User Score
3.3

Generally unfavorable reviews- based on 677 Ratings

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  1. Jul 11, 2020
    7
    Im updating my score to more average, its a good fighting game, the new DLC is kinda overpriced tho.
  2. Oct 31, 2020
    5
    Could have been so much better, everything feels kinda weird with this game. They try to be cool and edgy, but they actually aren't. It actually feels one of their softest games.
  3. Apr 24, 2019
    5
    Another attempt to push mobile standards to players on other platforms, another great series of games lost.
  4. Apr 24, 2019
    5
    Compared to other fighters of this era, the defensive options and focus on neutral is a blessing. So many other fighting games of this decade are so aggression focused, and seem like anyone can just drool on the controller and steamroll you. Wakeups are primarily guessing games outside of MK11, so its refreshing to have defensive options to response to these infinite air combos andCompared to other fighters of this era, the defensive options and focus on neutral is a blessing. So many other fighting games of this decade are so aggression focused, and seem like anyone can just drool on the controller and steamroll you. Wakeups are primarily guessing games outside of MK11, so its refreshing to have defensive options to response to these infinite air combos and guessing situations on wakeup. MK 11 (at least 24 hours since release) seems to have the depth other fighters are lacking in our modern day.

    However, this is where the bad news starts, especially for the PC version. The fun gameplay is weighed down by an overall clunkiness that ruins the experience. So many just... odd problems plague this game. Tournament variations are not set to default, and not available in practice mode. Game is locked to 30fps and fps drops frequently during cutscenes. Weird quality jumps or falls out of nowhere. The Krypt is random (and non-functional on arcade sticks). Just so many tiny issues that add up.

    And then we hit the more recognized issues of the game, the first being the political... awkwardness of the game. Netherrealm (or maybe WB) really wanted some political messages in here and they don't even do them cleanly. It's one thing if Battlefield V takes on the misogyny or whatever. At least you're aware of their stance. Yet, Jax's controversial ending manages to frustrate all sides of the isle. Progressives are mad at the belittling of the issue of slavery and race relations (just get a magic time travel device and we can fix EVERYTHING! So simple!) and Conservatives don't like a strong (badly attempted) SJW message in their game that's supposed to be an escapist from problems like politics. It gets even worse with Shao Kahn's "Make Outworld Great Again". My apologies here, but the brutal ruler never struck me as someone he particularly wanted anything to be "great" for anyone but himself. He has no interest in Outworld being a prideful, great place to live. So to line him up with the US president doesn't really make much sense, the line falls totally outside of Shao Kahn's character and really comes off as "Hey, we are Netherrealm studios and we're woke".

    And for the love of all that is holy, micro transactions HAVE to go. Here I am, meandering through Goro's dining hall in the Krypt. I have exhausted all areas except for one locked door. In order to get a Skeleton Key to unlock this door, you need to open their little lootboxes that they have inside there. However, the RNG gods frowned upon me and I didn't get a single one. I had spent most of my "KOINS" on unlocking ladders in Towers of Time, trying and failing to get specific skins and fatalities. So I literally cannot now progress in a mode of the game unless I grind like crazy. I paid $70 to have my arm twisted into spending more money. It's 2019 Netherrealm. If you just went the honest route and didn't extort your fans, they'd be much more willing to shill out your game to their friends and buy upcoming DLC and expansions. This is just not the way to go in 2019 for a AAA title.

    Overall, the gameplay is solid and fun. It seems to have depth that other fighters simply haven't had in this present time. However, the game is clearly unpolished, and didn't have the good manners to limit grinding or take out MTXs because of it's incomplete state. Furthermore, MK11 seems to have multiple "Do I get my 'I'm a good person' badge for this?" moments in their stories that just reek of "Staying Woke" and do it very, very poorly. It's not a bad game, but it's far below what it should be coming from a AAA company and Netherrealm Studios.

