Gaming Trend

Gaming Trend Review

by Keith Schleicher

The Mortal Kombat series has been entrenched in controversy ever since it debuted in 1992.  The fighting game was violent because of the infamous Fatality moves.  From punching the head of an opponent clean off to burrowing into an enemy’s chest and pulling out their heart, violence like this hadn’t been seen in an arcade game before.  The use of digitized actors instead of hand drawn characters made the violence seem even more real.  However, the Mortal Kombat series has survived, continuing the fatalities and giving us a long list of characters.

Mortal Kombat: Armageddon can be seen as a bit of a tribute to the Mortal Kombat series.  Over 60 characters from the entire series are playable from the original Mortal Kombat through the most recent game, Mortal Kombat: Deception.  Some of the more familiar characters are available, as well as the more obscure characters.  Do the number of characters make the game better, or is this just another bullet point to put on the back of the case?

Graphically, if you have played Deadly Alliance or Deception, then you have a good idea what Armageddon looks like, since it uses the same engine.  Deadly Alliance was visually impressive when it first came out on the Gamecube, Xbox, and PS2.  That was early in the cycle of those consoles though, making the first jump of Mortal Kombat to the next generation a bit disappointing.
 
That isn’t to say that there aren’t some redeeming qualities to the graphics.  There are several added graphical touches to Armageddon.  When getting up between matches, different characters have different ways to get back to their own two feet.  For instance Scorpion lifts his hand up and his harpoon rope shoots out.  He grabs onto the end of the rope to get to an upright position.  Sub-Zero shoots small ice particles from his hands to stand upright again.  While this wasn’t a necessary inclusion and the game wouldn’t have changed that much if the screen reset between rounds with the players in their fighting stances again, a small touch like this definitely adds to the character of the game.  Some of these animations were seen in Deception though, and not all characters have special animations.  Some just slowly get up.

The particle effects are in full effect in Armageddon.  Blaze and Scorpion have flames coming off from all directions.  Sub-Zero and Frost are cold as ice and their powers reflect that.  Even the backgrounds show off some little effects, whether it is some kind of liquid in the background or glass shards that break from a body flying through them.

The beats during the gameplay provide most of the music in the game.  You aren’t going to be noticing that much though, which is what good video game music does.  It sets the mood while not overpowering the action on the screen.  It’s not something that stinks in your mind long term though.

“Get over here!” is one of the most famous lines you’ll hear ever since the original Mortal Kombat.  Scorpion and the other characters in the game make noises depending on what is happening with them.  There’s even a video on the disc that shows the different voice actors doing death sounds for one of the environmental hazards.

Armageddon also makes good use of the Wiimote speaker.  When performing a special move, the sound of that move comes out of the speaker.  While it can be a bit distracting at first, it is nice feedback to let you know that the move worked.

The biggest question about Armageddon for the Wii is how it controls, since the Wiimote and Nunchuk control scheme is so different from anything we’ve seen before.  Movement is controlled with the Nunchuk analog stick.  The C button changes your fighting style while Z blocks.  On the Wiimote, 1 grabs the stage weapon, A throws your opponent, and the basic attacks are mapped to the D-pad.

Moving the Wiimote comes into play with the special moves.  After holding down the B key, you move the Wiimote in a special move movement.  This includes flicking the Wiimote left then right, right then left, up then down, down then up, or in a half circle up or down.  Sometimes these moves aren’t easy to pull off because of the timing involved.  However, when you are actually able to pull off these moves, it feels more natural than using a traditional controller.  Those who would rather play with a traditional controller do have the option though, as Midway has included support for both the GameCube controller as well as the Wii Classic Controller.

Armageddon feels a lot like Deadly Alliance and Deception.  If you enjoyed those games, you’ll probably enjoy Armageddon.  Based on the same engine, you’ll get the same gameplay from the other two games here.  Some changes have been made through.

Armageddon includes a Wii Training Mode where you can spar against a training partner and practice your moves.  You are given instructions as to which moves to perform, and you can do this with each character to learn each ones individual moves.  However, there is also a Wii Training Video.  In the video, some examples of the different Wii moves are shown.  A few of the special moves for specific characters are shown here as well.  This gives you a good idea how to perform the moves and how the reaction is.

