“Mortal Kombat 1” Gets Review Bombed

NetherRealms Studios will officially release “Mortal Kombat 1” for everyone tomorrow, but those who pre-ordered the special edition have been able to play the title for a few days now.

As of writing and with 24 reviews counted, the game has landed an 85/100 on Metacritic, which is on par with 2011’s reboot at 86 and slightly ahead of both “Mortal Kombat X” (83) and “Mortal Kombat 11” (82).

Critic’s reviews for the campaign, in particular, have been strong. However, user ratings for the title are dismal on the site, with a 3.5/10 from 565 user ratings and 65% negative user reviews.

The title appears to be the target of review bombing, with almost all of the negative reviews targeting one specific thing – that the game’s online functionality has been blocked in Russia and Belarus.

Frustrated players in these regions reportedly say they were able to play online during the stress test, and bought the game expecting to be able to use those features on launch day.

Now they say they can’t claim the Shang Tsung pre-order bonus or play the game’s Invasion mode. In addition, it appears neither NetherRealm nor Warner Bros. Games advised players this would be the case.

“Mortal Kombat 1” was already made incredibly difficult to purchase in the region – players had to buy the game through an account set in another country.

Source: The Gamer