The first choice was Kombat Pack, a pack of warriors joining the original set. Joker, Sindel, Spawn, Terminator or Nightwolf – all of them were up for grabs either in an additional paid package, or individually, depending on the player’s preferences. We could dwell for hours on how this type of approach is simply pulling money for a product that costs a lot of money. Suffice it to say that the next characters to master are always a welcome addition. However, thirteen months had to pass for the developers to also try to extend the storyline. And they did it with a bang.
Role-playing confusion
The aftermath begins exactly when the storyline of the base game ends. Good wins, and Liu Kang becomes the keeper of time, and with the help of the Kronika hourglass he can freely shape a new era. However, as it happens in the world of Mortal Kombat, it quickly turns out that it is not as easy as it may seem, and the heroes have to go back in time to ensure their final victory.
Steam
The above summary is only the tip of the iceberg, because there is nothing to hide – the Netherrealm went crazy, in its own style ignoring such insignificant details as time paradoxes or the usual logic of the lion’s share of the characters. Instead, we end up in the middle of a story that is as, if not more epic, than the original, with a corpse littering in extra quantities before our eyes. The main heroes of all the confusion, however, this time the characters from the available extensions. So if you thought so far that such iconic persona as Shang Tsung or Sheeva were in the game without much purpose, “Aftermath” will quickly verify it.
Sinful pleasure
However, if anyone expects a multi-level intrigue at this point, they should turn their attention to a different title. In terms of history, Mortal Kombat is still a well-invested guilty pleasure , so we are necessarily dealing with a class B action film, covered in an extremely brutal fantasy. And of course, the conspiracy network is reaching its zenith, characters change parties in a few scenes, and yet we can sense the twists per kilometer. In any other production we could consider it a minus, but the creators are fully aware of this state of affairs and instead of a story that does everything to surprise us, they go towards a joyful slaughter. Exactly how we would like it from their game.
Thus, any clashes staged with accuracy to tenths of a second make an electrifying impression. The choreography of the fights in the cutscenes is perhaps the best that has happened to the fighting genre in its entire history. Even in the basic version of the game, the ingenious implementation of the fights into the events on the screen was quite impressive, but what was squeezed out of the venerable Unreal Engine 3 in The Aftermath looks even better. Even though it only took me less than three hours to complete the expansion pack, during that time I was completely overwhelmed with the upcoming adaptation. It is hard for me to imagine that anyone could in any way overcome the bar set by Netherrealm ..
Steam
New warriors
In addition to the successful Story Mode, Aftermath also offers three additional characters. Robocop plays more or less the same role in the set that also belongs to Geras or Terminator. It’s a slow tank that can deal a lot of damage, but still quite clunky in combat – it’s hard to expect it to be your first choice in online battles. Sheeva and Fujin make a much better impression – the former seems more intuitive to recipients unfamiliar with the game, the latter requires more virtuosity, but also rewards it with even smoother clashes. Overall, it is not bad, but it seems that we will have to wait for the team of playable characters, which is truly awaited by fans – after all, the game has not yet included the beloved Rain, Sektor,
A pinch of doubt
In addition to new heroes and a short, but satisfying adventure in the story expansion, Mortal Kombat itself offers nothing more than what we have known for over thirteen months. A clearly slower pace of the game than in the version numbered ten, amazing graphics and sound, and finally tons of gore. One would like to write that “Aftermath” can be recommended without batting an eye, but the question that raises doubts is the ratio of the amount of new material to the price. 160 zlotys is a considerable expense, and it seems that, despite the undoubted quality, the first feature DLC for the latest production from Netherrealm Studios, however, offers too few novelties to consider the amount that we spend on fully developed productions here justifiable.
