FC 24 (PlayStation, Xbox, Switch, PC, £69.99)
Verdict: Different name, same old game
Another year, another Fifa. Except, this year, it’s not. This year, the makers of the most popular series in football video-gaming, EA Games, have split with those (er, my lawyer tells me) utterly splendid chaps in the sport’s global governing body — and are going it alone. The result is FC 24.
So how is this artist formerly known as Fifa? I must admit, I had high hopes. Part of me suspected that, after a couple of years of mostly iterative efforts, EA had simply been keeping their best in reserve — waiting to blow us all away with their first own-brand release.
Sadly, that turns out not to be the case. There have been changes: some small (the players now run in more lifelike ways); some bigger (the cash-grabbing Ultimate Team mode now allows for mixed teams of men and women); all welcome. But nothing that truly smacks of the new or revolutionary.
EA Sports and FIFA have parted ways and the result is FC 24
There is nothing that truly smacks of the new or revolutionary compared to previous iterations
In terms of the actual, on-the-pitch gameplay, this is probably the best ever — but when it comes to everything around that, it’s less full
In fact, it could even be said that there’s less here than in previous releases. FC 24 doesn’t have the enjoyably daft story mode of some recent Fifas — nor much else that might add character. Even the branding on the (weirdly slow) menu screens seems more corporate now, a mix of grey and fluorescent green, as though it’s been designed by a management consultancy firm trying to be cool.
In terms of the actual, on-the-pitch gameplay, this is probably the best Fifa — sorry, FC 24 — ever. But when it comes to everything around that, it’s less full than we might have hoped. Oh, well, there’s always next season… and the one after that… and the one after that…
Mortal Kombat 1 (PlayStation, Xbox, Switch, PC, £64.99)
Verdict: Nearly triumphant
Hey, it’s Mortal Kombat 1. The first game in a brand-new series. I can’t wait to get started with…
Hang on. Hasn’t Mortal Kombat been around for about 30 years? What’s going on?
I don’t know. The story for this squillionth sequel technically involves the birth of a new universe, but in a way that will only matter — or be noticed by — Kombat veterans. And with the exception of the new Kameo system — by which a second combatant can jump into the action to deliver a blow (or 12) to your opponent — many of the tweaks to the actual fights are also for the veterans.
Otherwise, it’s pretty similar to the more modern titles in the series, 2015’s Mortal Kombat X and 2019’s Mortal Kombat 11. There’s the same enjoyable single-player story mode. Plenty of additional modes that at least echo earlier games. And, of course, the gore and ultraviolence that made Mortal Kombat notorious in the first place. Blood flies with every punch. Bones are snapped; things torn apart.
The story for this squillionth sequel technically involves the birth of a new universe, but in a way that will only matter to Kombat veterans
Blood flies with every punch in Mortal Kombat 1
Mortal Kombat 1 may well be the friendliest, most expansive Mortal Kombat game that’s ever been made
Perhaps the biggest difference — for me, at least — is a tonal one: there’s much more of this year’s Street Fighter 6 to this game than I was expecting. Not just in how welcoming it feels to fighting-game dunces (like me), but also in its colour and humour. Every punch, however ferocious, seems to be delivered with a wink and a nod.
But Street Fighter 6 is also the problem. Mortal Kombat 1 may well be the friendliest, most expansive Mortal Kombat game that’s ever been made.
But Street Fighter 6 is probably the friendliest, most expansive fighting game that’s ever been made.
The former can’t quite KO the latter.
Still, if you like masked men chucking vicious, barbed chains at each other, and have a total disregard for the letter C, then Mortal Kombat is probably the one for you. Konsider it.
