Mortal Kombat: Armageddon

"Mortal Kombat: Armageddon" is probably the greatest "Mortal Kombat" fighting game - ever. I reserved a copy back in March and received it the first day - I paid the extra 10 dollars for the Premium Edition, which has the extra DVD with bonus content.

With this latest entry, it is a culmination of all "Mortal Kombat" games to this day, with a slight whiff of "Mortal Kombat Trilogy" and "Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3," the latter which is one of many extra add-ons included with the Premium Edition. As envisioned by ko-kreators Ed Boon and John Tobias and unleashed on the general public in 1992, "Mortal Kombat" revolutionized martial arts fighting on video game consoles. Fans of the game were able to take "Mortal Kombat" in a direction far from what Boon and Tobias envisioned.

In that first entry, we were introduced to the following: Shaolin monk Liu Kang, movie star Johnny Cage, Special Forces Agent Sonya Blade, ninja specter Scorpion (my personal favorite fighter), cryo-mancer Sub-Zero, lightning god Raiden, terrorist Kano, the four-armed Goro, Reptile, and shape-shifting sorcerer Shang Tsung.

While praised by critics for its realistic martial arts and innovative storyline, it was embraced by fans for its gratuitous bloodshed and violence; simultaneously, Jack Thompson and most moral-minded politicians condemned it. It's been followed by several spin-offs, two movies (Paul W.S. Anderson directed the first 1995 film) and fans have been quick to denounce its horrible sequel.

With "Mortal Kombat: Armageddon," nothing's changed. The game features a revamped fighting engine, with 60+ characters who are masters of one fighting style and one weapon style. Also, there's the addition of ground kombat; if you don't like things on the ground, you can take it to the sky in air kombat, and dismember your opponent that way. We also have two brand-new characters (that can only be unlocked through the Konquest mode) and Motor Kombat, a "Mario Cart"-style racing side-project.

Then, there are the healthy, long-awaited additions of kreate-a-fighter and kreate-a-fatality. In kreate-a-fighter, you can actually customize your own Mortal Kombat character, give him/her their own appearance, fighting styles, weapon style, special moves and biography, if you like. Kreate-a-fatality - it is just what it sounds like - you can dismember your opponent when the screen says, "Finish him/her" in any number of grisly fashions.

Objections? Of course. While this game is a significant improvement over past entries such as "Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance" and "Mortal Kombat: Deception," it's definitely not short of its problems. I have some great issues with how some fighters have different fighting styles or weapons than they have in past games. While the kreators suggest it's only to adopt new strategies, it can be very trying for those who have been accustomed to a certain character.

With the added features of kreate-a-fighter and kreate-a-fatality, some things are lacking or have been shorted completely. In kreate-a-fighter, you can only kreate one fighter per profile. Of course, if you want to take up memory card space, you can have up to eight profiles, which means eight kreated fighters. In kreate-a-fatality, you can still brutalize your opponent, which is cool, but the fatalities that we have come to love from our favorite characters have been completely removed. (What was Ed Boon thinking?)

The Konquest story mode, while quite linear and short, is also quite demanding and requires some patience to master. It's still interesting, and has been significantly refurbished since "Deadly Alliance" and "Deception" (while also staying in tune with last year's popular spin-off "Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks"), and a lot of thought went into the mythology, but it can be tedious especially when you don't have a proper strategy guide at your disposal. And because it's linear, you cannot backtrack if you miss something (i.e., like the Konquest Relics) and this is especially nerve-wracking because you have to continue on, finish Konquest mode, and play through the game again to get that forgotten item (I had to do it twice). And lastly, you sort of get a cheap reward for completing the game in either Konquest or arcade.

Other than these short little squabbles, "Mortal Kombat: Armageddon" is a proper conclusion to "Mortal Kombat" on this generation of consoles. Only time will tell what the kreators have in store for us on Playstation 3.

9/10

Mortal Kombat Armageddon is supposed to be the finial installment of the Mortal Kombat series for the Xbox and Playstation 2 consoles. It is supposed to end the franchise with a mighty bang, but ends up being nothing more than a weak whimper.

Since this is supposed to be the swan song for this iteration of the series, they have thrown in nearly every character that has ever been in a Mortal Kombat game which gives you more than sixty characters to play with. On top of that, you can even create custom characters.

The graphics and character models are good for the aging Xbox platform. The stage design is acceptable, but they are not nearly as engaging as those presented the previous games. They are decent, they work, but they are nothing to get excited. Everything seems to be a bit overly dark and gloomy to me, and I can't help but wonder if this has been done to hide limitations in the game engine. The sound is adequate, nothing special, or memorable.

The kombat game play works well though. It hasn't changed much from the previous titles. The biggest difference I noted is that you now have two fighting styles instead of three. I assumed this was done to accommodate the huge roster of playable characters. This game also marks the return of aerial attacks which have not be been present in the series for at least the last two games.

Mortal Kombat: Armageddon has multiple play modes. There is the traditional arcade mode, versus mode, online mode, Konquest adventure mode, and Motor Kombat. In the traditional arcade mode you fight a series of progressively harder opponents until you reach the boss character. The versus mode lets you play against your friends on a stage of your choosing. The online mode lets you compete against other players worldwide. The Motor Kombat is basically a dumbed down version Mario Kart with a dash of Mortal Kombat violence thrown in; it's entertaining, but it's not the real meat of the game.

By far, what I found to be the biggest disappointment of the game is what they did to the Konquest mode. In the previous title, Mortal Kombat Deception, Konquest mode was a full blown adventure game. You could of almost called it 'The Kombat RPG'. It was a vast and fully fleshed out game, though it lacked any real ending, it was very entertaining and enjoyable. I spent a lot of time playing it.