    My recommendation, buy this later after the smoke is cleared and I feel like this will be a great game.
    However, we'll have to be cautious. If Street Fighter V is any indication, it's hard to bounce back from
    starting off on the wrong foot. Hopefully MK11 can break that mold and succeed against adversity.
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  5. Apr 26, 2019
    5
    I have waited for the game for some time, preordered it in premium edition, believing that it would not have to pay for more content, but I find the surprise that it is riddled with microtransactions. This abusive, ill-intentioned system, the total cost of paid content (for those who acquired the base game) is greater than USD 6000.- altogether totally out of logic and they created aI have waited for the game for some time, preordered it in premium edition, believing that it would not have to pay for more content, but I find the surprise that it is riddled with microtransactions. This abusive, ill-intentioned system, the total cost of paid content (for those who acquired the base game) is greater than USD 6000.- altogether totally out of logic and they created a Krypta that is annoying, and it takes too long to obtain the objects. A pity that they have ruined the game that in itself, has an excellent fighting system and not to mention the graphics.
    On the other hand, the servers have constant errors, and even when playing offline modes, an error occurs and it asks to restart the game. I am very disappointed with MK11. Urgent WB and Netherrealm must take action on the matter and improve the internal economy of the game and correct errors in the servers.
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  6. Apr 25, 2019
    6
    I have been playing MK since part 1 and its my favorite fighting game series so it was a no-brainer for me to get a MK11. I bought a Premium Edition of the game and will give my honest opinion. First the good: I love the graphics and the animations and the detailed stages. Also the story and fighting are solid and fun. Online was fairly lag free for me even using mediocre WiFi connections.I have been playing MK since part 1 and its my favorite fighting game series so it was a no-brainer for me to get a MK11. I bought a Premium Edition of the game and will give my honest opinion. First the good: I love the graphics and the animations and the detailed stages. Also the story and fighting are solid and fun. Online was fairly lag free for me even using mediocre WiFi connections.

    Now the bad: I am not the fan of new default costumes and skins of most of the characters. I mostly play with Sub-Zero, Kung Lao and Raiden and I miss their classic costumes and was pretty shocked that they were all locked away for grind or purchase. That includes the "sexier" costumes for females (with the default female costumes, NRS went out of its way to make females less appealing esp combined with zombie looking skins). There are 4 different forms of ingame currency I guess to increase the grind like mobile games as well as making it more confusing to customize your characters. There are tons of costumes and other items that I like a lot but they all are locked away. It should not be like that after spending close to $100 for a Premium version of the game. I hope that NRS and Warner address the micro-transactions and grind and cost of items ASAP or I won't be so fast in buying MK12...
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  7. Apr 24, 2019
    7
    Good gameplay, good story, good graphics and violence.
    BUT
    SJW female characters and at the same time sexual objectification of male characters, hell of a grind, reverse racism (black power for Jax).
    Rating 7 for me.
  8. Apr 27, 2019
    5
    The gameplay and graphics are great for the story/local/online fights and standard towers. However the towers of time and the microtransactions are a joke. The towers of time are way way too difficult, to the point of being no fun at all unlike the ones in MK10 and Injustice 2 those rocked, not sure how they messed this up in this one but they managed to. Also it's going to take flippinThe gameplay and graphics are great for the story/local/online fights and standard towers. However the towers of time and the microtransactions are a joke. The towers of time are way way too difficult, to the point of being no fun at all unlike the ones in MK10 and Injustice 2 those rocked, not sure how they messed this up in this one but they managed to. Also it's going to take flippin ages to unlock everything with the way it's all setup. Shame on WB for messing up an otherwise fantastic MK game. Expand
  9. May 13, 2019
    7
    First the bad, it's grindy, extremely grindy. Nearly everything is totally random so it becomes very difficult to farm the skin, fatality, intro etc that you want, plus the game is full to the brim with junk items like concept art and icons. You will spend a considerable amount of time running Towers using your AI fighter (so not even playing yourself) to farm currency which you'll spendFirst the bad, it's grindy, extremely grindy. Nearly everything is totally random so it becomes very difficult to farm the skin, fatality, intro etc that you want, plus the game is full to the brim with junk items like concept art and icons. You will spend a considerable amount of time running Towers using your AI fighter (so not even playing yourself) to farm currency which you'll spend in the Krypt, it takes an insane amount time to get everything and most people will quit long before then.

