Mortal Kombat: Armageddon

October 17,2006 -

The Mortal Kombat franchise has long been an oddity in the fighting genre. It has never managed to join the ranks of Street Fighter, Tekken, SoulCalibur, Virtua Fighter, and the like as a legitimate, recognized competitive fighting franchise, yet unlike other games and series with that problem, MK has never had trouble finding its fanbase. This fact alone puts it in some pretty exclusive company, alongside only – perhaps – Killer Instinct (though KI never reached the extreme levels of commercial success that Mortal Kombat has enjoyed over the years).

Four years ago, series creator and lead director Ed Boon, with partner-in-crime John Tobias having long since departed from the MK team, reinvented the series entirely as a stance-based 3D fighting game; Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance. Although the concept was sound, the game was ultimately undertested and clunky, losing the loose, player-friendly feel of the 2D games, and providing players only with the franchise's usual sense of style, and even less substance than long-time MK fans are used to. The sequel, 2004's Mortal Kombat Deception, did add a little bit of depth, and included a host of extras for the fans, but sadly, the same old problems crept up and ruined what was otherwise becoming a strong idea.

Now, the “new MK” is being given one final shot to realize its potential before Midway starts fresh once again on next-gen consoles with a new brand of MK. Mortal Kombat Armageddon is touted as the conclusion to the first 14 years of Kombat; with mass character deaths and complete resolutions to all storylines that have brought us to this point. The centerpiece of the whole package? The inclusion of every Mortal Kombat character from over the years, packed into a massive 64-character roster which even includes obscure characters like Sareena, making her first appearance outside of the Game Boy Advance. Of those 64, all but four are available up front, while those remaining four; newcomers Taven and Daegon, Meat of MK4 fame, and MKDA hidden fighter turned Armageddon boss Blaze, are all unlocked by playing through the now-obligatory Konquest mode, which has thankfully been repackaged as a derivative of the recent Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks. There's less to unlock on the character roster, and it's no longer a chore to do it. Other fighting franchises (*cough SoulCalibur cough*) could learn a lot from Midway on this level. For those who want an even faster unlock process, the Krypt has a “?” box, where players can input six-button codes. It's presumed that there is such a code for every unlockable, and perhaps others. As of this review, codes have already been discovered to unlock all four hidden characters.

Speaking of the Krypt, it may be the most improved existing aspect of the game. The whole thing has been completely streamlined; there's only one kind of koin you need to collect, unlike the variety you collected in the previous games. Furthermore, you now know what you're unlocking before you pay for it, letting you focus on unlocking what you're really after without having to check a player's guide or an online FAQ to find it.

Unfortunately, to accommodate such a huge character roster, all characters have been stripped down to two stances apiece – one hand-to-hand style and one weapon-based style (there are exceptions) – dropping from the three they were given in Deadly Alliance and Deception. One would think this to be a huge deal, but the stance system of the past four years never really made the impact it was intended to, so it's not the big loss it sounds like. What would have been nice, on the other hand, would have been longer movelists and more attack properties; an aspect in which Mortal Kombat has always fallen short.

The actual gameplay is mostly unchanged from Deception. Midway has implemented an aerial-rave mechanic similar to the one found in some past Capcom fighters, but it's clear that very little thought went into it; just jump after a launched opponent and mash away on the attack button of your choice – buttons 1, 2, and 3 all deliver aerial raves when pressed repeatedly, while 4 is an air-throw. The one nice touch was the parrying system, which will render an opponent vulnerable for a moment if you press back and block at the same time as they strike. It gives a nice alternative to using breakers as an initial defense, and doesn't cost anything. The real problem is, the rest of the game is identical to Deception, complete with stiff overall handling and terrible, unresponsive controls. Had Midway built Armageddon to play with better flow than its two predecessors, it may have become a very good game through the course of its development, but that didn't happen. To make matters worse, the story is actually inconclusive unless Boon clarifies it in an interview at some point, or there's some undocumented unlockable in the “?” box.

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