Highlights
- The movement in the Mortal Kombat 1 stress test felt slow and sluggish, affecting strategy and gameplay.
- The beta has made significant improvements to the game, with faster movement, quicker Kameo Fighters, and smoother overall gameplay.
The more info that comes out about Mortal Kombat 1, the more it continues to impress, from the reimagining of returning characters to the brutal Fatal Blows and Fatalities that accompany them. The recent beta for those who preordered the game has only served to excite the gaming community even more, partly because one of the biggest complaints about a previous build has been wiped out.
Two months prior to the preorder beta, NetherRealm Studios gave a select few the opportunity to play MK1 for an online stress test. The test proved to be mostly a success, both in terms of online play and actual gameplay. But players were quick to pick up on something—movement felt really slow. The act of walking back and forth felt like a crawl, and dashes seemed pointless as well. This made for some defense-heavy strategy, since the slow mobility made landing whiff punishing blows very difficult. It was a stark contrast to the flashy combo playstyle that NetherRealm seemed to build this title up to.
Speaking of those combos, they also felt rather slow to execute at times. It's noticeable with how floaty the jumps are, since many combos will have you following your opponent in the air to capitalize on extra damage with aerial strings. I still think that makes the floaty jumps a good thing, but that along with the lack of attack fluidity and speed have understandably turned people off.
Kameo Fighters, the new assist mechanic of the game, also affected the pace of combat for the worse. While their addition was a net positive, it can't be ignored how awkward and clunky their implementation was at first. When Kameo Fighters perform certain attacks, your main fighter often has to step out of their way. I really felt the flow of battle come to a halt when this happened in the stress test, especially with Kano, who taunted for a bit after performing his throw.
Movement in fighting games (and pretty much any game) is very important. A lot of what's possible, like combos, spacing, and whiff punishing, depends on how freely you can navigate around the stage. If movement speed suffers, everything else potentially suffers along with it. So while all of these things affecting the stress test may have been small on their own, they really pile on and make the issue of the game's mobility a glaring one.
NetherRealm Studios is known for addressing feedback and making changes prior to a Mortal Kombat game's release, especially when it comes to its games' speed. After playing the beta, it's safe to say some adjustments have indeed been made for the better.
The most obvious change is in the Kameo Fighters. Where they used to take up a chunk of time getting into and out of battle, they felt much snappier to use in the beta, entering and exiting the fight quickly. Kano now saves his infamous taunt for when he lands the final hit with his throw, a compromise I did not expect but am very grateful the development team went with.
General movement also looks to be a bit quicker than how it was before. Characters in the beta and trailers following the stress test were definitely faster in comparison. Dashes genuinely serve a purpose now that they're quicker and are cancelable with other options like blocking, making it much less dangerous than before. Most characters also feel faster when doing combo strings. The jumps still remain rather floaty, but with everything else getting touched up on, it's hardly a problem.
Despite the issues with the first stress test, I found Mortal Kombat 1 to be very enjoyable. It's exciting to know that the few problems that existed with the beta are being ironed out to create an experience even more fun than before. If anyone has been turned off by the game's slow speed, I recommend you give it another chance.