Warning: Spoilers ahead for Mortal Kombat 1.Mortal Kombat 1 has been well received by fans and critics alike, and understandably so. Great animations, smooth combat, brutal Fatalaties, and breathtaking visuals all come together to make for a typically strong NetherRealm experience. Additionally, the Kameo system adds some extra depth to combat and has helped shake up fighting in a major way. Still, even a great game like Mortal Kombat 1 has its flaws. While the Switch port has been criticized heavily, and Megan Fox’s performance as Nitara has come under fire, it is the game’s story mode that houses the biggest letdown.
For the most part, the story mode of Mortal Kombat 1 is just as strong as it has been in the other post-reboot games. It offers what is arguably the best character development in the franchise, as once-forgettable figures like Baraka and Reptile have become infinitely more likable. Liu Kang and Raiden’s role reversal is fun to watch, while fan favorites like Mileena and Kenshi get some well deserved love. Exciting things are set up for Ermac, too, ensuring just about everyone gets to shine. Unfortunately, there is one character that feels wasted: the charismatic villain Shang Tsung.
Mortal Kombat 1's Best Character Fusions
Mortal Kombat 1 features some surprising and entertaining character combinations, and a few of them stand out as the most creative.
Titan Shang Tsung’s Boss Fight is Painfully Easy
Since it was rebooted in 2011, the Mortal Kombat franchise has delivered several tough boss fights. The infamous mid-game battle with Shao Kahn in Mortal Kombat and the final fight against Kronika instantly come to mind, as they are legitimately challenging and could take several attempts to overcome. Still, while this could make them a point of frustration for some players, having difficult fights - especially at the end of a game - is a good thing. A boss should feel like something to overcome, especially the ones hyped up as a major threat, so it is a shame that Mortal Kombat 1’s final fight feels so lackluster.
From the moment he reveals himself to be the main villain in Liu Kang’s new timeline, Shang Tsung comes off as a legitimate threat and a charismatic antagonist that fans love to hate. After seeing him smirk his way through several cutscenes and brag about defeating Fire God Liu Kang in his timeline, it would make perfect sense for the fight against him to push players to their limits. Unfortunately, that is not what happens, as the main foe from Mortal Kombat 11’s Aftermath DLC is taken out as fast as any other fighter.
The Shang Tsung boss fight, if it can even be considered that, confusingly lasts only a single phase. Regular fights in Mortal Kombat 1 are a best of three affair, so Shang Tsung falling even faster than basic combatants is a true headscratcher. While this can be somewhat justified by saying that every fighter players can choose in Mortal Kombat 1’s final chapter is a Titan, so they are extremely strong, Shang Tsung already took Fire God Liu Kang to his limits in Mortal Kombat 11 and should at least be equally powerful.
The brevity and ease of the Shang Tsung fight is made even more disappointing by the lack of fan fare to his defeat. Instead of a head-splitting fatality like Kronika received, Titan Shang Tsung is simply teleported away by Liu Kang, fading into sand just like he did at the end of Aftermath. Quan Chi is teleported away alongside him, as he is knocked out despite never being fought. Had one of the phases been Quan Chi and the other been Shang Tsung, this would have made sense, but instead players are left to wonder how exactly he was defeated.
While the lead-up to the Shang Tsung is entertaining, as Mortal Kombat 1’s fifteenth Chapter sets up a fun hybrid fighter gimmick for Mortal Kombat 13, it is hard not to wonder if a more traditional chapter format would have helped the game finish stronger. Perhaps NetherRealm did not want to give players a long, tough boss fight to get through after fighting waves of hybrid fighters as they ascended the tower, but a checkpoint before the Shang Tsung battle would have been all that was needed to make it work. A lengthy rematch between Titan Shang Tsung and Fire God Liu Kang feels like a missed opportunity, as the one-phase fight where players control a random variant fighter instead feels terribly anticlimactic. Given their rivalry, Liu Kang deserved to defeat Shang Tsung after a tough battle, but instead the former was sidelined and the latter was heavily nerfed.
Mortal Kombat 1 is available now on PC, PS5, Switch, and Xbox Series X.
