I'm glad the Combi-stick is utilized to give the extraterrestrial a little more reach and his one very easy combo with the pointy melee weapony is appropriately cool and effective. The combos he does have are pretty simple yet still good fun. I fully expected the Smart-disc to be incorporated, but I assumed it would be a relatively standard throw. This is probably the biggest and most creative surprise for the character. Otherwise, it seeks out and stuns its target. If the Predator is knocked around, the weapon falls. From there, it waits for a moment or two before launching after its target.
Instead of throwing the disc directly across the screen, the Predator tosses the bladed weapon into the air. While it doesn't have as much fan service as the wrist blade toss, Smart-Disc is a hugely effective special move. It's savage, it's swift, and it has the Predator doing his memorable noise. With the ability to lunge forward pretty far, the Predator impales his enemy with his wrist blade, slowly lifts them up and abruptly throws them away. Obviously, Predator has the ability to cloak - no real surprise that was picked as a move or what it does - but Scimitar Stab is ferocious and exactly what you'd want to see from a Predator. How great would it have been to use the Predator's impressive strength in new ways for the Warrior variation? Or the Plasma Caster at point blank range to conclude a harsh combo with the Hish-qu-ten variation? Or what if the Hunter variation had a combo that ends with trapping your enemy in a net, leaving them temporarily open for an extra combo? There's so much potential here - the Predator is heavily armed, after all - so to have no unique combos is a bit of a letdown.Įven though Predator's lacking unique melee attacks across his three variations, the special moves shared by all three are still satisfying. But on the down side, that's kind of disappointing.
On the plus side, that means there's less to memorize and the character is "easier" to master since each of the three variations have the same melee attacks and combos - it's just a matter of how you'll work in the different new special moves to make your opponent suffer even more. While these obviously benefit three different gameplay styles, one surprising thing is Predator doesn't have unique combos for any of the variations. Predator's three variations are Warrior (brutal close combat), Hunter (healing and the ability to set traps), and Hish-qu-ten (gains use of the signature shoulder cannon).
Now if we could get a Xenomorph in the game. Given the fact the alien's a skilled combatant who's loaded with all kinds of weaponry, it's really should come as no surprise that Predator makes a solid addition to NetherRealm Studios' evergrowing MK universe. Predator, the fighter I was rooting for back when it wasn't certain who'd appear in the Kombat Pack (sorry, Spawn fans), has finally stepped into Mortal Kombat X's bloody world. What do you think about NetherRealms' handling of the alien, Viners? Decided to review the latest fighter over on my blog.