There's so much to love about Mortal Kombat 11, a kind of Mortal Kombat greatest hits package and certainly NetherRealm's best-playing fighting game ever. But then there's a gnawing issue that drags down all the good the game does, like skeletal hands clawing at your feet.

Since Mortal Kombat got a reboot in 2011, the game has gotten decidedly story heavy, with many big moments playing out in fully rendered scenes instead of being a wall of text when beating the boss at the end of a tower.

Excellent story mode; Comprehensive tutorials; Strategic use of powerful effects in a fight; Great graphics; Fighting poses and animations are improved

The Krypt is a nonsense grind; Towers of Time feel tedious rather than challenging; More currency types than a F2P game

**I originally wrote this review with 1-star, but I've since solved the issue, so I'm bumping it up to 3. I had to go through a ridiculous series of steps to get the game to work.** Original 1-star review: Before the first story mode cutscene ends, the game crashes back to the PS4 home screen.

Mortal Kombat 11 caters to the hype as far as its combat is concerned, managing to expand on the series' trademark formula and provide an entertaining story mode to boot. In a truly admirable feat of game design, every character manages to feel fresh despite some of them being around since 1992.

Best mortal kombat EVER! I didn't think it could get any better than the previous version! Instant "Klassic"!

After 20 minutes of tutorials and an hour of playing story mode, you'll soon see just how polished this new entry is. Visually, I wasn't sure if they were going to be able to improve much on Mortal Kombat X , but I was happy to ‘see' just how good the game looked.

I bought this game for my son. He plays against his brothers, uncle & friends. They enjoy the game.

Mortal Kombat 11 offers the same gory, over-the-top violence that we've come to love from the series. The story is interesting, meshing past and present together in a fun way. Several modes offer replayability, but the grinding resources for the Krypt may get tedious. - Codi Spence

Brutal; satisfying combat; Gory and over-the-top violence; Story is clever and offers nostalgia; Various modes to test your skills in

Grinding to open all the chests in the Krypt may get tedious

The grind gear is miserable, but the rest of Mortal Kombat 11 is everything a fighting game should aspire to be. The kore kombat is slick, engaging, brutal and deep, and its propped up by a superb storyline with world-class production, deep and engaging persistent modes (if tweaked) and some of the sharpest netcode in the game. It might never have the true hardcore cache of Street Fighter, but there’s a reason MK is the true biggest fighting game in the world, and MK11 is its finest moment yet.

High-level kombat; Amazing story mode; Stunning visuals;

Not quite as deep as Street Fighter V; Troublesome grind for cosmetics and customisation options;

High-level kombat; Amazing story mode; Stunning visuals;

Not quite as deep as Street Fighter V; Troublesome grind for cosmetics and customisation options;