Mortal Kombat X VS. Tekken 7: Which Is Better?

I admit, I once bought Tekken 6 and Mortal Kombat Komplete Edition together. I had a fun time comparing both of them. In this case, I decided to do some study on two blockbuster games that got an award and how they'd fare against each other. This made me think that even if I don't like most of what American entertainment offers yet some of them are good. I really like Japanese entertainment but I don't want to deny that Capcom has had poor management for some time! Now it's time for the showdown and I'd like to compare them in certain areas of the game.

Arcade mode 

The arcade mode seems to be the most important bare minimum of them all, right? Perhaps one of the biggest advantages (or not) of Mortal Kombat these days has been going straight to consoles while Tekken still goes to the arcades. Now I'd like to compare the arcade mode of both games.

Mortal Kombat X still somehow sticks to the traditional arcade mode where you have ten opponents to fight such as eight random characters, Goro (he's available whether you pre-ordered him or not) and Shinnok. You climb up the ladder, defeat a series of opponents then you end up defeating the final boss. After the final boss is defeated -- you are treated to a cutscene. However, what I don't like about Mortal Kombat X's cutscene is that you only had an animated painting, sort of a modernization of the classic Killer Instinct endings but with smoother transition. I wish we had Mortal Kombat 4 or Gold's style of endings considering the effort put into making beautiful CGI scenes for the Story Mode!

However, Tekken 7 ends up as joke in the arcade mode. What? Only FIVE characters to defeat instead of the classic nine to ten? I really felt it's a slap on the face since the arcade came out. Are they thinking of two players more than one? I think it's a joke how Tekken's arcade mode deviated from what made it legendary back then for the consoles. Remember when you defeated a set number of opponents and got awarded with a CGI ending? Sadly, you have to play through that idiotic Character Episode mode (or Arena Mode in Tekken 6) to get them. WTF Namco? Why do this after so many years of having been a pioneer in quality arena games?

Story mode

What got me excited for Tekken 7 was the addition of a story mode. I guess Netherrealm's adding of a story mode since Mortal Kombat (2011) though we had it in Mortal Kombat vs. DC probably gave fighting games a whole new definition. You can think of how Tekken 7 brought it in with a 12 chapter mode with cool CGI and a blast to the past. It had some really interesting takes on the lore before Tekken 7 began. However, I still wonder why you had those BORING narrations of an unnamed reporter featuring animated paintings? The narrator of Mortal Kombat's endings from MK (2011) up to MKX had more enthusiasm than that!

However, as much as I still think MKX's Story Mode isn't as good as its predecessor but I found it more enjoyable in terms of gameplay. The flashbacks weren't just a training mode but you had really good flashbacks to the events that led to MKX -- which prevented it from becoming as horrible as Mortal Kombat Annihilated. No boring narrations and consistency of CGI cutscenes to gameplay is better done. I wonder why didn't Tekken 7 take notes on how Mortal Kombat did its now legendary story mode and improve it?

Other one player mode alternatives to keep you occupied

Sadly, Tekken 7's one player mode alternatives is severely lacking. You can talk about how Treasure Hunt is no longer as enjoyable as the Ghost Mode where you can select your opponents such as getting for a harder or easier challenge depending on one's mood. I thought about how Treasure Hunt while fun on its own is lacking. I think about how the game itself tends to have random factors but there's hardly any flexibility. I wish they also added a challenge tower where you did absurd stuff or even fight overpowered characters to win bonus money in the process.

What about MKX? While I could still badmouth the rather lower quality of Story Mode yet I could never ever get over the rich content. Okay, I may have wished MKX just gave us a shop to buy coins rather than navigate the tedious Krypt (with some random encounters) and gave us bonus accessories but I don't want to deny the quality of fighting. MKX has the really cool Faction Wars where you get to compete worldwide. There's also the cool Living Towers and Challenge Towers where a series of absurd events happen to get new stuff such as Kombat Modifiers. The Living Towers gave you plenty of new ways to fight. Offline content is also rich such as the Endless Tower (though the game ends when you've lost a match), Survival Tower, Test Your Might and Test Your Luck make it a rich experience in spite of some problems.

What Tekken 7 could have done was to add Survival Mode and maybe have their own version of Test Your Luck with various modifiers. I mean, why not try to improve something your competitor did or to try to beat it?