Netherrealm Studios continues its regular schedule, alternating between Injustice and Mortal Kombat releases. This year is MK's turn, the eleventh according to the Netherrealm numbering, and in many regards it's the best one.

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.

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;

There are few fighters I adore as much as Mortal Kombat. It's a series that's been with me for over 20 years, and I've got plenty of fond memories of playing various iterations from the debut right up

Combat is exceptional; Story mode is engaging; Visually superb

The randomness of unlocking gear in the Krypt; Variables in Towers of Time make fights difficult; Story mode is rather short

It feels like the announcement for the newest Mortal Kombat came shortly after support for NetherRealm Studio's last game, Injustice 2 ceased. Months later, we are treated to another excellent fighter from the veteran studio.

Mortal Kombat is one of the very reasons the ESRB exists and yet that has not prevented the series from getting even more outlandish as the series has

NetherRealm Studios are back with another instalment of the iconic and legendary franchise with Mortal Kombat 11 . This could very well be the best in the series yet, with gameplay being arguably better than it's ever been, it certainly looks its best and as an overall package, it also represents...

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.

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.