Over-the-top-gory fighting series Mortal Kombat made a triumphant return this week, with Mortal Kombat 1 being released for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and Windows PC on Tuesday. While the series reboot is reviewing very favorably overall, it’s been the subject of two major criticisms.
Readers be warned – the Nintendo Switch port is incredibly poor. Critics are citing egregious load times, numerous additional bugs and subpar graphics. It’s no secret that the Switch is a bit lackluster with regards to graphics, as its overall hardware capabilities are below that of the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One despite its 2017 launch. Avatar Motion Capture
It nevertheless comes as a surprise, because the studios responsible for porting Mortal Kombat 1 to the Switch are Shiver Entertainment and Saber Interactive – the latter of which is renowned for its shockingly excellent Switch port of The Witcher III: The Wild Hunt, which is a very hardware-intensive title. Despite being in what should’ve been capable hands, the differences are so great that IGN scored Mortal Kombat 1 as an 8/10 on PlayStation 5 and a 3/10 on Switch.
While the Switch port is a unanimous fiasco, the more polarizing controversy plaguing Mortal Kombat 1 is NetherRealm Studios’ decision to cast screen actress Megan Fox as the voice of Nitara, an Outworld vampire who made her first appearance in Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance in 2002.
While it’s a bit surprising to have a recurring character voiced by a film star, it’s not unprecedented – Warners Bros. Games has owned the rights to the franchise since 2009, and has since implemented numerous crossover characters like the Terminator, RoboCop and Rambo.
Accordingly, this isn’t the first time Mortal Kombat has had voicework done by people who aren’t typically voice actors – the series’ previous entry featured Ronda Rousey, Sylvester Stallone and Peter Weller. Rousey’s performance as Sonya Blade in 2019’s Mortal Kombat 11 attracted a great deal of negative reception.
My personal assessment is that Fox’s performance as Nitara isn’t nearly as horrendous as many keyboard warriors have made it out to be – the problem is that most of the rest of the cast are seasoned voice acting professionals. Nitara sounds a little flat next to the many spirited, bombastic performances on display in Mortal Kombat 1.
It makes sense – although Fox counts herself an avid gamer, her professional experience lies primarily in TV and film, where over-the-top performances are far less common. Despite being the very first franchise to acquire the “Mature” ESRB rating, Mortal Kombat is somewhat goofy – its ensemble cast is universally brash and eccentric. Perhaps Fox didn’t get the memo.
Whatever the case, Fox’s vocal performance is still lightyears ahead of what screen actor Peter Dinklage turned in for Destiny in 2014. Near the peak of his fame thanks to his award-winning work as Tyrion Lannister in “Game of Thrones,” gamers were shocked by his wooden, monotone vocal performance as Ghost in Destiny. At times, it genuinely sounded as if he was simply reading the script aloud.
To make matters worse, Ghost was by far the most talkative character in the game, so there was little solace from his monotony. Many players felt it brought down the entire mood of Destiny – evidently the developer agreed, because Bungie chose to replace him entirely a year into the game’s existence.
I don’t see that happening with Nitara. Regardless, Fox’s voicework in Mortal Kombat 1 is a testament to a noticeable and troubling shift in the video game industry – with many titles becoming increasingly realistic and utilizing full-body motion capture, studios have been incentivized to cast household names in the place of professional voice actors.
There’s nothing inherently wrong with these casting decisions, but it’s a shame to think that they sometimes take the place of proper voice actors, many of whom have decades-long careers, incredible range and are typically much cheaper to hire.
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When a lifelong heart condition became worse, Donny Jones, who lives near Seattle, knew by last June that he’d be heading to Spokane.
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