While the fighting is always nice, my favorite elements of modern Mortal Kombat games are the extra bits—challenges, unlockables, and side activities outside of the core one-on-one battles. That's why I'm excited about Mortal Kombat X's Faction War meta game.
When players begin their journey in Mortal Kombat X this coming April, they'll choose from one fo five factions. From then on, every action they perform will generate faction points for their chosen side. At the end of each week, faction points are tallied and the faction with the most points wins. And while players defeating players of opposing factions online will bank a lot of points, those of us who'd rather focus on solo content are contributing as well. That means players of all skill levels can help raise their faction to the top, unlocking new content as they increase their faction rank.
Not only does this give players a compelling reason to hop into the game and play each week, if gives Warner Bros. five new logos to put on shirts, buttons, posters, bumper stickers and any product that might be visible when two Mortal Kombat X players run into each other.