Opinion: How You're Buying Locked Up Games

Mortal Kombat X takes a unique approach to the Krypt this time around. Instead of having a relatively straightforward field of graves, mausoleums, and corpses, MKX builds in a sort of mini role-playing game, where players must navigate through a extensive map, complete with catacombs and creatures that occasionally attack. You'll even need to find special objects, like Raiden's staff, that allow access to certain areas. But as entertaining and novel as the new Krypt might be, it serves to disguise a larger issue: There's a ton of content that's locked up, hidden away, and accessible only to the most dedicated players that have the time, skill, and energy to break them all open.

There must have been a time when unlocks were relatively straightforward. Complete the campaign, defeat the final boss, and you'll be rewarded with a special playable character. Then, as games like Mortal Kombat became more complex, the amount of extra content grew alongside the roster. Now we have unlockable costumes, dozens of brutalities, and probably over a hundred modifiers for the custom modes. All of it is tucked away within a sprawling Krypt, hidden amongst alternate costumes, artwork, and music, so players must open the right tombs to access more content for their game.

On the one hand, the method makes a certain kind of sense. Not counting characters and levels unlocked through the campaign, players are given everything they need to enjoy the game. A large and diverse roster, single Fatality and Brutality listings, and a decent collection of modifiers. Players can stick only with the basics and still have a very satisfying experience. If they want to kick up the selection, they can do so by playing the game, earning in-game currency, and using it to purchase what you want. If you need help getting to specific items, you can check out the wealth of online guides that inevitably arise. In the end, you get from the game exactly what you put into it.

In another sense, this is philosophy is absolutely bonkers. Fans are paying money for access to just the foundational basics of a game. Maybe it made sense in a bygone era, when there were only a handful of things to unlock, but games can certainly stretch the limits of reason. If it were just a matter of finishing the campaign, or limited to single player content, then it's fine. You're rewarded with an extra character for finishing the game - something you should be doing anyway. Or you're given a special costume for completing a challenge. But we're stepping into a different matter when we get into multiplayer.

Playing the game almost becomes a chore when you have to unlock content for multiplayer. Clearly, I want a full roster of characters when I sit down to play with friends. Similarly, I don't want our experience to be limited in any way. When we play, we should be playing a full game. That means tracking down things like match modifiers, and alternate costumes, and unlocking Fatalities and Brutalities so that they're shown in the moves list. Nobody should have to pull out reference card to remember a move when it's far easier to look it up on the moves list. These may seem like frivolous extras, but what good is competing in a incomplete game?

Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if the system didn't require a break from the game. I wouldn't have a problem with a system where winning ten matches with a character unlocks an alternate costume. But the Mortal Kombat system requires you to play while fulfilling certain criteria, like Flawless Victories or performing Fatalities, to earn extra currency. Then you have to navigate a maze and to get to the content you want and hope that you have enough cash on hand to buy it. It's quite a process for the sake of unlocking extras.

Although I've limited my gripes to Mortal Kombat X, there are a large host of games that locks up a bulk of its content behind a virtual vault, and we're not just talking about alternate costumes and music tracks. You have to unlock advanced equipment in games like Battlefield, and the further everyone else gets ahead of you, the harder it can be to do it. It's harder to get into a game when you're the odd-man out, stuck with using basic equipment, while everyone around you is running around with high-tech gear. Perhaps you'll get in a lucky shot, or maybe someone nearby will die and leave their equipment behind for you to pick up. But those are really ghoulish way to play. Then there are the multiplayer modes in Mass Effect 3 and Dragon Age: Inquisition, where equipment and characters more-or-less come down the luck of the draw.

I understand that there's a balance to offering content for multiplayer games. You want to reward dedicated players with extras that will help them stand out so that others can recognize the time and skill they've put into the game. Players should have to work their way up to better gear. However, we're not necessarily talking about experience based upgrades here. There must be a better way than keeping content locked up in a place where ONLY the most dedicated players can get to it. Not only does this approach disconnect players from the game, but it treats less hardcore gamers, or those without as much time, like second class players.