It’s not uncommon for user reviews to differ slightly from critics’ takes on games, but in Mortal Kombat 11’s case, there’s a considerable gap between the two scores right now. NetherRealm Studio’s new fighting game received generally favorable ratings from outlets who praised its graphics and return to form for Mortal Kombat, though the grindy nature of the game’s progression was often listed as prominent con. Users are referencing the game’s grind in their reviews now that Mortal Kombat 11 is out, but they’re also mentioning things like “SJW” propaganda and the use of a “political agenda” in their negative reviews.
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Mortal Kombat 11’s critic score was recently so high on Metacritic that it put the game in the top 10 PlayStation 4 releases for the year, but you wouldn’t be able to tell that from looking at the user score. Critics have the game sitting at an 83 for the PlayStation 4 version while users have given it a shockingly low 2.7. Looking into the user reviews gives some insights into players’ complaints.
“Well, the gameplay is good, so long as you play competitively with other people,” one user by the name of fgc_orion said. “However, that’s about where the positives stop. The predatory monetization tactics that started to show up in Injustice 2 have come in full force, with a multitude of premium currencies costing obscene amounts of real-world money and locking cosmetics, gear, finishers, intros, basically anything that isn’t directly tied to the gameplay.”
NetherRealm has said it plans to work on the grindy parts of the game players have been voicing their opinions on, but these types of reviews will likely keep coming until that’s fixed. Other reviews cited the lack of fan-favorite characters like Mileena and Smoke as well as the fact that Shao Kahn was locked behind a pre-order bonus instead of being part of the main roster. Referring to specific endings for different characters’ Towers (spoilers below), phrases like “political agenda” and “SJW” were seen more than a few times.
“The story is abysmal, makes no sense at all and effectively destroys the entire lore of the last 27 years,” said one user by the name of LittleEmber. “Also pushing you [sic] personal political agenda with certain tower endings is just disgusting.”
The ending that’s often cited in these claims is Jax’s where the fighter elects to rewind time to save his family and put an early end to slavery. Shao Kahn, the big antagonist in in Mortal Kombat, also says at one point that he wants to “Make Outworld great again.”
Mortal Kombat 11’s scores on other platforms aren’t fairing any better with each of them in the red, but it’s worth pointing out that some of these users like the one above has posted the same review in multiple versions’ pages, thus lowering the score on every platform.
Our own review of Mortal Kombat 11 can be seen here and did indeed point out the grindy aspects of the game.
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