Mortal Kombat 10: 10 Awesome Game Modes That Must Return

10. Story Mode From Mortal Kombat 9

When it comes to the single-player component of a Mortal Kombat game, we've all but forgotten about the rudimentary 1-on-1 exhibition mode and the standard "fight you way through all the bad guys and then kill the boss" schematic which we relied on back in the nineties. Now we demand that NetherRealm wraps the fighting action up in narrative and blood-stained melodrama. This has been handled in a number of ways over the years, but perhaps the most streamlined approach was the Story Mode which formed the basis of the re-envisioned Mortal Kombat from 2011. Not everyone enjoyed the story progression structure, whereby you were transferred from one character to the next over sixteen cleverly interlaced chapters, but it really was a smart way to add weight and context to the fighting action. Beat-em-ups hardly lend themselves to storytelling, so this had to be considered an elegant solution to an age-old problem. The player gets to experience much of the Mortal Kombat lore through the eyes (and fists) of many of the key characters as the narrative pushes onward. This means that not only do you get to grips with the intricacies of a variety of fighters and their move sets, but you also are suddenly part of something bigger than just a list of stand-alone brawls. There are many ways that NetherRealm could bring an element of storytelling to Mortal Kombat 10, but a fresh new Story Mode should definitely be high on their "To Do" list. Being non-interactive keeps the development effort to a minimum, but still immerses the player in the game in a way that the traditional Choose Your Destiny schematic never could.