IGN buried the MK1 microtransactions in the second-to-last paragraph

Mitchell Saltzman, my old friend. We meet again. This time he's giving Mortal Kombat 1 an 8/10 while burying the microtransaction nightmare in the second-to-last paragraph like a mobster hiding a body in a shallow grave. The Kameo system — a feature that locks iconic characters behind a paywall or a grind that would make a Korean MMO blush — gets described as 'an interesting addition.' Interesting. Like finding a spider in your shoe is interesting.

The review spends three paragraphs — THREE — on the facial animations during story cutscenes. Mitchell, buddy, nobody bought a Mortal Kombat game for the acting. That's like reviewing a monster truck rally and spending half the review on the quality of the parking lot asphalt.

Meanwhile, the Switch port — which ran like a PowerPoint presentation at a corporate meeting — gets no mention. Zero. The review was conveniently based on the PS5 version, which is like reviewing a restaurant but only eating at the good location.

I give this review a 3/10. It's competently written, I'll give it that. But competent writing in service of incomplete information isn't journalism. It's copywriting.