    As for the good, well it's a solid fighting game with great visuals, animations and audio. The core game is great, it just feels like the devs don't want you spending your time actually playing it. Online PvP has virtually no rewards, so it can feel like a waste of time doing it, even if you enjoy it and the Towers are farmed far more efficiently using AI, most of my time spent with the game is AFK doing something else while my Noob Saibot AI grinds currency for me, and that's what most people do too.

    The story mode was actually really good as far as fighting games go, probably the best actually and it'll take you a solid 6-8 hours to complete. The game doesn't suffer for a lack of content, I just feel like rewards aren't balanced around all playstyles, if you're the type of guy who only wants to play online then you're out of luck if you ever want to unlock the coolest items.
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  10. Apr 25, 2019
    6
    MK 11 on PC is a let down, but it's not beyond redemption. This review is going to primarily focus on PC performance and variations since I think the flaws in the games progression system have been well defined.

    Right when I booted up MK 11 I let the game optimize itself for my machine (i7 8700, gtx 1080, and 16 GB of RAM plenty of resources for what this game asks). Then I decided I
    MK 11 on PC is a let down, but it's not beyond redemption. This review is going to primarily focus on PC performance and variations since I think the flaws in the games progression system have been well defined.

    Right when I booted up MK 11 I let the game optimize itself for my machine (i7 8700, gtx 1080, and 16 GB of RAM plenty of resources for what this game asks). Then I decided I would go to practice mode and see what sub zero was all about this time around.

    That's when I noticed that whenever this game loads something it wrecks my computer's fans. Story, challenge towers, stage select, character select, ranked matches, you name it and my pc just wasn't having it. I don't have any other games that do this unless I unlock the framerate and this game runs at 60 so I have no idea what's going on there. Sounds like there are some optimizations needed in that area. There are also some weird issues with the menus not taking controller inputs and some crashes that happen in the 'kustomization' screen that are really upsetting

    When I started the story I noticed that the game switches to 30 fps to show cutscenes which would be fine normally, but in this game the anti aliasing is broken in 30 fps so there's heavy artifacting all over the place. When it does switch back to 60 the transition is rough.

    During gameplay the game runs okay I suppose, but it's definitely dropping frames and some annoying hiccups appear whenever the game talks to the server which brings me to my next complaint

    MK 11 is always online for single player content so you'll frequently see a 'syncing' dialog that is both annoying and immersion breaking. Seeing this message after every single player victory just drives home the fact that this is a live service more than a fighting game in its current state.

    As far as the gameplay is concerned, I'm generally happy with the systems, movement, and combo structure on display here. The problem that I haven't really seen highlighted in mainstream reviews is the way variations work. They are bad...like really bad. You can create your own version of a character from a menu of available moves, BUT if you want to play competitively there are only TWO variations that you can use. Here's the crazy part. YOU HAVE TO CREATE THOSE VARIATIONS YOURSELF if you want to practice with them. Let me outline what that experience is like:

    First, you go to the kustomize screen and listen to your CPU fan sound like a jet engine while you pick your character. Next, you hope the game doesn't crash while you navigate the menu to put your variation together. Following that, you select 'abilities' and then use your mouse to select 'use a preset' because the X button the screen is asking you to press doesn't work. Okay still with me? Now you scroll down the list and select one of two variations with a trophy icon next to it, these are the 'tournament variations' for the character that are permissible for use in ranked play. Now you press A, the game lags up for a second, and shows a thumbnail that represents the new variation and it's a cut off picture of your character because the photo feature doesn't work. NOW you're ready to practice getting ready for ranked play WHOA I can't believe how bad this is. Remember in MK X when you just picked the damn thing at the character select screen?

