We've come a long way from the days when the world was outraged over a few pixels pulling a bloodied spine from some other pixels.

Thank heavens we're all a little open-minded about video game violence today, hmmm?

So these days it's not enough to plough through one-one violence without wrapping it up in a lovely story blanket. This time around, time-meddling Kronika (they love all the Ks, do the Mortal Kombat devs) is messing about with her giant hour glass, which has brought back younger (and in some cases less dead) versions of the MK character roster. This leads to some amusing interactions between selves, particularly Johnny Cage who's forced to thrash his younger, idiotic version lest he make yet another stupid comment.

It's a fun, albeit rather silly, watch in between picking up the controller and sending your opponent's teeth into flying.

Elsewhere, there are three new characters, some splendid tower battle arrangements for when you've finished (or become sick of Raiden's utterly ernest delivery) the story mode. There's a whiff of micro-transactions to earn fighter enhancements but nothing too onerous that can't be obtained through solid gameplay.

There's also the issue of a constant online connection requirement, even while in local play or story mode. If the servers go down or your router is mauled by an angry cat, your progression is toast. I can't see any reason for this and is irritatingly commonplace in games lately.

But unless you're a total MK hater, installment 11 should fill you with absolute limb-mutilating glee.