Mortal Kombat: Armageddon

"More of a MK Trilogy 2 than a real sequel to Deception..."

~Introduction:
Well, here we have a new MK game. This game introduces significant new gameplay concepts, as well as new modes such as Motor Kombat, Kreate A Fighter, and the newly redefined Konquest mode. This new MK game also features a lot of playable characters.....oops, I meant to say that it features ALL the MK characters ever playable in previous MK games as playable characters here (Except Khameleon), as well as a few new ones! All this alone should attract MK fans to buy this game, but is it really all that worth it? Well in this review, you will find out.

~Story (4/10):
Possibly one of the worst aspects of the game. The story isn't that well thought out, it is basically: "All the Kombatants (Even the ones thought to be dead) are fighting to get to the top of some pyramid in order to defeat Blaze and gain awesome powers or prevent the bad guys from getting it".

The thing with the storyline is that there are A LOT of plotholes and several things left unexplained (Quan Chi having his amulet after Onaga took it in MKD is one of many plotholes). The only storyline there is in this game, revolves around the new characters Taven and Daegon, as well as Blaze. Their storylines are explained in Konquest mode, all the rest of the Kombatants are just there as an excuse to be able to play as them, you can rest assure that none of their ending are even canon. ;)

Talking of endings, all the endings are truly horrible. Every ending is basically the same thing (Except for the actual outcome of the characters), the character performs kata on top of the pyramid where Blaze is defeated and the narrator (Argus), states what happened next to the character.

Honestly, the story (All the characters being together in one place) would have made more sense if the One Being (From MKD) returned, but that's my opinion.

~Sound (8/10):
I don't really see any problems with the sound, it plays well. The music can get repetitive after playing through Arcade mode several times though.

~Graphics (7/10):
Well, the graphics are not that bad, the problem with them is that nothing (regarding the graphics) has really changed/improved from previous 3D MKs (MKDA-MKD). The Konquest mode of this game looks significantly better than the Konquest in MKD, but the environment is pretty small (All the areas are more like adventure stages than anything), so it isn't as nice as the big areas of MKD (You don't get that freedom feeling from MKD Konquest either).

~Gameplay:
Well, this game consists of different modes (each with different gameplay), so I will rate them individually.

-Motor Kombat (6.5/10):
This is basically Midway's miniature Mario Kart Clone, exclusively for this game. This is more of a mini-game to collect a small amount of Koins (The game's currency) than anything. Motor Kombat is pretty fun when you play it for the first time, but after 1-2 hours of playtime, it WILL get boring. Playing it with a friend or online makes it more interesting, but the fun factor will eventually decrease rapidly. I would have preferred Puzzle Kombat or Chess Kombat over this anytime.

-Konquest (8/10):
The gameplay of this new Konquest mode is much different than in previous Konquest modes. In MKDA, all we got was an in-depth practice mode for combos that eventually earned you Blaze and Mokap as playable characters. In MKD, we got an RPG-styled Konquest mode that gave you environmental freedom, the ability to talk and do missions for strangers (or familiar MK characters), and a look at Shujinko's story from before MK1 all the way to the start of MKD. Even with all this, Konquest in MKD was still basically the same "Practice combos" sort of thing from MKDA, only with some fighting here and there.

In MKA we get a new Konquest Mode, a Konquest mode that isn't basically just an uber Practice mode. In this Konquest mode, we follow the story of the game's hero, "Taven" as he finds out more about his destiny involving Blaze and Armageddon itself. The Konquest mode here (As with the one in MKD) gives us a more in-depth look at the game's story (Too bad it only resolves around Taven).

The gameplay of this mode is basically the same as the gameplay in "Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks", only dumbed down (To the point where all you do is pretty much button mash). The stages are pretty linear/narrow, so you cannot possibly get lost or stuck (Maybe only in some parts due to the death traps here and there). There are also several times in which you need to fight Kombatants using the normal MKA Fighting engine instead of the main gameplay of this Konquest mode.

The greatest aspect about this Konquest mode has got to be the Replay Value. Face it, you can beat this mode in 2-3 hours flat, but that won't stop you from replaying it. You might replay it to get all the relicts (Getting them all unlocks every item in The Krypt), to obtain a large amount of Koins, or simply to re-experience the joys of button mashing enemies to a pulp.

