Season Pass content can be tricky to navigate, especially when you’re not sure how a piece of paid content is going to work out. At Dealspwn we always advise waiting for some coverage or reviews before putting any extra cash down, especially for season passes. We really enjoyed Mortal Kombat X at launch and have been impressed with the variety of characters already on offer. So how about the DLC ones? Well, here’s our review of the first to arrive, the infamous, Jason Voorhees.

The indestructible star of the Friday the 13th movies (yes, except the first one) initially seemed a rather odd choice for the series, as he’s never been known for his pace and the idea of him performing combos seems a bit absurd. Thankfully, NetherRealm have given him a generous injection of pace and a decent skillset with linkable moves, while maintaining his sinister style.

As with all the characters in Mortal Kombat X, Jason has three different fighting styles to choose from; Slasher, Relentless and Unstoppable. Let’s start with Slasher, the simplest stance to learn and the only one that sees Jason wielding his beloved machete throughout.

This infamous gutting tool gives Jason massive reach and the upwards strikes are fantastic for launcher moves. Jason is surprisingly quick with multiple follow up attacks with the blade or high kicks to the head that can put opponents on the back foot for the majority of a match given the chance.

He can also toss the machete for a ranged attack. A Psycho Slash special is a viscous combo strike that can be extended with the R2 button if you have enough juice in the meter for extra damage. If you can get a safe distance from an opponent, you can activate the Bloodshed mode which  give you a temporary armour boost that sees Jason shrug off weaker attacks at the cost of jumping. It’s risky activating it as it takes a while for the initial animation to go through and when the buff expires Jason temporarily pauses in his tracks, leaving you wide open to attack.

The Relentless stance requires a bit more skill to use thanks to the increased difficulty of the special move control inputs and the removal of Jason’s machete. Although, in the right hands, Jason can be even more dangerous when forced to use his bare hands.

This stance focuses on grabs with devastating backbreakers and choke holds. Unlike most MKX combos, the backbreaker requires three directional inputs (down, left, right, Sqaure for example). Seems simple enough on the pause menu’s moves list, but the execution is oddly tricky.

There are two problems, Jason keeps jumping, despite the up button not being pressed. This could be because the dpad on the PS4 (and presumably the XO) being one piece of plastic, so all the buttons move a little when pressing one and a slight over-sensitive issue tricks the pad into thinking you pressed the up button. Naturally, I tried this with two different pads. This inconsistency is quite off-putting as precision is key to some tougher online fights. The other issue is that you have to be incredibly close to pull these moves off, meaning it can go all sorts of wrong if you’re an inch too far away. Nail the distance and inputs though, and you’ll be a deadly bone crushing nightmare.

Other highlights of the Relentless stance include the Corpse grab, which grabs mid-air opponents down by the legs and smashes them into the ground face first. Activating Jason’s pursuit mode here has a similar windup to Bloodshed mode but is potentially worth the effort as it briefly reverses an opponent’s controls and stops them running. This is certainly an ace sneaky move to break out next time you have friends over.

The Lake Mist  move is a transfer move that sees you evaporate and reappear behind an enemy. It’s amusing to watch, but not very effective in combat as it isn’t an attack and doesn’t naturally lead into any sort of combo. It’s a far cry from the excellent back-attack transfer that Scorpion burns opponents with.

The Unstoppable stance adds some cool touches that fans of Jason’s movies will appreciate. The moves are very similar Relentless stance though, including the gruesome choke hold that includes extra crushed bones when applied with R2. Jason’s damage increases the lower his health gets and if that wasn’t bad enough, he’ll come back to life at the end of the round! That’s right, lightning crashes down from the skies and gives him a proportion of health in relation to how much unused special meter he has left. This stance’s buffer move, Rise, allows you to get some health back too.

There’s not much between the Unstoppable and Relentless modes, but there are plenty of nods to the movies to please fans and Jason’s brawling and grabbing skills make him a formidable opponent. The Slasher stance is definitely the one to start with thanks to its simple combo inputs and the machete’s terrific reach and combo launching. Of course there are some particularly gruesome Fatalities and X-Ray moves that I won’t spoil for you.

Jason Voorhees is available on digital stores now for £3.99 solo or £6.49 with extra skins for other characters. £24.99 gets you the Kombat Pack complete with the other three DLC characters (coming soon) and a load of character skins. That a lot of money for skins and characters, but £3.99 seems reasonable for Jason. We’ll bring you reviews of the new fighters, including Predator, when they arrive.

Pros

• Faster than you’d think
• Slasher’s machete is a great starter
• Brutal grab moves with other stances…

Cons

• …but tricky to execute
• Resurrection skill could get annoying
• Lake Mist move is laughably bad

The Short Version: A great start for the Mortal Kombat X DLC characters with lots of new combos to learn and enough variety between the style choices to keep fighter fans intrigued. Fans of the movies won’t be disappointed by the references or the ferocity of Jason’s attacks with the machete or his bare hands.

8/10