The only Mortal Kombat game I ever played/ owned was MK9. I thought it was really cool, even though I only played the story. However, I never play fighting games and this seems like an excuse to give the series and genre a try. Fighting games are probably the only genre of games I don't play but think I should get into it a little bit. From the quick look it seemed awesome.

For the people that have played this, do you guys recommend it for newer players?

I don't own the game but from my perspective is that if you're going to get into any fighting game there's no better time to get into it then when the game is first out. If you're planning to play the online portion you'll probably run into more players on the same level as you are and are still trying to figure stuff out in the game. There's also less of a chance you'll run into many super elite players who have had months with the game and will wreck you quickly online. I always find fighting games hard to get into online once everyone else has had a head start over you. Though the controls for this game probably hasn't changed a whole lot from games like Injustice and MK9 so what I've said before might be moot.

It kinda sounds like you are probably more interested in the story then anything else. If that's the case I'd honestly probably just wait till the game is on sale or just wait a few days and watch a youtube video of just the cutscenes spliced together.