Arcade is the main portion of the game.  Here you work your way up a ladder through different locations until you reach the final boss.  The Endurance mode also has you fighting, but this time it’s against random characters and your health doesn’t regenerate until after a few rounds.  The Versus mode allows two players to play against each other. A practice mode allows you to try new moves at your own pace with a sparing partner.

The Konquest mode is back as well.  Here you play as Taven on a quest from his father.  However, instead of being a one-on-one fighting game, Konquest plays to be more like the spin-off Shaolin Monks.  The action is faster and more frantic, but the storyline is linear.  It is a nice change of pace from the one-on-one fighting game.

Armageddon features the largest list of fighters in any Mortal Kombat game.  In fact, with over 60 characters, I believe it’s the largest list of fighters ever in one game.  Characters that you haven’t seen since the first game and other obscure characters show up, as well as crowd favorites.  Khameleon is a character that is exclusive to the Wii system.  Some of the characters had to go through some changes so that they wouldn’t be overpowering and so they could be controlled, but they all remain faithful to the original character.

The fighting style of Armageddon doesn’t stray far off from the other two games.  However, because of the number of characters in the game, only two fighting modes are included.  In general, one is a hand-to-hand while the other is weapon based.  While purists might be disappointed in only two modes, this helps so that you aren’t bogged down by memorizing different combos for each stance.

The stages all seem to have some kind of interactivity to them.  Some of them have multiple levels, and some have danger zones where if you are hit while in there you’ll get some kind of sadistic death animation.  This adds some strategy to the position in the fighting area you are standing in.  Some of the levels are brand new, but you’ll recognize a few favorites from previous games.

Armageddon has become a bit more strategic in its later years.  While you can get away with button mashing (D-pad mashing?) for a little while, if you don’t play strategically you will get your butt whipped consistently.  You do need to think about how the moves work and time it accordingly, especially since your opponent can block you and leave you vulnerable.  The Breakers are back though, which can be used to get out of a combo.  You only get three per match, so you need to plan on using them accordingly.  Knowing when to use them could be life and death later on in the match.

Mortal Kombat is known for itsfatalities, which feature unique and sometimes grotesque death animations.  Armageddon takes a different approach with the Kreate a Fatality mode.  When you see the “Finish Him/Her” up on the screen a red bar appears.  During this time you are given time to perform moves that will result in a true fatality.  This makes it better for new people to be able to come up with something instead of being frustrated that they don’t know how to perform them. 

Armageddon does have the issue of the really tough boss fight at the end.  The last two fights are incredibly difficult.  While they are a bit easier than the final boss in King of Fighters: Maximum Impact, it can be frustrating to beat the last bosses.  At least you can continue to fight until winning the match.

Armageddon includes a lot of value for the money.  First of all, as mentioned before, there are over 60 characters available in the game.  That’s a lot of characters to play as.  If you get bored with one character or want to try a different fighting style, there are plenty to choose from.  If you don’t like the characters available, Armageddon also includes a Kreate-A-Fighter mode where you can create a fighter and then take him or her out to battle.  The number of options isn’t exhaustive, but it does a good job to create a new character.

Secondly you have Motor Kombat.  This game could best be described as Mario Kart with the Mortal Kombat characters as racers.  You can control the action by using the Wiimote D-pad or by tilting the Wiimote like an NES controller and tilting it left or right.  There are different characters that you can race as, and different power ups are scattered throughout the track.  It is a nice distraction for a bit, but it’s not something that will be played often as a replacement for Mario Kart.  While the tracks don’t reach the level of F-Zero GX difficulty, some of the courses are quite difficult to navigate.

There is also the Krypt.  Here you unlock extras by earning Koins.  Koins are earned by successfully defeating enemies in the arcade mode as well as performing special actions while fighting in a round.  There are 288 extras available, and they represent new characters, arenas, endings, and production art.

Even though it uses the name Armageddon in the title, I doubt that this will be the last we see of the Mortal Kombat series.  The game isn’t perfect, but it should definitely satisfy those die hard Mortal Kombat fans.  Seeing some old favorites back in action is great, and seeing some characters will provide some fond memories.  If you are looking for a fighting game that uses the Wiimote, there aren’t many options available on the shelves.  Armageddon for the Wii fills that void nicely.

Gaming Trend Score

78

1. Graphics: 74
2. Audio: 78
3. Controls: 82
4. Gameplay: 72
5. Value/Replay: 92
6. OVERALL:78