The Last Number – How Mortal Kombat 11 brought an era to a glorious end

FINISH HIM!

Two words that don’t just define an era of gaming, but hold so much more value beyond their immediate association with the bloodiest fighting game ever conceived. It’s a rallying cry, a mantra of excellence and everything that fans loved about a certain franchise that would rise to the top of its genre and go beyond those limits to deliver the most delicious gameplay possible.

Mortal Kombat was, is and forever will be the video game that never shies away from what it wants to be at any given time. It’s an all you can eat buffet, multiple slices of flavour suitable for any stomach that can handle its unique taste. During its first few years of life, it was a poster child for video game violence gone unchecked, revelling in controversy and scoring more converts with a balance of pitch-perfect mayhem and fatalities.

A few years later, it was proof that evolution was real, advancing its numerous hot slices and taking full advantage of new hardware to deliver visual slobber-knockers. But in the 2010s? Mortal Kombat was a fighting game with heart. Evolving once again and carrying over some remnant DNA from previous glory days, the pinnacle of Mortal Kombat was its eleventh and ultimate form, fresh out of the oven and perfected under years of expert cooking.

Carnage dialled up to 100 and hellbent on creating an experience that would stand the test of time, Mortal Kombat 11 tasted like a greatest hits collection of everything that made the series so great. Fluid combos that could be dialled in to deliver massive damage, unrestrained violence that only it could get away with and an eye on keeping the fighting field as fair as possible through the use of custom characters and constant fine-tuning by developer chefs whose work was never done.

Above all that, Mortal Kombat was a love letter to its fans. It was a farewell to a saga that began in the 1990s and grew with each successive game, never losing sight of where it came from and hurtling towards an end that paved the way for a new era of kombat. In an industry that firmly believes that all fighting games have rubbish stories with which to justify the fisticuffs happening on the screen, Mortal Kombat exists as the sole exception that delivers a gourmet uppercut of contrary opinion to that school of thought.

Almost a year old by now, Mortal Kombat 11 is better than ever before. Worldwide tournaments keep the flame for NetherRealm’s glorious brawler alive, players are constantly devouring new killer builds with favourite characters and earning a living as the next big stars in the fighting games esports circuit. Its gruesome theatrics between combos is as gorgeous as a Debonairs Triple Decker Pizza with its scrumptious R149.90 price tag and free delivery, it wears its heart on its sleeve and it proudly embraces its finest hour and cheesiest moments whenever given a chance.

The sum total of 27 years of fighting game excellence, Mortal Kombat 11 still operates like it’s just getting started with its current plans for fighting game world domination.

Last Updated: February 24, 2020