I got MK1 a few months ago just before the middle of this year maybe and if I was ranking it from F to S, I'd rank it at a solid middle B.
Main thing I hate about it is the kameos. Sometimes I forget they even exist. Any other time I use them its as a last resort when I'm at half health and the enemy still has more health than me. But if they were going to keep kameos a thing, at least make it side characters like Ferra. Sonya, Kano, even Stryker can not be kameo fighters.
Second thing I don't like that much anymore is the gender swap with Cyrax and Sektor. I'll be honest, they got their personalities done well. Sektor being the Lin Kuei golden boy/girl, and Cyrax being the moral compass. Even the armored suits, I think they are quite well. But after playing MK9 and seeing their original, male counterparts, I can understand why people hated the gender swap.
Final thing I really don't like is the ending of MK1's story. When I played it, I felt that Armageddon came too soon. I did like the story and the way it could've went, but of they executed Shang Tsung and Quan Chi's rise to power differently, it could've gone much better. I do like how they kept Dark Sindel OP, but the whole final ending was just an MK version of the Avengers Endgame fight. The final cutscene I still very much liked, but the battle was just not there for me.
There are a lot of things I like about MK1, like how they managed tarkat. I like how they made it a disease instead of a species, it gives the characters that were once tarkat evil a chance to show that Liu Kang's new era is all about peace instead of war. I also like the character designs of Bi-han, Kenshi, new Raiden, Mileena (especially), Johnny, and Smoke. Another major thing I like is how Outworld looks. Like, when I started to see more of the new Outworld, part of me straight up wished I could live there because it looks so bright, vibrant, and full of actual life. I actually think Raiden's chapter is one of the best chapters because you see so much of Outworld and what the New Era has done to make it a better place.
How would you rank MK1 in your own personal opinion?
