Well, two big games this week. Long awaited and somewhat shrouded in mystery PlayStation open world exclusive Days Gone and another iteration of that long running fighting game series Mortal Kombat 11.
I have to give the edge to Days Gone this week but not by much. Both games look fun and both games look flawed. Mortal Kombat 11’s biggest problem is that Mortal Kombat XL already exists. Making your game more grindy and your female fighters less attractive is not really a selling point.
Days Gone will go on my to buy list behind a now sizable number of open world games I have been meaning to get to including PlayStation exclusives Horizon Zero Dawn and Spider-man.
Days Gone is an open world game where you play a flawed and irritating protagonist as he wanders around the Pacific northwest. I am getting
Infamous Second Son vibes here. I am also getting Mad Max vibes as you develop a relationship with your motorcycle and constantly look for upgrades and defeat mauraders looking for “scrap.”
There is a zombie apocalypse where 28 Days Later style zombie occasionally go all World War Z on you. There are the frustrating first few hours as you try to upgrade your carrying capacity and gas tank so you can have fun. There is the sappy backstory where you look for your scientist wife that apparently was kidnapped by the Brotherhood of Steel. There are apparently a bit too many fetch and other quests given to you by various factions throughout the wasteland before the next piece of actual story triggers.
Only time will tell whether this is an open world I get into a great rhythm with or if this turns into another Mafia III where I look at the map and shudder. The fixed protagonist and lack of customization does not bode well for it getting my hooks in me. We will have to see how much fun the gameplay loop turns out to be.
Mortal Kombat 11 is chock full of goodness. Lots of modes including a big fat six-hour story mode greet the gamer. The fighting is slower and more methodical than previous games with a limited rush and no running allowed.
There is a fly in all the goodness and it is almost a fatal one. Mortal Kombat is ridiculously stingy with all its currencies that allow you to earn new costumers and bonuses. In addition dramatic difficulty spikes will lock off much of the content to all but the most talented and obsessed players.
We will see if NetherRealm Studios manages to tone down the greed in their desperation to get players to pay to win and create a more balanced and more importantly fun fighting experience.