5 Ideas the Next Mortal Kombat Should Borrow From Injustice 2

Stage Transitions

Injustice 2 has a ton of impressive stages complete with opportunities for you to use your environment to punish your opponent. But knocking your opponent over the head with an alligator or running over them with the Batcycle still isn’t as rewarding as sending them flying to an entirely new portion of the stage. Unfortunately, that joy isn’t available in the Mortal Kombat series. Believe it or not, Mortal Kombat X almost featured stage transitions but they ultimately didn’t make their way to the final game. Back in 2015, a player asked Creative Director Ed Boon why Mortal Kombat X didn’t feature stage transitions. Boon revealed that the team had plans for such a feature but ultimately decided to nix the idea.

"@ryanpayne2000 @noobde I HAVE A GOOD QUESTION: Will there be level transitions like injustice? EB: Early on we planned it, but removed it.

— Ed Boon (@noobde) March 11, 2015

After seeing another Injustice title that features incredibly entertaining stage transitions that also offer a solid damage boost, it seems like now is the time to finally bring the same feature to the Mortal Kombat series.

Gear Elements For Non-Competitive Play

Perhaps one of the biggest changes Injustice 2 has made compared to the original title is the addition of RPG elements like equippable gear for each character. It’s a technical element that embraces the game’s theme of “every battle defines you.” In this case, every battle decides what kinds of upgrades and gear you will earn, which will ultimately decide what kind of stats you’re allowed to boost. So while each character levels up over time, items earned via loot drops provide additional boosts to certain stats but could also reduce others as well. It provides an entirely new element of strategy that’s necessary to utilize if you want to dominate certain opponents. Mortal Kombat has a diverse cast that would lend itself particularly well to this kind of gear system.

Character Selection Options in Story Mode

Injustice 2’s story mode is pretty short but it offers some great opportunities to select which hero you actually want to fight with. This is a particularly nice element of the game considering the matchups you have to select from. In many cases both of the characters you are selecting between have pretty different play styles that cater to certain types of players. If you prefer to control space and keep enemies at bay then Green Arrow is a great fit, but if you’re more interested in applying some added pressure you can go for Black Canary. This makes the story mode of Injustice 2 feel like your hand isn’t being forced in a certain direction every step of the way. Of course, there are certain matchups where there is no option provided simply because the fight is pivotal to the game’s story. More often than not, however, you’ll have the chance to pick your fighter and determine the best matchup for you.

More Evasive Moves

Of all the fighting games out there, none seem to be more reliant on juggling than Mortal Kombat X. If you allow your opponent to get your feet off the ground, you can easily lose about 40% of your health bar before they finally let you down. Injustice 2, however, adds evasive elements that would help break up this kind of never ending cycle of juggles. In Injustice 2 meter economy matters A LOT. You can barter some of your bars to escape juggles with air recoveries and even dash past enemy attacks on the ground with evasive rolls. This is a change that helps place a little more emphasis on defensive tactics rather than leaving the game feeling too skewed offensively. It’s a balance that would be a nice tweak to see in the next Mortal Kombat title.

Guilds

This is a particularly exciting change not only in terms of gameplay, but also in terms of what it can do for the game’s community. Now players will be able to create and join guilds that will max out at 50 members. Joining a guild will essentially group the players together as teammates, and it will then be up to the guild to complete a variety of challenges and missions. Competing with the guilds comes with a host of different perks and provides a faster way to level up your character. If you’re feeling particularly competitive, guilds will also be fighting to dominate the leaderboards and emerge as the strongest alliance of them all.