I picked MK11 up on a whim because I honestly haven’t given any MK game a proper whirl since UMK3 and it looked good. Here are the thoughts of an old fan
Story: atrocious. Thankfully it’s short. Voice acting is awful (especially Rousey, holy shit). The transitions between the scenes into the fights are neat, but they made me wish I was playing that instead of MK11. Tons of exposition but nothing is ever made clear. I had to pause the game and consult lore on wiki to follow (that’s not the game’s fault entirely, but they continuously hint at past events without ever elaborating on them. Hard for a “new” player to care). The ending... lol. Dead or Alive 6 has a more compelling story.
Graphics: game looks great on a PS4 Pro with “HDR” active. Not much else to elaborate on
Sound: this is where the game honestly surprised me. The sound design is fucking incredible. Without sperging too hard on audio, I’ll highly recommend you use some quality cans when playing this if you have a pair. The subtle scraping on enamels against each other really did it for me.
Gameplay: fun and satisfying enough. Way different from the MK game(s) I’m used to, but since I play SFV, Tekken, and the like, it was easy to pick up. Giving NRS big ups for the tutorials. The menus are incredibly westernized and that’s a good thing. You can proceed to the next ‘lesson’ by simply proceeding forward, no need to go through 8 menus and 9 loading screens a la any Japanese game. Also, they’ve explained frame data in a really easy to palate fashion - they’re all just really good and explain fighting game terminology you would otherwise need to watch some YouTuber sperg on about.
Monetization - yes, it is bad and several TouTubers have gone on about this in detail. It’s not a game breaking deal for me, but it’s a shame that things like unlockable fatalities are hidden behind near impossible challenges. Players new to fighting games are going to be turned off.
Overall, I am having fun with the game but I would not recommend it at full price to anyone else. GMG had it for 27% or so off for Steam, and I’d say that price is reasonable. Game looks good, plays solid, sounds fantastic, but I think the forced monetization is really going to wear out the welcome.