Game news Unstable servers, poorly balanced characters, lack of communication, players can't take Mortal Kombat 1 anymore. A fatality?
Publié le 25/02/2024 à 08:20
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Mortal Kombat 1 got off to a great start, but a few months after its release, nothing was going well. Players complain and high-level enthusiasts move on. But, what's going on?
Could Mortal Kombat 1 have arrived too soon? A few months after a release with a very favorable critical and commercial reception (83% on Metacritic, 3 million copies in two months), the fighting game from the NetherRealm studio – father of the license – questions players. It is criticized in particular for a lack of content as well as certain missing options.yet obvious for versus fighting, and which it lacks compared to Street Fighter and Tekken.
Servers who lead a tough life
But the most recurring problem is server problems. In Mortal Kombat 1's main online modes, there are disconnections mid-combat as well as numerous slowdowns. And in a fighting game, where responsiveness and precision are at the center of the equation, suffice to say that it is more than handicapping. Several professional Mortal Kombat players are openly complaining on X (Twitter). First of all, we have PK Rewind, winner of EVO 2018 on MK10 – basically, world champion – who spoke on the subject.
“Desynchronizations (lags between the two opponents, editor's note) every 3/5 matches, King of the Hill mode unstable and slow (…) I just want to play my 140 dollar game online without hassle.”
And what was supposed to happen happened: at the beginning of February, a desynchronization occurred in the final of a tournament, which cost a professional player the victory. “STG E.Vanity” actually saw his opponent attack just before the end of the combat launch animation, which left him defenseless. She then expressed her frustration on This desynchronization problem has been known since the first week of release of Mortal Kombat 1.
The bad “netcode” (the network infrastructure that allows players to compete) of the game can therefore be detrimental to tournaments, but also to various training sessions. With a bad connection, many complain about having to stop their combos because the server is not tracking. It also happens that online modes are completely unavailable for no apparent reason, as was the case on Xbox on December 14. Because yes, these are indeed separate servers for each medium. Obviously, most big tournaments are played on LAN and not online, but in this second case, players have to juggle another problem, balancing the game.
A balancing that does not hold
Of course, the balance of a fighting game is never 100% perfect, but we can get closer with various updates. As long-time Mortal Kombat player RZA says on TPK's Jab+ show, there is a certain unfairness in the patches implemented in MK1. “You had characters who were too strong (…) we nerfed (lowered the power, editor's note) the most obvious ones, like Raiden and Baraka, to let Johnny Cage through for example.” RZA also notes that gameplay updates are slow to come out, which gives time for other problematic characters to emerge.
Before going any further, we must first understand the notion of “Kameo Fighter” of this Mortal Kombat 1, support fighters who allow you to chain combos and break those of the enemy. One of them, Stryker, singled out by the community, also dodged the adjustments – and is constantly played online, especially for his powerful duo with Reptile. And that's without counting the “bugged” characters, like Syndel, who has an infinite sequence when played in particular with Sub-Zero. Some tournament rules even had to prohibit combos with Kameo Fighters. Problematic fighters are numerous and they continue to reveal themselves today, and force competition organizers to create special protocols in order to avoid certain overly powerful strategies. Late patches and lack of bug fixes leave players in the dark, and this is due in particular to a great lack of communication from the studio, NetherRealm.
A lack of communication that is expensive
Because we cannot say that the team and its publisher, WarnerBros, are the very talkative type. On the Mortal Kombat 1 Twitter account, we can note the total absence of tweets between November 21 and January 9. There are very few announcements about future updates, other than those related to characters or Kameo. We had to wait until January 12 (4 months after the release) to have a corrective patch on server synchronization, which was not enough. Four days later, a new message claims that he is still working on the subject. Then do it again the following month, with maintenance, still with the same problem. The players are all the more furious since NetherRealm decides to take the subject head on a few days before the release of Tekken 8, and for many, this is no coincidence. Added to this is the complete silence of Ed Boon, co-creator of the license, who has not given any sign of life on his expressed regularly.
#MK1 will be undergoing maintenance on Thursday, Feb 8. We’re expecting to be down for around an hour starting at 9am CT/7am PT. Keep an eye out here, and we’ll let you know when we’re back online. Thank you ahead of time for your patience.
— Mortal Kombat 1 (@MortalKombat) February 7, 2024
A lack of monitoring and communication which could cost Mortal Kombat 1 dearly: many professional players are threatening to leave the game. Among the “Top players” who make this observation, we cannot miss SonicFox. He has won no less than five EVO titles across Mortal Kombat and Injustice. His message on X had the effect of a small bomb within the community. It does not take four paths:
“I hope it's not too late for MK1 to get back on the right path. I know some things are entirely Warner Bros' fault and not necessarily NRS's, but that doesn't change the situation in We're in. If it doesn't (MK1's efforts), I'll quit the game.”
A tweet taken up by TekkenMaster, also a recognized player, who affirms that he “will also give up if things stay like this”. To this is added a competitive circuit not up to par with the previous ones, once again for no apparent reason, with less well organized qualifications, less money at stake. We also remind you that SonicFox has become the highest paid fighting game player thanks in particular to the MK10 cash prize.
Predictable?
Most of the issues with Mortal Kombat 1 were already present in Mortal Kombat 11. Moreover, SonicFox explains having abandoned the eleventh part “for these same reasons”, evoking the almost non-existent communication around the title. Server issues continued into the game's end of life and beyond, with amateur tutorials attempting to fix it last year, four years after MK11's release. We also find the same balancing subject.
“Icing on the cake”: the lack of content, since in Mortal Kombat 1, it lacks quite a few features for a fighting game of this ilk. It's not possible to create a private game or change costumes directly on the character selection screen, for example. NetherRealm will have to quickly rectify the situation, and in fact, communication started again last month. Peacemaker, the Suicide Squad character played by Jonh Cena, will soon arrive as DLC, and with him a patch to try to balance the different characters. The icing on the cake is that at the end of February 2024, crossplay will finally make its debut, more than five months after the game's release.