Mortal Kombat 1 Review - Gory Glory

Reviewed on: PlayStation 5
Platform: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch, PC
Publisher: Warner Bros. Games
Developer: NetherRealm Studios

Following the apocalyptic events of Mortal Kombat 11 and its story-based expansion, Mortal Kombat 1 represents a new era for the franchise’s characters. While it purports to do the same for the video game series, the more I played Mortal Kombat 1, the more familiar the latest entry felt, but that’s far from a bad thing.

Mortal Kombat 1 brings the tight gameplay of its predecessors to the next level. Every punch, kick, throw, and special move feels impactful in the dances of death in which its characters participate. Once you get a few fights under your belt with your character of choice, the gameplay really starts to sing as you learn how to chain together combos, specials, and this entry’s new addition, Kameo Fighters.

After selecting your fighter, you choose a secondary character to back you up. These Kameo Fighters have distinct moves that attack your opponent, shield you from incoming attacks, or disrupt the flow of battle. I love using an aggressive strategy with Sub-Zero, getting in their face with a diverse attack plan, only to use Scorpion as a Kameo Fighter to pull me out of danger with his spear. I took great delight in experimenting with different strategies and Kameo combinations to maximize this new mechanic.

 

The main roster consists of various franchise favorites, many of whom bring unique styles and tactics. Bruisers like General Shao and Geras can spell trouble for players with difficulty managing distance, but I prefer more agile characters like Kitana and Li Mei. Add in series icons like Liu Kang, Mileena, and Johnny Cage, all with excellent iterations on their character designs and move sets, and this is one of the strongest starting rosters of the series. It’s just a shame that one of the main characters in the story, Shang Tsung, is locked behind being preorder DLC.

Mortal Kombat 1’s story plays out like a movie. NetherRealm has gotten much better at weaving the fights into the narrative rather than inserting jarring moments that only exist to set up fights. The story’s production values are among the elite in the games industry, with state-of-the-art facial animations and some of the best cutscene fight choreography ever seen in the medium. I had a blast following the narrative of Liu Kang’s attempts to keep his new timeline in order, even if the – albeit extremely fun – conclusion gets rather messy.

Once you finish the hours-long story, single-player content aplenty awaits. Invasions mode allows you to embark on a quest across the realms, completing various challenges for a ton of in-game rewards. These creative tests range from straightforward fights and difficult multi-phase boss battles to obstacle-dodging survival trials and Test-Your-Might encounters. While I love this mode and its promise of delivering nine hours of single-player content every six weeks, the formula wore on me a little as I progressed. Still, I loved ending my nights by playing through a dozen or so nodes to see what challenges awaited me and what cosmetic customization items I could earn to equip my fighters.

On the more traditional front, Mortal Kombat 1 brings back single-player arcade-style Towers and a small suite of online modes. While King of the Hill provides too much downtime as you watch strangers duke it out, I loved putting my skills to the test in the ranked best-of-five matches in the online Kombat League. Story and Invasions will always be my destination modes, but getting to know another player over a three-to-five fight series builds unmatched tension and delivers some of my most memorable moments with Mortal Kombat 1.

When the first Mortal Kombat debuted more than 30 years ago, the series quickly became known for its trademark blood, gore, and violence. While that is still at the forefront thanks to Mortal Kombat 1’s Fatal Blows, Brutalities, and, of course, Fatalities, the longer the series has gone on, the longer it has rightfully become just as known for its genre-leading approach to single-player content and incredibly tight fighting mechanics. In making strides in both areas, Mortal Kombat 1 moves the series forward to continue what has already been a terrific year for the genre.

Score: 9

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Lies Of P Review – Master Of Puppets

Reviewed on: PlayStation 5
Platform: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC, Mac
Publisher: Neowiz
Developer: Neowiz
Rating: Mature

Lies of P developer Neowiz proudly calls its The Adventures of Pinocchio-inspired action game a Soulslike, drawing direct attention to its From Software inspiration. The proclamation is a bold and risky move. While there are great contenders in this action subgenre, even the best are a few marks from what From Software creates and I went into Lies of P with that expectation. But then I put 40 hours into Lies of P in just five days, something I rarely do with any game. And then I doubled back on a save to get a different ending. And then I started New Game Plus because I wanted more. Lies of P masterfully wields familiar Soulslike combat and worldbuilding and infuses it with a few twists to set it apart from its various inspirations. The result is a pondering and memorable exploration of a fairytale everyone knows built within a deeply rewarding action game. Simply put, Lies of P is utterly fantastic. 

