If the opening cinematic of Mortal Kombat: Armageddon is any indication of the game itself, it would be up there as one of the best fighting games of the year. Sadly, the actual game leaves a lot less, and more, to be desired. Armageddon has a lot of features; Tons of characters, Motor Kombat, Kreate-a-Fighter, Kreate-a-Fatality and a revamped Shaolin Monks-style Konquest feature. The problem is: instead of adding so much content, more time needed to be spent making Armageddon better overall. 

Ready…Fight!

Drawn together by their insatiable lust for bloodshed, the Mortal Kombat fighters compete for a 7th time in an epic contest that could bring the destruction of mankind.  But you know the drill, 8 fights to win, no holds barred. Fans of the series will be impressed by the sheer number of playable characters from the Mortal Kombat universe, that is almost all of them, but might be disappointed that each fighter has only 1 or 2 fighting styles, not the 3 from previous games.

Part of the joy in Mortal Kombat though, is the ease of switching from character to character, given the basic fighting structure. What would make Armageddon shine is having each of the character’s abilities be unique and distinct given that there are so many of them. They aren’t. They aren’t bad, but they’re lacking, especially with decline in the amount of fighting styles. You will notice that certain characters play better using a weapon or just bare-fisted or have an advantage in situations like aerial kombat.

In a throw to earlier Mortal Kombat games, one-on-one combat launches players not only into other parts of the arena, but into the air. Combos are continued by knocking opponents into the air and then back down to earth.  It’s worth learning to properly execute the added features like aerial kombat to get more out of the game.

Had the overall fighting been thrilling, the Kreate-a-Fatality feature wouldn’t feel like such a cop-out. When normally you would enter a code to perform a satisfyingly gory finishing move, Armageddon allows you string together an attack over a timed period to finish off your opponent as you see fit. In the end, you’d prefer to see each of the 62 characters perform some creative decapitation or special kill move instead. Promise.
In the end, it’s hard to fault a fighting system so long established and enjoyed but this one shows its age. Especially with really fluid and glossy-looking fighting games coming out, Mortal Kombat’s one-on-one fighting feels clunky at times and the graphics are decidedly not up to par.

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Konquest mode gets an overhaul this time and introduces a new character, Taven, a demi-god on a quest to save the world and defeat Blaze, the elemental that presides over the combatants and may ultimately destroy the world. You might think God of War more than once while playing through but then you’ll remember the creativity and ingenuity of that title and quickly shake off the association.

Take the 3rd person component of Tekken 5, Devil Within. As fairly simple and monotonous single player component of an otherwise great game, the saving grace of Devil Within was that you were never forced to play it. Not so in Armageddon. Money, extra characters, costumes, concept art and more are all obtained easily (for the most part) in Konquest mode. You can unlock everything through fighting, but if you want to expedite earning the bonus features and cash to customize your fighter, Konquest mode is the way to do it. However, if Konquest mode is your idea of an engaging 3rd person fighter you might seriously rethink what games you’ve been playing recently.

The settings are basic, the fighting is simple (which isn’t necessarily bad) but the Konquest mode feels more like an obligation and less of a gripping adventure. Not to mention you’ll be replaying it quite a bit if you miss anything the first time around, including a couple unlockable items that are sheer torture to get and some irritatingly long and repetitive missions. Granted, it’s better than the single player version in Deception, but it wouldn’t have to strive very hard to make that claim either.
 
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Past the arcade style fighting and the single player campaign, there’s a lot more to Mortal Kombat, for better or for worse.

If Mario Kart has smelled an unpleasant odor and scraped off the bottom of its shoe it would have found Motor Kombat, which pits 8 of the fighters against each other on 4 simplistic racetracks. It’s amusing for a lap or two around the track, but it’s hard to imagine anyone wanting to play it more than once. Luckily, the controls are unintuitive enough that you're guaranteed at least a 10 second head start the initial time you race a friend.
On the positive side, the Kreate-a-Fighter options are fairly extensive, and allow you to customize everything from your fighter’s face and individual layers of clothing to stance, moves, taunts and biography. The satisfaction of using your character in online and arcade play to whomp opponents also makes it one of the game’s better features.  However, from time to time a nagging voice in your head will tell you “Wow, if the graphics were better, they might be on to something really great here.” Considering there are current games that allow you to put your actual face onto a character, we deserve a little more.

In Konclusion

Mortal Kombat: Armageddon delivers an enjoyable fighting game (though its hard to tell how much of the enjoyment comes from the warm feeling of nostalgia that these titles bring) with a bunch of frills that range from fun to dismal. If you’re a diehard fan of the Mortal Kombat series, you’ll get your money’s worth but if what you want is a solid, well executed fighting game, look elsewhere.

Article by: Abigail Heppe
Video produced by: Tim Jennings