Mortal Kombat 11
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About
Mortal Kombat 11 is a fighting game developed by NetherRealm studios, and the 11th main game in the Mortal Game series. Ahead of its April 23rd, 2019 release, the game attracted controversy for its violent fatalities, female-character redesigns, and a clip of its main villain, Shao Khan, saying "Make Outworld Great Again," an apparent reference to Donald Trump.
History
Mortal Kombat 11 is directed by Ed Boon and produced by NetherRealm Studios. It runs on the Unreal 3 engine. The game was announced on December 6th, 2018 at The Game Awards 2018 with a full trailer (shown below).[1]
Fans were unhappy with the music in the trailer, "Immortal" by 21 Savage, and created remixes with other music (examples shown below).[2]
The game released April 23rd, 2019 on Playstation 4, Xbox One, and Microsoft Windows. A Nintendo Switch version will release on May 10th, 2019.
Reception
The game was met with positive reviews from the press, gaining and 83/100 on Metacritic on the day of release.[3] Critics praised the fluidity of the combat, its accessibility to newcomers and veterans alike, and the game's story mode.[4]
Controversies
The game's release also came with several controversies. The gratuitous violence of the game's fatalities system led it getting banned in Indonesia, Ukraine and Japan.[5]
Additionally, fans were displeased with female character redesigns that put characters like Sonya Blade and Jade in more covered costumes than they'd been in previous games.[6] This led to a Change.org[7] petition to bring the skin-bearing costumes back as an option for Mortal Kombat 11. Some fans also were unhappy with the character arc of Jax in the game. In Mortal Kombat 11 Jax's story arc sees him manipulating time to right history's wrongs. Imagery of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade led some to interpret this as Jax creating a timeline creating a better future for black people.[6] Finally, a clip of Shao Khan saying "Make Outworld Great Again" was interpreted as a reference to Donald Trump and his slogan Make America Great Again (shown below).
Shao Kahn: "Make Outworld Great Again" infro 🤣 #MK11
MortalKombat</a> <a href="https://t.co/eudn4XW697">pic.twitter.com/eudn4XW697</a></p>— 𝓚𝓢𝓘𝓚 (KSIK_) src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 22, 2019
The tamer female costumes, Jax arc, and Trump reference led some to complain the game was pandering to social justice warriors.
Search Interest
External References
[1] Polygon – The 10 biggest announcements from last night’s Game Awards
[2] Comic Book – 'Mortal Kombat 11's Trailer With 21 Savage Music Is Bad, So Here Are Some Alternatives
[3] Metacritic – Mortal Kombat 11
[4] Kotaku – Mortal Kombat 11 Has A Great Story Mode
[5] Play-Asia – Mortal Kombat 11 Banned in Other Countries? We’ve Got You Covered!
[6] Lulz – Mortal Kombat 11’s ultimate bad guy is Trump
[7] Change.org – Bring the MK9 style to female characters in Mortal Kombat 11.