THE BEST PREVIEWS
SID MEIER’S STARSHIPS SWORD COAST LEGENDS MORTAL KOMBAT X HEARTS OF IRON IV
I’m not very good at fighting games, as was evident when I lost four consecutive rounds to my opponent during my hands-on with Mortal Kombat X. My opponent ruthlessly upper-cutted me into the air, shattered my spine, and Finished Me by pulling my heart out of my chest, then squeezing my heart and drinking my salty blood.
Mortal Kombat X, happily, is tailor-made for those who find a lot to enjoy about fighting games, but may not have what it takes to compete with... well, anyone. One new way it does this is with its online Living Towers. Like the challenge tower in MK9, each of these is a series of fights arranged as challenges with special conditions. Mortal Kombat X’s towers, however, are more varied and mercifully shorter.
Quick Towers you can finish in 15-30 minutes. They’re also updated every couple of hours throughout the day, so you’ll always see new challenges. The Daily Towers are a little harder and will refresh every 24 hours. Finally, the Premiere Towers, built around special events, holidays and milestones, are even more challenging, and will last anywhere from a few days to a week.
Each level in the tower has some kind of environmental twist—I saw one where bombs were falling from the sky, another where I had to dodge roving laser traps— and an extra condition that will earn you more points. The conditions I saw were concerned with winning rounds while using certain moves. These aren’t merely fun, almost puzzle-like, elements to introduce to a fighting game—they’re a great way to force and teach a lone player to discover each fighter’s movelist.
The fighting itself felt really good, which is to say, it felt almost exactly like Mortal Kombat 9, only prettier. The environments were more detailed, the textures and character models of a much higher quality. When someone cut off Sub Zero’s face, his brain slipped out of his skull, his exposed tongue glistening as it wiggled cluelessly.
In terms of innovation, there are two big updates here. The first is that each character has three variations to their fighting style, which you have to pick before a fight starts. The other is the addition of environmental interactions, pulled over from Nether Realm’s comic-themed Injustice. They’re some of the best I’ve seen in any fighting game. In a jungle level, I could jump up, press R1 to grab a vine, and swing forward to kick my opponent in the face. In a kind of desert bazaar, I could pick up an innocent bystander and use him like a club.
Mortal Kombat X looks a singleplayer dream, and this is before we’ve even seen story mode. With these challenges it offers a package that could appeal to competitive players and those, like myself, who can’t compete, but enjoy a good Fatality.
In a desert bazaar, I could pick up an innocent bystander and use him like a club