< Back    Mortal Kombat: Armageddon - Review

While reviewing, a gamer (or anyone for that matter) needs to step outside oneself and try to approach the task of critiquing some medium of entertainment as impartial and as bias-free as their own preferences will permit. This is never an easy task if one has been steeped in the blood of Mortal Kombat since its inception in the early 1990's. Fortunately, it almost isn't an issue for Midway's most recent creation. A joyful game that has a mix of everything to appease gamers of all genres, Mortal Kombat Armageddon scores a [nearly] flawless victory.

The modes of gameplay, much like the character lineup, are numerous. Konquest mode, an adventure mini-game first introduced in 'Deadly Alliance', has you taking the role of Taven, an Edenian prince released from exile and thrown sidelong into a quest that will decide the fate of the realms. Also, for the first time in MK history, players can create their own kombatant with Kreate-a-Fighter and have them either cut their own gory sway to Armageddon or fight other created characters online. In addition, the diversionary 'side game' (which appeared as Chess and Puzzle Kombat in 'Deception') returns in the form of Motor Kombat - a very campy knockoff of Mario Kart. All of this is nicely topped off by the roster itself: a staggering 62 characters!

Good things in small packages, for the most part at least. Game designers have always put forward a valiant effort when it comes to making their games appeal to an audience other than the one in which it typically targets, and Armageddon is no different. Konquest caters to the adventurer in you, with a strong balance of platform-based action and puzzle solving.

When compared to regular kombat though, Konquest pretty much has everything oversimplified: short combos; no jump feature; and special moves that are executed by pressing an action button while holding down the L1 trigger (very similar to 'Shaolin Monks'). Only one or two legs of the journey will challenge you to any real length, and even then, it can be overcome after the first or second try.

Motor Kombat, while more of a gag than anything else, has a tinge of Carmageddon to it, possibly turning the heads of a few race car fans. There are five tracks to choose from - complete with death traps - and 9 characters sporting vehicles that take after their respective drivers (Johnny Cage has a luxury car, Sub-Zero an ice sled, etc.). Each one of them has a special move that can be performed to take an opponent out of commission, though it's hard to be accurate unless they're either directly in front of (or adjacent to) you.

Neither of these modes is particularly disappointing, though they are shorter and more dismissible than any of their previous incarnations. You'll enjoy them once or twice, maybe get a chuckle out of them, and then never play them again.

Armageddon doesn't lose points as far as 'kontent' is concerned, though it's a fact that the more that gets crammed into any game, the more it is which gets left out. The storyline is a good example, as many characters who have had a very long hiatus since their last MK appearance seem to have returned for no apparent reason other than to fill out the roster. There are no character bios when we start, no cut scenes when we finish, and in between we don't even get to humiliate our opponents with individual fatalities anymore. Kreate-a-Fatality, another feature unique to Armageddon, gives every playable character the same system to dismantle a fighter with. It's a novel idea, though many players who are used to just a simple button press and then 'watching the fireworks' could get frustrated and wind up dismantling their console instead.

Truly though, the real pleasure to Armageddon lies in kombat.

Fighting styles per character have been cut down from three to two, making it easier to puzzle out that winning strategy on the fly. And speaking of 'fly', lets talk aerial kombat. Not since 'Mortal Kombat 4' have two warriors taken the fight to the air, and not only has Ed Boon and his boys finally returned to those origins, but the system gets an overhaul. Every fighter has a move or combo that pops their adversary up into empty space (appropriately called a 'popup'). Pull it off, and you learn where the real magic lies in Armageddon. Characters can be pummeled, bounced, thrown, legcrabbed, somersaulted, drilled into the ground, and even bounced back up a second time to tack on a few more hits - all while in midair! This, alone, easily makes up for the loss of backstory, and being enabled to create virtually any character you can possibly think off puts replayability even further through the roof.

So, even with such a complete MK title under its belt, has Midway's flagship series begun to show its age? Grudgingly, one would have to say yes. But what emerges in the end, even after nearly fifteen years of pop-culture stardom, is still a proven formula for the well-made slobberknocker. And for that, Mortal Kombat Armageddon - though bruised and battered - survives total destruction.

- 7 / 10