Review: Mortal Kombat Armageddon
Your one stop shop for all your Mortal Kombat needs.
PROTIP: Many arenas in Armageddon have hazards that will help you decrease the life of your opponents, such as reptilian puss-filled eggs and giant fan blades.
The seventh incarnation of Midway's one-on-one bloodbath, Mortal Kombat: Armageddon, comes to the PlayStation 2 and Xbox with a roster of over 60 playable kombatants, a profusion of extra modes, and enough intestinal shrapnel to make any Mortal Kombat maniac happy. Armageddon isn't merely a victory for the seriesit's the best MK game since Mortal Kombat 2.
Gore Galore
Mortal Kombat vets will immediately notice that the fighting in Armageddon plays much faster than Mortal Kombat: Deception. It's not a dramatic increase in speed, but it definitely makes for a more ferocious fighting experience.
PROTIP: Collect as many koins as you possibly can; this will allow you to buy extra items to dress your created fighters in.
Another thing that you'll notice is that only two fighting styles have been assigned to each character in the game, as opposed to Mortal Kombat: Deception's three. Fighters have a primary fighting style and secondary weapon style. This change is more of a simplification than a cutback, because Deception's three separate move lists were overly complicated.
The streamlined controls allow you to dish out the pain and for MK fans that love the splatter, Armageddon keeps the screen covered with a constant supply of gore. And once you've beaten up on your foes, you can finish them off in a variety of interesting ways. Aside from the character specific death blows, every arena has at least one Stage Fatality while some stages feature multiple ways to off your enemy. For instance, in the Battle Arena enemies can be killed in one of four ways: they can be skewered by spikes, grinded by gears, disintegrated by acid, or burned to a crisp. Better yet, you can even string together your own custom fatalities if you like.
PROTIP: Keep an eye out for glowing lines which indicate a zone where stage fatalities can be performed.
Kolossal Value
But as good as the action is it's the replay value of Mortal Kombat: Armageddon that makes it unbelievable. There's so much to do outside the main arcade mode that you'll feel almost overwhelmed with choices. The Konquest mode feels like a separate game in and of itself. You'll also be able to create your own fighters from scratch to use in the arcade mode, selecting everything from the appearance to their background info.
There is also a Motor Kombat mode where you can race though tracks based on the Mortal Kombat universe as a variety of characters. Think of it as an evil Mario Kart. You can also challenge people online, play the arcade version of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, and earn koins to unlock content in The Krypt, such as more arenas, artwork, music, movies, and alternate costumes.
It truly is an embarrassment of riches and it'd be a crime to pass this blood-splattered classic up.
PROTIP: The number of available characters can be overwhelming. Stick to your favorites but don't be afraid to experiment with new kombatants.
PROTIP: Playing through the Konquest mode will not only result in you accumulating a ton of koins, but you can also find most of the alternate costumes in the game during your adventure.
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