As implied by the name, all hell has broken loose in the Mortal Kombat universe in Armageddon. Every time a Mortal Kombat tournament is held there are more and more skilled warriors flooding the realms. All of the fighting and power has slowly been tearing the realms apart, including Earthrealm and Oddworld. As a solution to this, the Gods have created a pyramid with a guard known as Blaze. The role of the pyramid is to signal when the final battle for the universe will be held. A five minute long FMV at the beginning of the game introduces the storyline and shows all of the characters battling to get to the top of the pyramid. At the very end of the FMV a very dead looking Liu Kang returns to take on Shang Tsun and it is clear that Armageddon has begun.
Fight!
The chess kombat and puzzle kombat modes have been removed from this incarnation and have been replaced with a few new features. The first thing you'll realise when you start the game up is that the Konquest mode has returned, but it's no longer a chore to play through. The konquest mode revolves around Taven, one of the new characters in Armageddon. In the main adventure you'll face off against some memorable Mortal Kombat characters, as well as some thugs, who all look rather similar to each other. The Konquest mode is relatively linear and you'll be performing tasks for people to progress, there is also plenty of hidden content to be found in the realms so you'll need to scope out every area to get the most out of the adventure.
One of the new features in Armageddon is the kreate-a-fighter mode. You're able to customise the look of your fighter and assign different moves. The customisation is relatively deep, although the new feature isn't all that entertaining, so you're more likely to just stick with the characters that have been included in the game, of which there are plenty.The fatality system has also been given an overhaul. Instead of putting in a specific button combination at the end of a battle you're able to now put in your own sequence of buttons to "create a fatality". Personally, I preferred it when you could just put in some sequences and watch the fatalities whereas now you literally have to work for them, and even then they're not that impressive.
One of the more quirky included in the game is Motor Kombat. Motor Kombat is a take off of Mario Kart and is a relatively enjoyable but shallow kart racing game. The game includes five tracks, which are all reminiscent of Mortal Kombat battle arenas. You can choose from ten Mortal Kombat characters including Baraka, Jax and Kitana. Motor Kombat feels like it was added at the last moment, but if you want a deviation from the fighting then this will fulfil your urges, the game can even be played split screen with a friend or online with eight players.
The Konquest mode has been reworked for the better.
The online play has returned and aside from playing motor kombat online you can also fight one on one against opponents online. There are a few basic customisation options that you select before a battle (such as whether you allow custom created characters or not) but overall it's pretty easy to get into a game. Due to the time difference we had a few issues finding people online to play, although this could change once the game has been out a little bit longer. When we did find battles we didn't have any issues at all with lag.
One of the greatest disappointments of Armageddon is the fact that the gameplay seems like more of an afterthought; rather than being the primary focus during development. The defence meter from Mortal Kombat Deception has been removed completely and you're now able to parry incoming your opponents by pressing block and heading back at the same time. If you parry an opponent then you have a few seconds to attack them because they'll be temporarily defenceless. Air combos also play an important part in the combat as well and you can now perform aerial moves. Aside from these minor additions the combat feels near identical to Mortal Kombat: Deception
Visually the game isn't all that distinguishable from it's predecessors. The stages have a little more detail but the character animation and character models feel like they've been recycled from the previous games. The sound is about as decent as you would expect from a Mortal Kombat title. The sounds of combat and freaky music that plays in the background whilst you fight gives the game a unique sound.
A screen from the kreate-a-fighter mode
If there is one thing we can't fault Mortal Kombat: Armageddon for it is the lifespan. The Konquest mode alone could take up to ten hours and then there is the arcade mode, the online play and the motor kombat mini game. There are also plenty of unlockables which include bonus characters as well as other hidden goodies. Collecting all of these is a monumental task.
Mortal Kombat: Armageddon isn't a massive upgrade. Mortal Kombat Trilogy congregated all of the characters from the first three Mortal Kombat titles into one large game, much like Trilogy, Armageddon gives players a wealth of choice, with over fifty fighters to choose from. Sadly the gameplay hasn't changed much and the new additions to the game are relatively pointless (kreate-a-fighter and the new fatality system) but Mortal Kombat: Armageddon is still a lot of fun, which is, in the end all that matters.
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