Mortal Kombat

What the game is

Mortal Kombat on a phone is a team fighter built on card collecting. You field three fighters at a time from a roster now past 150, drawn from the arcade originals through MKX, MK11 and the rebooted MK1, with mobile-only variants and guest killers like Jason Voorhees, Freddy Krueger and the Terminator thrown in.

Team composition matters because of synergy bonuses, and Diamond-tier fighters wearing the right Gear can perform the Friendships and Brutalities that fans know from the console games.

How a session plays

Fights are tap-and-swipe affairs with tagging between your three fighters, and most of the strategic work happens before the bout in choosing who to bring. Single-player Towers are themed around characters such as Scorpion or Johnny Cage and drop exclusive equipment, with Fatal versions for anyone who finds the standard ones too soft.

The Krypt is a map to pick through for hidden loot, and Faction Wars sets your lineup against other players' teams online.

Why people look for it

The name does most of the work. Fans of the series want the characters they know on a phone, and the sheer size of the roster, plus the guest horror icons, is a strong lure for collectors. It's also searched for by players who enjoyed the console Towers and want a version they can chip away at on a bus.

Look and feel

Dark, bloody and glossy, in keeping with the franchise. Five screenshots are shown on the App Store page. Expect a heavy card-collection interface over the fighting, with rarity tiers, Gear slots and event banners competing for attention, and the arena fights themselves rendered with the exaggerated gore that gives the series its 17+ rating.

Updates and upkeep

Warner Bros. Entertainment has kept the roster growing across several console generations, and a 4.5 average from more than a hundred thousand reviews indicates a large and reasonably satisfied audience. Themed Tower events imply regular content rotation. Only the App Store is linked in our data, and there is no version number to check against.

Good for

• Franchise completists

  A roster past 150 with every era represented is a long collection project.

• Tower grinders

  Character-themed Towers with Fatal variants give solo players a steady ladder of challenges.

• Guest-character curiosity

  Fighting as the Terminator or Freddy Krueger is a novelty the console games only partly offer.

Before you install

The 17+ rating reflects the violence and is not negotiable for younger players. It's free to play, and card-collection games of this type almost always sell packs and currency, though the listing doesn't itemise them. Faction Wars is online, so a connection is needed for that mode at minimum. Storage size, ads and account requirements aren't stated.