I beat the Konquest mode in Mortal Kombat Armageddon in two sittings. And the only reason it was two sittings instead of one was because I had to get up to use the bathroom once.

The Konquest mode in this title was basically watered down version of Mortal Kombat Shaolin Monks, without the in depth character progression, freedom to explore, or story scope. It amounts to little more than a uninteresting imitation of one great games, and an unworthy successor to another.

Mortal Kombat Armageddon is a decent game. It is disappointing when compared to other recent Mortal Kombat games like Mortal Kombat Deception and Mortal Kombat Shaolin Monks. It you are a fan of the Mortal Kombat universe, it will undoubtedly tickle to get to play will of the characters presented. If you are not a Mortal Kombat fan, I would at least suggest you rent the game and try it out. It does have it's enjoyable moments.

Knot every kombat game is going to be a killer knock out, but at least here you have a klue as to what is koming and what to expect.

This is the greatest Mortal Kombat Game ever in my opinion, not only does it include all of the Mortal Kombat Characters which you can play, but most of all, you now get to create your very own Characters as well as get to make their own biographies for them which you can't do in other games, This also has the greatest Final Boss ever in Blaze, who is True Neutral which fits perfectly for the Final Boss, Motor Kombat is pretty good in itself as well, Konquest is cool too, The Kreate-A-Fatality is uber awesome and the chance to string together fatalities, to me, this is as close to a perfect game, if not perfect you can get, This will be a game to play even many years/decades down the road still, The Storyline is perfect with Everyone fighting to be the one at the top and the grand champion at the end of it all and it's every fighter for themselves, so to me, this is THE Perfect Game, the greatest Mortal Kombat Gmae ever and my Favorite Mortal Kombat game, so this gets a perfect S, Infinite Stars and Infinity/10!

MORTAL KOMBAT Armageddon WINS!

ULTIMATE FATALITY!

My only problems are: 1) Motaro is not a centaur in the game, he is a satyr with a bit tail 2) Kreate a Fatality system - when you take every signature fatality out of the game, the characters feel raped, as does the player....no more cannibal kiss (Mileena), no more spine rip (Sub-zero), no more Electrocution (Rayden).....nothing but standard violence...Aside from this, the game is all out great. I love the konquest mode and the simplicity of the krypt. This is the only game in the mortal kombat series to not contain bios either. There's not a lot in the game that makes sense (ie Sheeva being alive, etc.) but it still seems to have a story once you play the konquest mode. I highly recommend this game, if you can get past the K-a-F system.

Mortal: Kombat: Armageddon is basically the final Mortal Kombat game to be released on the Playstation 2 and the original Xbox (as well as the only Mortal Kombat game released on the Nintendo Wii), and it is not a good way to end the sixth generation of consoles.

Basically, the game offers almost every character (Khameleon is exclusive to the Wii port as time constraints kept her from the other ports) as they are fighting each other for the opportunity to fight Blaze, whose defeat would infuse the victor with ultimate power. While it is impressive, the sad thing is most of the roster is basically copy-and-pasted from Deadly Alliance and Deception (with characters like Reptile and Kung Lao getting outfits taken from Shaolin Monks, the game before this). The only new characters are Taven and Daegon, who were created for the game's Konquest Mode. The characters who make their playable debut in this are either hit-or-miss (Jarek is a hit because unlike MK4, he is given his own moveset, while Chameleon is a miss due to having one special move taken from the male ninjas). Also, there are going to be characters who will share a certain special move, which takes away something making one character unique.

As the roster is going to have 62 character (63 for the Wii port), there would not be space to give everyone the traditional Fatalities, so instead, we get Kreate-A-Fatality, which requires you to do a series of presses in a limited time, each hit reducing the timer. While it sounds good on paper, it also takes away what made the kombatants unique, as while normal and boss characters get their own Kreate-A-Fatality moves, they share the same moves. Also, for endings, we get the character doing a kata while Argus, the father of the two new characters, speaks of their fate. While this is also understandable, since like Fatalities, space issues would have prevented the endings to have pictures like in Deadly Alliance and Deception, it is not well thought out.

As for the fighting, almost all fighter is reduced to two fighting styles (one hand-to-hand and one weapon). Fighters like Mokap only have two hand-to-hand styles, while some bosses like Blaze has only one fighting style. To add some new depth, the game adds Air Kombat, which allows you to pummel your opponent in mid-air. Many classic stages return alongside a select few stages from Deception, and Death Traps make a return, which are the closest we are ever getting to actual Fatalities in the game.

Other than the main mode, there is Konquest Mode, which is done like Shaolin Monks. Playing as Taven, you go through many area fighting your way. Sadly, unlike Shaolin Monks, the mode is short, and it does not give too much variety. Also, there is a kart racer mini-game called Motor Kombat, which parodied Mario Kart, however, that mode is also lacking in content, as it only offers five tracks and ten racers to play with.

One of the things I like from this game is Kreate-A-Fighter, which allows you to create your own kombatant to use in arcade mode or online. While it does have limited choices, it does have a good selection of clothing that can allow for recreating your favorite anime or comic book character, and you can choose the moves and make the ending. While it only appeared in this game, it would've been good to see this in a future game, especially with improvements.

But when all is said and done, Mortal Kombat: Armageddon is a disappointment, and it showed why making Mortal Kombat games annually was a bad idea. While the idea of bringing all the characters back sounded good on paper, when done in-game, it's a bad Fatality waiting to happen. Coupled with the fact that its two other modes don't fare much better due to how little content they have, and the fact that Kreate-A-Fatality was a horrible idea, Armageddon is one entry that should be skipped unless you are one of those people who want to own all the MK titles.