I enjoyed the story mode more than I thought I would. It's nothing mind-blowing, but they did a good job at getting me invested.

Characters have a lot more tools and interesting combos compared to MK11. Not to mention the Kameos, which add even more depth to everyone's moveset. I can see myself playing this game online for a long time.

My only major complaints are with Invasions Mode, and how grindy character mastery feels. Invasions just has so many fights you have to go through that can be won simply by uppercutting a few times. Only the bosses pose even a slight bit of challenge. It's better than the MK11 Krypt, but still feels like a grind due to the sheer quantity of these boring battles.

It's cool that each character and kameo gets its own progression system for unlocks, but it takes way too long. You can go through the entire invasion season and only make it about halfway through one character's mastery. Make sure you do the uppercut brutality at the end of every fight for extra xp. You're gonna need it.

This game is a step up from MK11 in both story and gameplay for me, but the grindy progression systems seem like they're here to stay.