    TL:DR

    NRS, please give this port some attention. We don't even have the latest balance patch. We need performance optimizations, better rewards, better towers that aren't glorified waterboarding, and variations need an overhaul. I'd like nothing more than to come back here and bump my review up a couple points if you'll just give us what we paid for.
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  11. Apr 26, 2019
    6
    A 6/10 for now, as performance on PC is all over the place with some scenes rendered at my refresh rate(144hz) and others jumping between 30 and 60, with a ton of weird graphical issues due to motionblur(I assume). This is also not to mention a ton of bugs and crashes, as within the first 10hrs of me playing, the game crashed 4 times.
    Also not super big on how focused the game seems to be
    A 6/10 for now, as performance on PC is all over the place with some scenes rendered at my refresh rate(144hz) and others jumping between 30 and 60, with a ton of weird graphical issues due to motionblur(I assume). This is also not to mention a ton of bugs and crashes, as within the first 10hrs of me playing, the game crashed 4 times.
    Also not super big on how focused the game seems to be on competitive play, without providing a means to players to pick a region. This has led me to start to lose interest as I cant play online when most of my games I'm matched with people in Europe which gives me excessively high ping.
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  12. Apr 25, 2019
    6
    So the grind is bad, the rate of "drops" is geared to push you towards microdtransactions, which is bad. Handling of Frost DLC (she's unlockable in Chapter for without spending a single penny) is really bad and underhanded! (this should be dropped right now!).

    Custom characters are great tho. Probably the best thing in MK ever. Graphics are good, 60FPS gameplay and 30FPS everything
    So the grind is bad, the rate of "drops" is geared to push you towards microdtransactions, which is bad. Handling of Frost DLC (she's unlockable in Chapter for without spending a single penny) is really bad and underhanded! (this should be dropped right now!).

    Custom characters are great tho. Probably the best thing in MK ever.

    Graphics are good, 60FPS gameplay and 30FPS everything else ... is not good :/ feels sloppy especially on PC.

    Art direction is really really good tho.

    Fighting is also really good, best of the 3D MKs, and maybe as good as MK1, 2 and 3 ...

    Generally everything would be great, if not the GREEDY practices of the publisher! If microtransactions were not there, no Frost "DLC" and currency drops were x10 more generous to keep the Krypt going, it would actually be a really good game. I would give it 9/10 ... if everything was
    stellar 60FPS, I would be tempted to give it 10/10, because the rest is really really good for me.

    So ... another publisher tarnishing a great game with their pointless greed ... be fair with people and people will happily pay the price for good content. It's just those rubbish underhanded practices!
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  13. Jun 18, 2019
    7
    The game is undoubtedly 10 out of 10 in everything!
    Graphics: is outstanding with this fluid mechanics in the mix and impressive skin sub-surface scattering with amazing animations in most of parts and more lively like emotions
    Gameplay: Tutorials are unexpectedly great and does the job so well yet better than MKX at so many levels Story mode: Impressive story with some gaps (as always)
    The game is undoubtedly 10 out of 10 in everything!
    Graphics: is outstanding with this fluid mechanics in the mix and impressive skin sub-surface scattering with amazing animations in most of parts and more lively like emotions
    Gameplay: Tutorials are unexpectedly great and does the job so well yet better than MKX at so many levels
    Story mode: Impressive story with some gaps (as always) but the overall is amazing unlike any fighting game , also contradictions are decreasing significantly in the whole time-line and it keeps growing in the right direction
    Game modes: Nice variety and very enjoyable

