Mortal Kombat X: Kombat Pack 2 (DLC) Review

Last year, Netherrealm announced a Kombat Pack 2 for Mortal Kombat X and they teased us with images until the big reveal of the characters a few months later. Kombat Pack 2 includes Leatherface, Alien, Bo' Rai Cho and Triborg. The pack also contains an assortment of additional outfits for some of the newer characters. Unlike the first kombat pack, all characters are available at the start instead of having to wait for a new character per month.

To start things off, let's talk about the main fan favorite in the assortment ' Triborg. Triborg is a robot ninja with variations of past cyborg ninja characters. You can choose from Sektor, Cyrax, Smoke and there is a hidden variation for Cyber Sub-Zero. Neatherrealm basically put four characters in one with Triborg. Sektor attacks with missiles, his flamethrower and a teleport. He seems to be the most balanced of the variations with his solid wake-ups and projectiles. Cyrax brings along his bombs and energy net from past games. This time, his ground bombs are a low attack that can be blocked, but he now gains additional juggle opportunities with bombs that he can place in the air. The juggles with Cyrax can be really extended, but you have to work for them and the damage scaling makes them to where they aren't ridiculous like in past games. Smoke is like a variation of his robot form and human form. He has a trident spear and he has smoke bomb attacks that teleport the opponent toward him. Cyber Sub-Zero is very mix-up heavy with ground ice bombs that hit low and an air slide attack that hits overhead. He plays much like his MK9 version for the most part, but he's much better than he was in that game.

Leatherface joins the battle from his Texas Chainsaw Massacre fame. Leatherface has a Killer, Butcher and Pretty Lady variation. He dresses with his standard skin face and a butcher apron for his Killer variation and his unique attack is a berserk stance where he can charge his opponent with different unblockable attacks based on the button your press. His Butcher variation has him with a darker mask and he gains extra attacks with a hammer. His hammer allows him to stun opponents and gives him extra combo attacks. To me, the butcher variation shines the most with combo opportunity. Leatherface puts on a skin mask that he has decorated with women's make-up and dresses in a business suit for his Pretty Lady variation ' this is your standard cross-dressing Leatherface for those of you that aren't familiar with the Texas Chainsaw movies. Pretty Lady is a total zoner since all of his new attacks involve tossing his chainsaws. He can toss them high, low, at an angle or in the air. This variation is much like a Sindel type of gameplay from previous MKs, but I just don't feel the gameplay really matches Leatherface that well. Other than the Pretty Lady gameplay, Neatherrealm has really nailed the look and overall attitude of Leatherface from the Texas Chainsaw movies and he is easily my favorite of the new characters mainly from a biased standpoint. The Butcher brutality is a total work of art and whoever dreamed that up in the Neatherrealm offices deserves some major kudos.

Since Predator was added during the last kombat pack, he finally has more of a reason to be there since his prey, the Alien, is now a fighter as well. If you haven't seen the trailer for Kombat Pack 2, then you won't know that this Alien is born from a Tarkatan (Baraka) in that trailer, so he has Tarkatan blades on his arms like Baraka. Alien has an Acidic, Konjurer and Tarkatan variation. Alien's Acidic variation allows him to zone with his acid blood. He can shoot acid from his tail and he can also cut himself to bleed acid on the ground to form a puddle of damaging acid. The acid blood will slowly drain an opponent's health if it hits them while shooting it from the tail. The Konjurer allows Alien to call on drone Aliens that drop onto his opponent. He can also summon an egg that will hatch and fire out a face hugger that can grapple an opponent's face to hold them in place for a combo. His eggs can be force hatched and you can control the distance of where you summon an egg or a drone. Tarkatan is basically Alien with Baraka moves. He gains some extra blade attacks and a blade slice similar to Baraka's chopper attack. Besides the Tarkatan blades, Alien is just as good as Predator was in the faithful recreation of the movie version. He has a very cool Queen Alien fatality that is taken from a memorable kill in the Aliens movie.

It has been a long time since we have seen Bo' Rai Cho so it's interesting to see him back as a fighter. Bo' Rai Cho brings along many of the moves and overall humor that he had from the MK Deadly Alliance, Deception and Armageddon games. Bo' Rai Cho has a Dragon Breath, Drunken Master and a Bartitsu variation. Dragon Breath gives him the ability to spit fire from his mouth. He can perform an upward fire spit or spit fire on the ground that will take damage if an opponent steps over it. Drunken Master seems to fit Bo' Rai Cho the best since it allows you to take drinks from his whiskey flask and increase the power of his special moves. Each drink will allow Bo' Rai Cho to perform additional attacks with his special moves or it will enhance them up until the point that his flask starts to glow, signaling max power. The catch to Drunken Master is that you have to stay drunk by continually drinking from his flask or else he will puke and be left wide open to a counterattack while he pukes. Bartitsu gives Bo' Rai Cho a stick to fight with. If you're familiar with past MK's, he has this weapon in Deadly Alliance. He gains quite a few stick moves in this variation such as spinning his stick or pulling his opponent closer with his stick. Bartitsu is an interesting variation with its extra range and mix-up potential.

Along with Kombat Pack 2, we now have a free updated version of MKX now known as 'Mortal Kombat XL'. This updated version has changes for every existing character, a new Pit stage and the online play has gone through a full reworking. The game now uses a rollback form of netcode much like Street Fighter V, which is quite good. If you're coming into Kombat Pack 2 without having bought any of the DLC from the first kombat pack then you'll be pleased to know that Kombat Pack 2 comes with Goro and the extra DLC outfits that you could buy alongside the first kombat pack. There is also an XL Pack that gives players both Kombat Pack's content for slightly more than Kombat Pack 2. Kombat Pack 2 is a great deal with four interesting characters all at one time so it's definitely worth a buy if you the main game.

The Good:
+ All four characters are unlocked at once
+ The characters in this kombat pack seem more interesting than the characters in kombat pack 1 as a whole

The Bad:
- Both guest characters have one variation that doesn't match them well (it's like an MK twist to them and I'd prefer more movie faithful like Predator and Jason were)

Final Rating: 95%