Neowiz commits hard to Pinnochio – while I laughed the first few times Lies of P reminded me I was controlling Pinnochio, the game never joined in on that. And after the first 10 hours, I stopped laughing too. Not because it wasn’t funny anymore – it was and still is – but because I realized Neowiz looked beyond Pinocchio as shock value for a character. It uses a puppet we're all familiar with to tell a story of an overworked, undervalued class rising against its creators, how far those creators will go to remain in power, and, as you might expect, what it means to be a human (and there's a confusing but interesting mechanic to go with that I won't spoil here). It's not necessarily new ground, nor is it necessarily all that deep, but spinning the tale of Pinnochio into everything Lies of P encompasses is commendable, and it works, especially within the confines of a Soulslike. 

Combat is familiar to those who know the genre Lies of P declares itself to be part of. Every enemy has the potential to kill you with a few missteps, bosses surprise and enrage you, providing essential skill checks during your journey through 19th Century France-inspired Krat, and mechanics won’t make sense… until they do. Anyone familiar with Soulslikes knows what's going on here, but after Lies of P introduces its various parts, the whole becomes realized. 

 

Pinnochio's mechanical Legion arm can add fire, electricity, acid, easy blocking, a grapple line, and more to your arsenal, opening up the potential to discover enemy weaknesses. Grindstones further this, allowing you to imbue your weapon with an element, and one-time-use Wishstones can completely turn the tide of a battle, whether that be by prolonging the life of your helpful NPC specter against a boss or slowly regenerating your HP when you’re out of Pulse Cells to restore yourself. Even weapons can be broken apart into a handle and a blade to mix and match, and every weapon is capable of special Fable Arts moves to flashy effect. I loved the pace at which Neowiz introduced these mechanics as it deepened what I could do in combat at just the right moments, when I thought I was done learning. 

Save for a few areas, Lies of P is gorgeous and unique, brimming with the energy of industry in the puppet-infested Krat, its surrounding regions, and the Krat Hotel hub that serves as the base of operations, filled with NPCs, shopkeeps, a mysterious girl responsible for leveling Pinnochio up, and more. The expected highlights are there too: a once beautiful city ravaged by plague, a gothic cathedral home to horrors, a World Fair-esque exhibition, and more, all connected through revelatory shortcuts. Seeing these Soulslike mainstays through the eyes of Pinnochio and Neowiz is invigorating; I was excited to reach the "poison swamp" of Lies of P, a locale present in just about every Souls game and the games inspired by them. It helps that Lies of P runs exceptionally well and looks stunning while doing it. My PlayStation 5 captures folder is full of screenshots from this game. 

How Is Lies Of P On Steam Deck?

Predictably, Steam Deck is not the best way to play Lies of P, but it runs impressively well on Valve's handheld. The important part of the game, its performance, is prioritized so even though there are instances where various textures in the distance pop in and out, it doesn't affect the gameplay. You might be distracted by a visual hiccup in the distance during a difficult boss fight, but the framerate is consistent, which means you still should be able to hit that perfect dodge without worrying about the game keeping up. Using Steam's cloud save options, I have been seamlessly jumping between the Steam Deck and desktop version with little issue. – Kyle Hilliard

Even when Soulslikes excel at creating an exciting world and great-feeling combat, it's often the bosses where the seams show, but that's not the case in Lies of P. Bosses are good fun and relatively easy, like much of the game, but there are few extremely difficult ones that took me upwards of two dozen attempts to take down. Most are highly memorable both in design and how they were seemingly in my head, calling my moves before I even pressed a button. The final boss is an excellent skill check of everything learned in the prior 40 hours, and another stands out as a new Souslike favorite, asking me to master Lies of P’s "perfect guard" mechanic to counter swift explosions of five to 10 hits at a time. 

 

Like the best action games, Lies of P rewards you each time you veer off the main path and for subsequent combat encounters. Defeating bosses, even most optional minibosses, rewards Quartz, used to give Pinnochio game-changing upgrades like an additional dodge and stronger Pulse Cell charges. Hordes of enemies block special chests with new costumes and special items, and even the most basic of puppets and monsters reward you with something useful, be it good ole experience for leveling up or a consumable or throwable item you'll be thankful for against specific bosses. 

