Mortal Kombat 9 Android Free To Play

For the development team, it seems like that was one battle it sadly lost.

In the case of Mortal Kombat which back in the Mega Drives heyday was one of the biggest franchises around its fortunes have faired less well of late, passing from publisher to publisher and losing any connection to its photo-realistic beginnings with each new game that rolls out.

Mortal Kombat X both on console and mobile feels like an attempt to clear the decks somewhat and start again.

In one respect, its been especially successful: playing Mortal Kombat X evokes very few memories of those original games from the 1990s, though Warner Bros.

In terms of delivery, Mortal Kombat X Mobile could be attached to any IP; its generic, its featureless, its dull.

More important than the feel of the game, however, is how it actually plays, and to properly evaluate that its best to split Mortal Kombat X Mobile into two sections.

First up, the fights themselves, which are especially tap happy affairs.

Rather than simply being a one on one contest, battles in Mortal Kombat X Mobile are titanic tag team tussles between three players on each side.

Controls are intentionally limited: To attack, all you need do is repeatedly tap the screen, with the game switching between punches and kicks at will.

Every now and again a succession of said punches and kicks will trigger a special move, with the game pausing and tasking you to swipe in particular direction to finish it off.

Should you find yourself attacked, then two fingers on the screen at the same time will block almost all moves, with success coming from mixing up the two gauging when the best time to go on the offensive and the best time to take a back seat is.

See also: Best iPad Games 2015 The more attacks you make, the more energy you build up, with filling up the gauge unlocking a special attack that, once again, is controlled by a variety of different QTEs flashed up on the screen.

Swipe this. Tap that.

Increase the damage rate.

And so on. Its fairly light stuff in practice, with the developer naturally having to constrain the control set up because of the touchscreen nature of smartphones.

One nice feature is the ability to call on characters tooled up by other players around the world mid-battle if connected to the internet, though its a rare moment of ingenuity on behalf of the development team in the midst of an otherwise sterile package.

If Warner Bros. had pushed this out as a stand alone paid release, where the fights were the only thing it had to offer, then Mortal Kombat X Mobile would be utterly forgettable.

What the developer has attempted to do, however, is place said play in a system that constantly rewards you and gives you the perception that youre making progress.

Mortal Kombat 9 Android Free To Play

See also: Best iPhone Games 2015 Built around a card system, Mortal Kombat X Mobile at times feels like free to play almost at its most cynical.

Initial fights are ridiculously easy, and even a novice can get through a stage only using one of the three fighters on offer.

The difficulty soon starts to ramp up, however, and after a flood of bonus cards and credits it becomes clear that the game is gearing you towards spending some cash in order to progress.

In reality, however, all youre doing is progressing through a system.

The battles themselves are so mundane, so perfunctory, that theres no sense that any real skill or strategy is required to see it through.

Instead, Mortal Kombat X Mobile attempts to draw you in with its dressing: card collecting.

Its a tactic that just might work if the cards on offer were built around a game of any substance, but instead the cards are the games main selling point a move to draw you in with bonuses and a gotta collect em all mentality without actually giving you anything of worth to invest them in.

See also: Best Android Games 2015 Undoubtedly, Mortal Kombat X Mobiles approach will work with a select band of gamers but, looking at it with a critical eye, its disappointing more attention couldnt have been focused on building a solid game first and then constructing a payment model around it rather than the other way round.