Mortal Kombat (2011) is said that actually had Mortal Kombat II as its greatest influence. Really? While references to MKII are really obvious (such as how the arcade ladder goes in a way) - it can't be denied that the game is a near-perfect version of Mortal Kombat Trilogy. The game nearly has all the characters from MK Trilogy except for Chameleon and Khameleon while Rain was later added as DLC but didn't make an appearance in the Story Mode. So, how does this game make me forget that MK Trilogy ever existed? We can discuss in many aspects how the game managed to fix the mess that's MK Trilogy and it should because of the two-generation differences in the systems they were in.
We can talk about significantly depowering characters for balance's sake
Sure, one can argue that Sonya is somewhat broken or that some characters are broken. However, it's a far cry from what happened in MK Trilogy. Can you remember how some characters actually did some very irritating moves that they spam over and over again? Can you remember how Rain and Noob Saibot were once very overpowered in MK Trilogy? This game fixes that in many regards such as how certain moves are turned into Enhanced Moves which require ONE LEVEL of the meter. For example, Johnny Cage's Red Shadow Kick, Liu Kang's super bicycle kick, Shang Tsung's three fireballs, Sektor's homing missile, and Rain's damaging Water Ball now require ONE LEVEL of the super meter. So forget about cheesing your way using Rain's water ball like you did in MK Trilogy. Also, Noob Saibot's Disabler move now only disables blocks, and the one that confuses opponents (reversing controls) takes one meter away. Also, Shang Tsung can now only morph into the opponent (via Soul Steal) and the duration is rather short. Only the Arcade Shang Tsung can morph into other characters and be always fought as a sub-boss before either Goro or Kintaro.
Not making the overpowered boss characters playable is really a good thing
At first, I thought that the boss characters should have been playable but depowered. Fortunately not. I sure did enjoy using Shao Kahn in Mortal Kombat 11 as a punching bag in One Player vs. CPU mode to make him pay for his crimes. In here, boss characters are unplayable because they still do ridiculous amounts of damage. MK Trilogy really had the boss characters do super damage and unfair gameplay. Here, making them unplayable (though a little easier to defeat now) adds a better advantage to tournaments. Can you imagine having an MK Trilogy tournament and some players get too powerful using the broken characters?
The use of the one-button per limb attack scheme beats high and low attacks any time
Sure, it's copied straight out of Tekken but it works. The high-low attacks make the gameplay too monotonous compared to the use of the one-button per limb system. It's really fun to memorize some of those dial-a-combos which were obviously taken from Tekken. But unlike Tekken - MK (2011) doesn't have the ridiculous ten-hit have-to-memorize-them dial-a-combo thing which I find to be tedious. The combo system in this game is rather cool actually. It takes practice and experimentation to do crazy combos but it's worth it.
A much less cheating CPU which is really a plus
Who can remember the infamous arcade CPU? MK (2011) manages to balance the odds by having a reasonable difficulty. True, button reading occurs in higher difficulty but it's not as ridiculous as having Scorpion do his loop-and-loop combo in MKII as a CPU character. The CPU in itself manages to pose a good challenge without being such a bastard. Bosses are hard but at least it's reasonable. Sure, Kintaro can still catch you mid-air (now with a new air throw move) but it's not as frustrating as how he was back in MKII. Shao Kahn's fight may be a deathmatch without a timer but it's nowhere as frustrating as the classic days.
Certain unpopular characters in the original trilogy are redeemed
Some characters in the third installment were not popular at all. However, MK (2011) gives them generous redemption. For example, Stryker who was just the generic cop now gets cool moves, combos, and even COOLER fatalities. Sheeva who was actually left out for some time now has better moves. It made me give some unpopular characters in the original trilogy a chance for play. Like, I didn't like Stryker back then but now, I really say he rocks in here. Well, the same can't be said for Chameleon and Khameleon though as they're left out. The two weren't worth it IMHO.
Fatalities are now easier to pull off thanks to the Fatality trainer and less ridiculous inputs
Who can remember some fatalities that required you to hold a button before you inputted the directional motions? Here, most of the fatalities are actually SIMPLER to do. Even better, Fatality Trainer actually makes you prepared to do the fatalities. I just love how the fatalities were actually easier to perform with a MORE GENEROUS timer. Yes, it just makes one-button fatalities a thing of the past. Though, I still wish Friendships were in instead of Babalities. Though I'm glad Animalities are gone because most of them were a waste of space.
The tag team mode ended up improving the 2 vs. 2 battle in MK Trilogy
The 2 vs. 2 system in MK Trilogy was limited due to hardware limitations. The reboot managed to improve it by adding a tag team similar to the Marvel vs. Capcom series except fights were dragged on for too long with more than one round. For me, the Tekken Tag Tournament series still wins the tag-team battle over MK (2011) any day but it doesn't mean MK (2011) doesn't have a good tag mode. I still enjoy how there's even a tag ladder (though bosses have no partners) or how players can enjoy a good four-player fest.
The non-inclusion of Motaro into the game makes boss battles more balanced
I felt Motaro is probably one of the most hated bosses ever aside from Moloch. Hatred for Moloch is evidenced by Quan Chi's intro in Mortal Kombat X. I felt Motaro took too much space. Instead, they went for Goro and Kintaro (which one is fought is random) before the final battle with Shao Kahn. I felt Motaro was truly a nightmare. It's a good thing Netherrealm decided to fire him along with Moloch. Sure, they still have the SNK Boss Syndrome trope but they're far better. It wasn't as frustrating as how they were able to easily damage you back then.
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