    but nothing is so bright with WB

    now ... for the bad points
    Game Economy : here where things goes so bad that I might say the main reason for stripping 3 points because it is the whole issue even after update to keep grinding less , really complicated and for no reason in a fighting game , till now I see 5 types of currency .... WHY ? why this mess ? and to unlock new stuff I have to go to the krypt and oh my dear lord I spent 200,000 (Koins) on 3 brutalities ! other than that useless stuff like concept art and ... some stupid items , like coagulated blood and a sacred spear ... what is this ? why ? to go to a forge and craft items ... really ? very weird and totally unnecessary
    Server connection is pointless in every corner that is supposed to work well offline , sometimes while in story mode it quits unexpectedly and asking me to restart the game ! why is this ? why it is even important ? I don't mind connecting every second to the server to update data even in tutorial (which is annoying but doesn't take much to fuss about ) but why I have to restart ?
    Frame rate cap , I have 1070ti and I tried the uncap mod , it works like magic , the experience is way better in 60 FPS , wow , why did you do this capping unchangeable option WB ? I hope they apply it in next patch as an official in-game option in graphics
    Lastly is unlocking stuff which relates to game economy but I really don't like the krypt idea to unlock things in boxes that you don't know what will it contain , after spending 200,000 which is a lot of boxes opened , I got almost nothing compared to 15 minutes wandering around , and have to craft and forge useless items to help you in towers of time , also no characters to be unlocked as you play except for frost otherwise you have to pay for them , waste of time and money actually .
    I would give it a 10 , really enjoyable and they worked hard on it to give them 5 or 0 that is really ungrateful in the mean time I don't blame somebody reviewed it below 7 to 5 , but this thing is really important , don't lock charachters behind real money , make them hard grind to unlock I don't have problem and who is lazy to unlock them like frost , pay for it , let these old day return back and don't let the price for these things fool you , people wait for discount and here you see it , an impressive game like this has 2.2 out 10 at the time I wrote this review ! that is worse than fallout 76 which is really a bad game !
    please WB ... stop bad buisness practices and I will mark it as 10 , I really want that , in the meantime this kind of Micro-transaction and complicated game economy we don't want that to be the future of games , learn from Capcom , yes they have DLC's to pay for but it won't affect your experience drastically in the game if not at all , you still play the game in full experience and have things to unlock and discover , but fighting game characters are a crucial part of the game , how you make them as DLC ?
    anyway I recommend this game even with these bad points , really worth every penny and you will enjoy it so much if you are in fighting games.
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  14. Nov 7, 2020
    5
    Mortal kombat 11 suffers the same issue as the older installations.
    The core fighting mechanics are good in this game and the graphics are amazing.
    I wish that this installation had the guts to try something new but the changes are so small (to gameplay) that they might as well not have bothered. Lot of the old characters from mk x has been brought here with the exact same annoying
    Mortal kombat 11 suffers the same issue as the older installations.
    The core fighting mechanics are good in this game and the graphics are amazing.

    I wish that this installation had the guts to try something new but the changes are so small (to gameplay) that they might as well not have bothered. Lot of the old characters from mk x has been brought here with the exact same annoying issues as they had in mk x. For example, Goro is back and he still has a teleport jump move that can not be blocked. Its just as annoying as before to meet him, one would have thought they would have balanced that issue out but no.

    Another seriously sucky thing is that even on the PC, you can't customize gameplay _at all_.
    I dont like the "fatal blows" that you can do by pressing two buttons when your health is low - impossible to turn of even if your just playing with a friend. Why?
    There is no tweaking of any aspect of this game gameplay wise which sucks, it could have added some longevity to the game as you do get bored with it pretty quickly. This adds to the feeling of lack of innovation in this game series - such an obvious thing but they still refuse to add it.

    In general, it is a decent fighting game but it completely fails to do anything new. If you played any od the recent mortal Kombat games there is no incentive for you to buy this one, unless you really just want a graphical update.
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  15. Oct 20, 2020
    6
    ---{Graphics}---
    ☐ You forget what reality is
    ☐ Beautiful ☐ Good X Decent ☐ Bad ☐ Don‘t look too long at it ☐ MS-DOS ---{Gameplay}--- ☐ Very good X Good ☐ It‘s just gameplay ☐ Mehh ☐ Watch paint dry instead ☐ Just don't ---{Audio}--- ☐ Eargasm ☐ Very good X Good ☐ Not too bad ☐ Bad ☐ I'm now deaf ---{Audience}--- ☐ Kids ☐ Teens X Adults ☐ All ---{PC
    ---{Graphics}---
    ☐ You forget what reality is
    ☐ Beautiful
    ☐ Good
    X Decent
    ☐ Bad
    ☐ Don‘t look too long at it
    ☐ MS-DOS

    ---{Gameplay}---
    ☐ Very good
    X Good
    ☐ It‘s just gameplay
    ☐ Mehh
    ☐ Watch paint dry instead
    ☐ Just don't

    ---{Audio}---
    ☐ Eargasm
    ☐ Very good
    X Good
    ☐ Not too bad
    ☐ Bad
    ☐ I'm now deaf

    ---{Audience}---
    ☐ Kids
    ☐ Teens
    X Adults
    ☐ All

    ---{PC Requirements}---
    ☐ Check if you can run paint
    ☐ Potato
    X Decent
    ☐ Fast
    ☐ Rich boi
    ☐ Ask NASA if they have a spare computer

    ---{Difficulity}---
    ☐ Just press 'W'
    ☐ Easy
    X Significant brain usage
    X Easy to learn / Hard to master
    ☐ Difficult
    ☐ Dark Souls

