Mortal Kombat: Deception

"It's still MK... nothing more, nothing less..."

History seems to repeat itself doesn't it? Back in the medieval ages people were controlled by the church and now people are controlled by the media. It's not too different with videogames either, specifically with Mortal Kombat.

Mortal Kombat first gained its electrifying success in the arcades of 1992. It has grown massively since then. Based on its HUGE fan base, MK projects are low-risk high-rewards gigs. Even under heavy criticism, MK still manages to resurface to produce more multi-million selling games. MK: Deception is no different. But just how good of a game is it?

GRAPHICS (8/10)
MK returns with the same engine used from Deadly Alliance except with a bit more of polishing. The characters are still blocky and stiff and the overall effect on the fighting system is still painful. MK can't flow as freely as other brawlers like Virtua Fighter 4 or Soul Caliber, hence forth failing to add the proper depth required to make 'genuine' fighting games. The environmental designs are something new, but not that amazing. In a sum, nothing much has changed.

SOUND (7/10)
Too bad Dan's not popping his head back in yelling 'Toasty' anymore. Anyhow the music is topnotch, besting even DA's. The sound effects on all other aspects are mediocre at best with the same dosage of quirky if not bothersome character yellings and grunting; not all players would enjoy hearing Liu Kang's Bruce Lee impressions or Sub-Zero's gobblydeguck. Either way, it might be to reduce the excessive violence of the game. Hopefully players would get that...

GAMEPLAY (8/10)
Mortal Kombat is still Mortal Kombat - nothing more, nothing less.
Kombat Mode
Barely any different from the previous installment, which still catches me to what Boon and co. are really focusing on... producing more stuff that's MK-related to cater to MK fans. If you're not familiar with the game, then The addition of the Breaker system is a nice little supplement but nothing new. The game is still choppy, character animations still stiff and combo system still unable to reverse from style 2 to style 1 etc.
Chess Mode
A new tidbit from MK. Players gather a chess team composed of Grunts (pawns), Shifters (Rooks), Champions (Queens), Sorcerers (Bishops) and Leaders (King). Their goal? Like chess, kill the opposing team's leader. It's something disappointing to say the least. The pieces do not move like the REAL chess board game (where's the knight?) and kombat is still involved. Which means it's quite easy for MK elites to win this one by brute force. And not to mention the Kombat violence carried over to this 'mind game'. You'd think players could get their peace here but hey, it's Mortal Kombat! Take away the brutality and you take away the K!
Puzzle Mode
Knowing MK, it's still a violent little bit attached. Players get to combat each other through puzzles. The goal is to survive longer than the other player by destroying blocks from your panel. To do this, there are little MK logo blocks that when connected with its corresponding color, will explode every connected block with the same color. Simple? Not really. Puzzle requires more of that brainpower and sorry, brute force won't cut it here. To add spice, MK characters have their own special attack too. It's a good variety but not too various. Bo Rai Cho's Kollapse is much the same with Ermac's Levitate, just with different effects. Puzzle's still fun to say the least.
Konquest Mode
Ah, an adventure game rigged with over 10 hours of gameplay. Players assumed the role of Shujinko, who is ordered by Damashi to go search for the 6 Kamidogus to send to the Elder gods. Players get to embark on missions from 6 different realms (7 if Nexus included) training with, running errands for and fighting MK characters. MK nutheads would have a ball with the tidal wave of cameos and references. Otherwise, this mode may be the less violent of all 4 and the most time-consuming to add. Still might be a fun little time for RPG fanatics.
Krypt
The Krypt is back and the money system with it. Tons of unlockables for the MK fans. Go play your lights out.

CONTROLS (8/10)
Still indifferent from the previous installment. There's still that block button with R2 and again non-MK players would find that bothersome. Otherwise, the controls are very easy to learn and the learning span of this game wouldn't take the average person more than an hour.

REPLAYABILITY (7/10)
The score is a balance from non-MK fans to MK fanboys. MK still caters to its ENORMOUS fan-base so what's the harm? Only fans would enjoy going through 30+ hours of extra MK stuff that range from an RPG mode to a Puzzle mode to a Chess mode. Too bad chess doesn't play like the REAL chess and puzzle isn't tetris. And too bad there's still a huge dose of violence on all 3, which might just lose a couple of players. The Krypt is back with less - but still NUMEROUS - unlockables, half of which are pointless trash (pardon the bluntness). Who in their right mind would want to unlock development team photos and production art? Oh right... MK fans! Hooray!!

FUN FACTOR (7/10)
Still unbalanced by the separate genre MK falls underneath. It's like a Tarantino film, you either enjoy it or you don't. So it's a gamble for this one but since the MK fan-base is so huge, what has Midway to lose? MK nuts would go bananas over this latest installment while those who aren't fond would just find another waste of multi-millions.

OVERALL (7/10) *Not an average*
To keep this short: non-MK fans should rent the game and if they like it, buy it by all means. MK fanatics don't need a reminder on this one. There goes 50 hours of free time.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 10/27/04