MORTAL KOMBAT: ARMAGEDDON
Developer: Midway Games
Publisher: Midway Games
Systems: XBOX, PS2, Wii (due December 31, 2006)
INTRODUCTION:
‘MORTAL KOMBAT!!’ It seems like yesterday when I first saw that commercial, and who knew that 15 years later we’d be talking about the latest entry in the franchise to bring us blood, gore and the mindless fun that has become synonymous with the name. This latest entry pulls out all the stops, with more than 60 playable characters spanning MK’s history of games, a new Create a Kombatant system and more fatalities that you can shake a severed finger at. Is this the ultimate game that ULTIMATE MK3 wasn’t? Yeah, kind of.
GAMEPLAY:
After wowing gamers and bringing the series back from the brink with MK: DEADLY ALLIANCE and MK: DECEPTION, Midway has seemingly gone all out to bring the series to a close (or is it?). ARMAGEDDON focuses upon a dangerous scenario preordained by the Elder Gods. You see, over the course of multiple MORTAL KOMBAT tournaments, the realms (dimensions within the MK canon that contain other worlds) would become so saturated with skilled warriors with special abilities and powers, that the Earthrealm, Outworld and others would be physically torn apart by their constant fighting (think filling a balloon so much that it explodes in your face). At this point, an apocalyptic battle would take place that would destroy all life everywhere. As a safeguard to this happening, the Elder Gods established a pyramid with an elemental guard atop it, Blaze, who would signal when the final battle for the universe would be held. Basically, whoever can make it up the pyramid and beat Blaze, stays alive.
The main mode of play (other than Konquest) is Kombat mode, where you pick your fighter (from up to 62 choices!), fight through 8 other fighters, then come to Blaze. Beat him, and you get your ending. ARMAGEDDON uses a fighting system similar to DA and DECEPTION, where each character has one hand-to-hand fighting style, and one weapon style. While for the most part it’s the same dialing in of combos and such, this time it’s balanced by new parrying and air combo systems. Personally I’m more partial to the systems used in VIRTUA FIGHTER and SOUL CALIBUR, but then again there are those who can’t stand those games (go figure). Another change to the gameplay is the Kreate-A-Fatality system, where instead of just doing one nasty thing to your opponent, you have the opportunity to do much more than just a simple decapitation. It’s a simple matter of inputing various sequences of buttons and timing. Unfortunately, as more sequences are entered, the time to input others is reduced, making it possible to beat the crap out of your opponent but not killing them (like not finishing the Brutality sequence in MK: TRILOGY). Personally, I liked the old system of putting in the sequence, then sitting back and watching the results, but this new system opens the door for much more, though it doesn’t replace the signature fatalities unique to each character.
One of the biggest changes is in the Konquest mode, which this time does away with simple tutorial fights and time specific quests, and instead takes a cue from MK: SHAOLIN MONKS by introducing a linear adventure mode that also serves the purpose of introducing two new characters, demi-god brothers Taven (the good son) and Daegon (the rat bastard). Assuming the role of Taven, players embark on a quest to retrieve powerful weapons left by their parents (Argus, an Edenian god and Delia, a sorceress with the ability to predict the future), so that they would be prepared to eventually face and defeat Blaze. Throughout the mode, players will come across various items scattered around each level, with each one fitting on a grid that unlocks secrets within the game, such as new characters for the Kombat (Arcade) mode, music tracks and so on. While this does indeed add to the game, it becomes a pain at points, since some sections of the game emphasize battles much more than exploration, leaving you to exposing yourself to attacks as you search each inch of a stage for hidden chests or items (which are sometimes invisible until you approach them). As well, you’ll find that after clearing some battles, you’ll immediately be pushed forward, meaning that if you haven’t spent the time exploring a place, you’ll lose that opportunity until you play through the entire mode all over again!
Another big change in the game is the new Motor Kombat mode, which replaces the popular Chess and Puzzle Kombat modes. Players choose from one of ten drivers (if you can call them that), and take their unique karts around one of five tracks, all of which have individual “fatality”-inducing traps. Players can also find unlockable items here, but not as many as in Konquest mode. Unfortunately, the kart gimmick doesn’t work as well as the previous minigames, as it’s just not as fun. Expect to play through each track once or twice, then move on to something more stimulating.