Overall, Konquest is pretty decent, but it lacks the freedom that the Konquest in MKD had.

-Fighting Engine (7/10):
Okay, this is where gameplay counts. Why did I give it a measly 7/10? Simple, because they didn't really improve on the main kombat (Or story), they focused more on the other aspects of the game (Fitting all characters in, Konquest, and Kreate A Fighter).

The fighting engine is more fluid than the one in MKD, but not so much as the one in MKDA. The main problem with it is the lack of speed in characters and the slow command inputting. The other problem is that they took out the combo chaining from MKD-MKDA, where you had the ability to do long combos that took affect based on combining the character's fighting styles into combos. Hell, now all the characters only have ONE Fighting Style and their Weapon.

What's new you ask? Well, they added the ability to parry and the new Aerial Kombat. Parrying is basically like using a breaker, only it requires a little more timing and drops the opponent's guard. Parries are convenient when you use them, but are really annoying when used on YOU.

Aerial Kombat is basically just combos that can only be performed when you send the enemy to the air. It is actually pretty fun to use, but is also pretty cheap because when the enemy is left with no breakers, these air attacks are undodgable/unblockable. It would have been cool to have had the long arse combos from MKDA-MKD mixed in with Aerial Kombat in fast/fluid gameplay, but no.

Overall, the Fighting engine is alright, but not anything out of this world.

~Difficulty (5/10):
Sadly, this game is one of the (If not the) easiest 3D MK game(s) out there. Aerial Kombat has opened a door to new cheap shots and the COM Players have become dumber (What happened to that old A.I they possessed!?). You can get through MAX mode this time around by just using Cheap shots.

~Other:
Here I will mention any other aspects I did not mention before.

-Kreate A Fighter (8/10):
This mode basically allows you to create your very own Kombatant! You can even create comic book or Anime heroes of your choice (Like Sailor Moon, Goku, He-man, etc.). You can give them attacks, special moves, and even their very own endings, which can be viewed upon beating Arcade mode with them.

This mode adds some Replay Value to the game because the clothing costs money, and buying everything might motivate you to keep on playing.

The bad thing about this mode is that you can only create one character per Profile/Save Data. So you cannot have two or more playable KAK characters in one save file sadly.

-The Krypt (?/10):
Okay, I'm not sure what to say here. The Krypt has been transformed to benefit any lazy people out there. I say this because:

A. There is only one kind of Koin in this game now, so obtaining Koins is very easy.

B. The Krypt is way smaller than it was in MKDA or MKD.

C. You can use the ? Box to simply unlock things without wasting Koins.

D. If you get all the relicts in Konquest, everything in The Krypt is automatically unlocked, so you shouldn't even be wasting Koins on The Krypt, save it for KAK mode.

Overall, The krypt is nice and has some cool unlockables (Alternate Clothes for characters, concept art, music, photos, etc.), but it doesn't give the game the replay value it once did.

-Fatalities (4/10):
There are none. Before you get a heart attack, I didn't mean that there are literally NO Fatalities, but none of the characters have character specific Fatalities anymore. Midway now introduces the "Kreate A Fatality" system. Basically, you input different commands during the "Finish Him" sequence, each leading to different "gruesome" or "brutal" animations.

Basically, all the characters have the same Fatalities if you don't know how to use the system creatively, so it gets repetitive FAST. They should have kept this system for KAK characters ONLY and given the Kombatants at least one character specific Fatality each.

~Replay Value (7/10):
Okay, I must say that since The Krypt can be easily fully unlocked and there is no Theater mode to view endings (Which basically means that there is no real point to beating it with all characters), then the only real Replay Value this game has is KAK (Kreate a Fighter/Kharacter) mode and Konquest. Konquest is your ticket to getting koins, while KAK is your motivation to get koins for (This is only if you're a perfectionist though). Arcade mode is also fun when playing with KAK or fan favorite characters, so that also adds to the replay value if you like to vary between that and Konquest, but it can still get boring.

Overall, after 1-2 weeks of playing , the game will get old. :/

~Conclusion:
This game has many ups and downs. Some traditional MK aspects have been removed, while new concepts have been added. I suggest that any MK fan buys it, but I advise anybody new to the series to rent it first.

Overall, I give this game a 7/10.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 11/06/06