Mortal Kombat: Deception

"MKD review for the MK fan"

This review is in no way intended for the first time player of a Mortal Kombat game. This is strictly for those that have at least played Deadly Alliance (for now on known as MKDA) or are series fantics like myself...

(Here is where someone might put the history of MK with all the ups, downs, and inbetweens in the series, but even the non MK fan knows the story of MK by now and its impact in the fighting genre so we'll skip that part.)

The series was alive and kicking again in 2002 with an amazing display that put most of our consoles to work for months and years fighting our friends all over again with our favorite kombatants. A few years have passed and Ed Boon and company have not dissapointed us with an update...and I do mean update to the Mortal Kombat series.

When most people think update to a fighting game, they think another story to justify 20+ people wanting to fight to death all for the glory of a tournament; well when I say update its more like I just bought an expansion pack to the previous title MKDA. Is this a bad thing though? This is a comprehsive perspective of the new game in the MK francise Mortal Kombat Deception.

Story 6/10

Well the story to most fighting games have always been sort of chesse ball, but MK has managed to be cheese ball and take the story out of the simple tournament based fighting so it gains a few points here. The story for those players of MKDA has pretty much picked up where it last left off, the Dragon King comming to power. The intro is a top notch cinema piece which really draws you into the story, which is really pretty good considering the MK series is pretty much just another Kung Fu plot but with really cool characters, lots of blood, and of course FATALITIES. I can't really give too much away, because I'm sure you want to find out for yourself what plot twist you have been thrown into this time.

Gameplay 9/10

For those of you that have played MKDA then you'll be right at home with the control scheme and combat system in the standard arcade mode. This is not too much of a departure from the previous game, so adjusting is about as simple as figure out how to link some new moves. Fighting styles have changed up a bit on some characters from the previous title, and in some cases they have the same move sets, but new combo sequences.

One plus for this game over its previous title is there is less dial a combo setups and the fighting is more based off of your intuion to create combo's like back in the old days of fighting games. This gives the game a more authentic look and feel when you are fighting.

The AI is another note, it seems also to be more intutive to your reponses even on the lowest difficulty settings. The AI is fairly strategic only using moves to get you to points on the board so that it can set you up for a nasty juggle or early defeat IE. a stage fatality. This is one area you really can tell they put alot of effort into.

The last thing to comment is the depth of this game. Not only does it support some pretty good side diversions, such as puzzle kombat (the inevitable repsonse to Puzzle Fighter II turbo) or chess kombat (a mode where you play a chess like game and capture pieces in Mortal Kombat) but also with the introduction of the new and improved Konquest mode, which is almost RPGish in nature. This game almost seems epic in comparsion to any of its predecessors.

Graphics 8/10

Only minor changes are really noticeable. Its pretty much the same engine, sporting the same smooth frame rates as before. The character models are still nicely done with the life like artistry that closely resembles Tod Macfarlanes most demonic creations, or hottest.

The one thing that is noticeable is the improvements in the animation made to the characters themselves and perhaps even the beautifully detailed backgrounds, but really those things are to be expected this is team Kombat we're talking about here. So moving on.

Sound 10/10

The sound track is excellent. Its perfectly varied, going from trance like sounds, to more industrial and guitar driven. Dan "Toasty" Forden has also laid down his fair share of pieces composed of wierd sound effects and abient noises such as steel banging together and other really nice touches. Once again suprise suprise.

Conclusion

There are a myriod of new features I could really explain in detail, why they work or don't work, but this is for the MK fan who hasnt gotten the game yet and wants a heads up; so its time to end this review. The game gets a high note, its up t the same standards as MKDA, adds some new atmophere gives us an online mode (the only thing i havent played with yet) making it one of the first to be online.

Final Words: Buy it and love it, see you online.....but it will be the last thing you see *scorpians harpoons flies out of your monitor and sticks through your skull* GET OVER HERE!!!!!!

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 10/06/04