    ---{Story}---
    ☐ No Story
    X Some lore
    ☐ Average ☐ Good ☐ Lovely ☐ It‘ll replace your life ---{Game Time}--- ☐ Long enough for a cup of coffee ☐ Short X Average ☐ Long ☐ To infinity and beyond ---{Price}--- ☐ It’s free! ☐ Worth the price X If u have some spare money left ☐ Not recommended ☐ You could also just burn your money ---{Bugs}--- ☐ Never heard of X Minor bugs ☐ Can get annoying ☐ ARK: Survival Evolved ☐ The game itself is a big terrarium for bugs
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  16. Sep 9, 2021
    6
    The game keep crashing whenever I try to max out the games graphics my PC specs are i7 10700 5500xt 4gb
  17. Apr 1, 2021
    6
    Графика - 7/10
    Игровой процесс - 7/10
    Сюжет - 5/10
    Музыка - 5/10
  18. Jul 28, 2020
    5
    Weak and controversial story,MK franchise fall after ps2 era,on ps2 era you could move your character to left and right you could walk to the sides,on this new era the game return to this base like snes just move foward and back and for me this is a big step back like a martial artist i can't even belive what MK become,if you are just a gamer and don't care about realistic combat andWeak and controversial story,MK franchise fall after ps2 era,on ps2 era you could move your character to left and right you could walk to the sides,on this new era the game return to this base like snes just move foward and back and for me this is a big step back like a martial artist i can't even belive what MK become,if you are just a gamer and don't care about realistic combat and stances this is not a bad step for you but if you value good combat that look more real like ufc or any game that give you more control to your character is not worth,the story is weak and don't make sense is like they erase the ps2 era to give life to this one so if you compare this to all the other bad things this is the note,i will give ''5'' cause of the dialogues,intros,cinematic,animation and graphics against crashes,greed ''pay to win'' weak story,weak gameplay and lack of original content. Expand
  19. Nov 15, 2021
    7
    Quality game, frustrating multiplayer and community lots of grinding needed which I don't like.
  20. Oct 19, 2021
    7
    Изменения боевки мне зашли и как файтинг мк явно вырос в этой части.
    Сюжетка и кат сцены хороши, хоть стандартная тупость незеррелм файтингов и в наличии.
    Но...Скарлет...Что они сделали с моей девочкой...Не прощу!!! Пихать повестку в игру, где все друг другу выпускают кишки...Отличная идея! (НЕТ!) У меня 90% бывших были симпатичней этих женщин из мк... Окай, скройте тогда сисяндры
    Изменения боевки мне зашли и как файтинг мк явно вырос в этой части.
    Сюжетка и кат сцены хороши, хоть стандартная тупость незеррелм файтингов и в наличии.
    Но...Скарлет...Что они сделали с моей девочкой...Не прощу!!!
    Пихать повестку в игру, где все друг другу выпускают кишки...Отличная идея! (НЕТ!)
    У меня 90% бывших были симпатичней этих женщин из мк...
    Окай, скройте тогда сисяндры всем мужыкам, а то лгбт файтинг какой-то...Объективация мужиков!!!Я оскорбился!!!
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  21. Aug 27, 2021
    7
    A bunch of grind, a high-quality project, juicy combos, finishing and interaction of characters, waited like no one else
  22. Mar 30, 2023
    6
    Design: 8
    Mechanics: 6
    Content: 3
    Replayable game, but quickly gets boring.
Metascore
82

Generally favorable reviews - based on 12 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 10 out of 12
  2. Negative: 0 out of 12
  1. Jul 9, 2019
    91
    This mortal combat is still tons of fun. Realistic graphics, top-notch body and facial animations, extremely inventive violence and perfect sound effects. Ed Boon and Co. still make the best fighting games in town.
  2. Game World Navigator Magazine
    Jun 26, 2019
    82
    At its core, MK11 is a great fighting game – and free-to-play elements, while unfortunate, do not significantly diminish the experience. [Issue#238, p.52]
  3. 50
    A refreshing addition to the series, with beautiful graphics and excellent combat, yet plagued with microtransactions that force you to choose between grinding or paying, as well as lackluster RNG systems.