#1142
Gameplay of the unplayable character/NPC/Boss Baraka in the Steam/PC Port of Netherrealm Studio’s Mortal Kombat X.
[Baraka has no X-Ray nor fatalities, but he can used enhanced moves]
Baraka’s Moves:
Qcf + FP: Blade Projectile
Qcb + FP: Flurry Stabs
Qcf + BP: Spinning Blades
Qcf + FK: Two Arm Lunge
Qcb + BK: Blade Twirl
Baraka retains most of his specials from MK9, along with a decent number of combos, but he’s definitely nerfed to be an NPC here. Many of his combos don’t connect in the way they did in MK9, and maybe of his moves also have different properties than they did in MK9 (such as many of his crouching attacks being mid-hits, for some reason). Baraka being an NPC never seemed to settle well with people and it’s pretty understandable; he’s effectively the Voldo of this series with his weird personality and use of extended blades. Given that Tarkatans are their own race, you could sure drum up three variations for Baraka here. But nope; instead Tarkatan representation in this game is consigned entirely to one playstyle for the Xenomorph instead. Because we needed a meta Alien vs. Predator reference in the MK universe.
Still, Baraka isn’t terrible here but definitely is a bit lacking, as you might expect. He still retains many of his combos from MK9, and most of his special moves as well. Some of these can be pretty difficult to combo into, but particularly when the opponent is up against a wall Baraka can potentially unleash some quite fierce damage against them. Not quite as fleshed out as he could be (or rather, should have been), but I still had some enjoyable playing as him. If you own the PC version of MKX you really owe it to yourself to try out these guys anyway.
Also, I nearly kept calling him “Barack” time and time again when writing this, for some reason. I distinctly remember there being a bunch of “Baraka Obama” jokes during the 2008 US Presidential Election but don’t quote me on that.
Next up, it’s a bad day for rain. Well, actually it’s a good day, but still.