Perhaps the most interesting feature added to the game is the massive Kreate-A-Fighter mode, which allows you, the player, to make your own fighter, make your own movelist and victory stances, and even write up a biography for your character’s ending! The catch is that you obviously have to unlock a lot of the character parts and such, but that’s just part of the fun. The variety of parts makes for opportunities to create comic book characters, famous actors and friends easy!
Unfortunately, it’s not all thumbs-up for the game, as their are some disappointments/frustrations to be found. Blaze as a final boss suffers from what many fighting fans call the ‘SNK Boss Syndrome’. Basically, he’s harder than hell, and will leave many wanting to renovate their living room with their fists. The game also takes a cue (unfortunately) from VIRTUA FIGHTER when it comes to the endings, though not as bad. Instead of showing a cutscene of your character’s ending, your reward consists of watching your characters perform a kata (move demonstration) while their ending is voiced over for anywhere between 15-40 seconds. LAME! True, given that the game is stuffed to the gills and then some, something had to be sacrificed, but it’s still a weak thing to witness after sweating it out with Blaze.
Gameplay: 7.5/10
Insane final boss battle and button-mashing fighting system aside, ARMAGEDDON brings more of what fans of DEADLY ALLIANCE and DECEPTION wanted: action, gore galore with tons of stuff to see, do and unlock. Easily the most fun one could have in a MORTAL KOMBAT game, though fans of other fighting series won’t be won over. Also, a case of quantity over quality can be made, as a lot of what’s here could’ve been left out in favour of developing other areas begging for expansion.
GRAPHICS:
Long gone are the days of digitized 2D sprites and 3D mannequins, but ARMAGEDDON doesn’t reinvent the wheel when it comes to the graphics. A lot of what was in the previous games is back, with character models ripped straight from DECEPTION and plugged into this game. Don’t get me wrong, the models still look good, but there’s that ‘been there, done that’ feeling that comes along when this happens. Obviously, you do get the new models for the new characters, which as just as good as the older ones. The same goes for the arenas, which are again a mix of new and old. Gore is still prevalent as ever, with all the spurts, drips and so on that are as satisfying as they are disturbing. Animation-wise, the game has a few moves that will leave you wincing for the victim, most notably kicks to the groin, but again a lot of the stuff was seen in DECEPTION.
As for which port has the superior visuals, the XBOX wins with slightly cleaner graphics compared to the PS2 (as usual).
Graphics: 7.5/10
‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ is the phrase of the day for Midway. Recycling a lot of character models and animations when they looked great before is a smart move, but bumping up the details or tweaking animations would’ve made the visuals that much more satisfying for the eyes.
AUDIO:
The audio department took the same route that the graphics team did and took the sounds and music from DECEPTION, threw in a couple new ones and popped out something that’s the same as before with a few differences. Problem is, the sound wasn’t jaw-dropping as before, and it doesn’t get much better. Liu Kang still comes off as being annoying, smacks and groans sound exactly like they were from before, and the music echoes DECEPTION exactly.
Again, there’s some good yelping and screaming to be heard from the game, but compared to what was heard before, putting more effort into it would’ve made it that much better.
Audio: 7.5/10
Same old music. Same old sounds. Midway’s effort in the audio department seems like a Xerox machine, but at least the source material was good to begin with.
FINAL VERDICT:
Midway goes all the way with this culmination in the series (yeah right!), and proves that folks on this side of the pond can make fighting games just as good as those in Japan. While some stuff could’ve been improved (graphics and sound), some made optional in-game (Kreate-A-Fatality) and other stuff dropped entirely (Motor Kombat), the big question is ‘Is this the ultimate MORTAL KOMBAT that UMK3 wasn’t?’ Yes and no.
Sure, you get every fighter that was ever associated with the series, a sweet character creation mode and an interesting twist on the fatality system, but is it a case of quantity over quality? You decide. If however you’re a fan of the series and you don’t care what anyone says, by all means you’ll be having fun with this one. Just remember to get some sleep, ok?
NOTE: PS2 fans luck out with a Premium Edition of the game alongside the regular edition. The Premium Edition not only has a selection of 3 different covers, but also includes a full playable version of the arcade version of ULTIMATE MORTAL KOMBAT 3, more than an hour of bonus videos (including a piece on the history of fatalities), and an animation cell cover art autographed by franchise co-creator, Ed Boon.
FINAL SCORE: 7.5/10