 

Lies of P's greatest strength is how it rewards and empowers you at every turn to venture further through this twisted tale of puppetry and monstrous humanity, despite its oppressive world and formidable enemies. I struggled to pull myself away from Lies of P, even when it had me fuming. It delicately balances the fun of a Soulslike with the challenge the genre demands and only falters a few times. That it maintains that balance within the confines of a fairytale most know best because of Disney, flipping it on its head to tell something more in line with Carlo Collodi's original The Adventures of Pinnochio, is another achievement of Lies of P. But above all that, Lies of P uses the familiar, the highlights, and the lessons learned from the authors of the Soulslike subgenre to create something unique, fascinating, and exhilarating. Neowiz aimed for the stars, much like the ones its Pinnochio wishes upon, and hits them with machine-like accuracy.

Score: 9.5

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NBA 2K24 Review - A Flagrant Stepback

Reviewed on: PlayStation 5
Platform: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, PC
Publisher: 2K Games
Developer: Visual Concepts
Rating: Everyone

NBA 2K24 should have been the perfect platform to celebrate Kobe Bryant's career and his ever-lasting influence on the game of basketball. Instead, his legacy gets overshadowed by omnipresent microtransactions and stale game modes. As a result, NBA 2K24 feels like a dull, lopsided blowout as opposed to a memorable, adrenaline-inducing affair like the ones the Black Mamba often blessed us with throughout his career.

Unlike its more innovative predecessor, NBA 2K24 only introduces a handful of new elements, the most notable of which is ProPlay technology. Though the newly integrated feature does make each layup, dunk, and jump shot more realistic than ever, this aesthetic upgrade isn't enough to redeem what is essentially just a fresh coat of paint over a dated and unimaginative foundation. The lack of novel features became especially evident once I went through most of the recycled game modes offered within. Fortunately, NBA 2K24 still has a couple of enjoyable modes you can spend most of your time with, including my favorite, Mamba Moments.

 

Like NBA 2K23's Jordan Challenges, the latest commemorative offering lets you relive seven of Kobe's most iconic games. However, Mamba Moments doesn't take you back to the Laker legend's humble career beginnings. Instead, the first challenge you play through happens amid his electrifying career during the 2001 playoffs, five years after he was drafted. Though this opening challenge is undoubtedly an iconic event in Kobe's career, I was disappointed by the omission of some of his most memorable, legacy-defining milestones. The exclusion of Kobe's 81-point outburst in 2006 against the Toronto Raptors is particularly baffling; this near-record-breaking occasion would have been a treat to recreate.

MyNBA Eras, the novel addition from NBA 2K23 that lets you relive specific periods in the league, returns, this time with a new supplementary offering in tow called MyNBA Lite. Though welcome, I was puzzled by the addition of this streamlined Eras mode as its inclusion is unnecessary and redundant. However, playing through different periods, from the Magic vs. Bird Era of the 1980s to the Modern Era of the 2020s, remains an entertaining experience as each one brings its own set of rules, teams, and players that ensure no two playthroughs are the same.

Yet no matter how enjoyable MyNBA Eras and Mamba Moments are, the high points I experienced with these modes were dwarfed by the dismay I felt upon entering NBA 2K24's MyCareer. If you're looking forward to going through a new rags-to-riches story in the latest single-player offering, then prepare to be disappointed as Visual Concepts has completely discarded any semblance of a coherent plot – a decision that confounds me since the single-player mode's dramatic underdog narrative has always been one of the elements I enjoyed most in past entries.

In addition, the road to becoming the NBA GOAT also becomes exponentially more problematic if you haven't amassed a mountain of Virtual Currency. As this is your primary method of progressing your player, you'll need to purchase copious amounts to rank up quickly since the quantity you earn after each MyCareer game isn't sufficient to grow meaningfully.

Like always, NBA 2K24's heavy emphasis on in-game currency and microtransactions isn't limited to MyCareer, as this necessity becomes even more pronounced in the ever-popular MyTeam mode. Like in past installments, you can always grind out new rare player cards instead of purchasing them outright. However, the time it takes to earn these upgrades often doesn't make any of it worth it in the long run.

Following the innovative and pleasantly surprising NBA 2K23, I expected Visual Concepts to build upon its success and introduce even more improvements with its latest entry in the long-running basketball series. But instead of mirroring the Black Mamba's gradual rise to permanent relevancy, NBA 2K24 sadly feels like a stop-gap – a quick hit to temporarily satisfy diehard fans. If this continues, the series could veer closer to a forgettable imitation of Kobe's signature move: a fadeaway into obscurity.

Score: 6

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