Mortal Kombat X has had some amazing reveals recently, and they’ve done so with style and hype. And while I hate to be accused of drinking haterade (looking at you, Ready at Dawn), NetherRealm’s reveal of Jason Voorhees as a guest character for Mortal Kombat X was not one of them. See for yourself:
If your reaction was anything other than: “huh” or “well okay, then,” I cannot get on board, as this has to be the lamest and most predictable Mortal Kombat X reveal in quite some time. For starters:
We All Knew There Would Be Guest Characters
And we all knew a horror movie character would be one of them. After Freddy Krueger was included in Mortal Kombat (2011), can anyone really say they’re surprised that Jason Voorhees is in Mortal Kombat X? Both movies have the obvious Warner Bros. connection to NetherRealm’s publisher, Freddy actually appeared in a movie with Jason and rumor has it that NetherRealm had built a model for Jason in Mortal Kombat (2011).
So we can throw surprise out the window. Of all the people Ed Boon has teased as a possible guest character (Terminator, Hellraiser, Sweet Tooth, freaking Popeye, etcetera), Jason Voorhees has to be blandest. He doesn’t say anything, he doesn’t look like anything and most of his kills are some variation of “stab the dude.” Even if he was an interesting character …
The Reveal Itself Was Boring
Jason Voorhees walks from the darkness to the light amid the eerie Friday The 13th music and then his name comes up on the screen. That’s it. I think back to the Kratos reveal in Mortal Kombat (2011). It’s set up as a normal fight between Scorpion and Sub-Zero. It’s engaging and entertaining, but just when Scorpion is about to finish of Sub-Zero …
Boom. Kratos. That’s how you do a character reveal. And maybe the cooler stuff with Jason is forthcoming, but I want to see NetherRealm’s best foot forward, as they have done with almost every reveal so far. The mammoth in the room, though, has yet to be discussed:
He’s part of the Kombat Pack
In today’s DLC-focused world, many gamers still don’t know how to feel about the Kombat Pack, an extra set of four characters and outfits that can be purchased on top of the game for $24.99. While the characters are still in development, so it’s not like NetherRealm is sectioning off a portion of the game for extra cash because they feel like it, it’s still a disappointment. As such, any guest character going forward will still have that same caveat.
Even a really cool reveal of a really cool guest character would still have a “but … it’s part of the Kombat Pack,” attached to it, and I don’t know how to feel about that. I do know how to feel about the Jason reveal though. Lame.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to watch the Cage Family trailer again, because that actually was really awesome.
