombat X is many things. It is mechanically refined and stylistically muddled; it has a sometimes unpleasantly violent, sometimes charmingly hammy commitment to the traditional fighting game template. It has thrust the series forwards and succeeds in delivering nuance while offering a welcoming genre gateway for inexperienced players.

Mortal Kombat X's impact isn't as explosive as 2011, but it's well polished and a worthy successor. I think with a more reliable netcode it will grow into one of the biggest fighting games of 2015, and as more DLC characters are added to the roster, it will become even more enticing for that Komplete Kollection purchase.

Mortal Kombat X deftly adds new characters, features and options while maintaining its signature over-the-top appeal.