Reviews

Mortal Kombat Armageddon is supposed to be the finial installment of the Mortal Kombat series for the Xbox and Playstation 2 consoles. It is supposed to end the franchise with a mighty bang, but ends up being nothing more than a weak whimper.

Since this is supposed to be the swan song for this iteration of the series, they have thrown in nearly every character that has ever been in a Mortal Kombat game which gives you more than sixty characters to play with. On top of that, you can even create custom characters.

The graphics and character models are good for the aging Xbox platform. The stage design is acceptable, but they are not nearly as engaging as those presented the previous games. They are decent, they work, but they are nothing to get excited. Everything seems to be a bit overly dark and gloomy to me, and I can't help but wonder if this has been done to hide limitations in the game engine. The sound is adequate, nothing special, or memorable.

The kombat game play works well though. It hasn't changed much from the previous titles. The biggest difference I noted is that you now have two fighting styles instead of three. I assumed this was done to accommodate the huge roster of playable characters. This game also marks the return of aerial attacks which have not be been present in the series for at least the last two games.

Mortal Kombat: Armageddon has multiple play modes. There is the traditional arcade mode, versus mode, online mode, Konquest adventure mode, and Motor Kombat. In the traditional arcade mode you fight a series of progressively harder opponents until you reach the boss character. The versus mode lets you play against your friends on a stage of your choosing. The online mode lets you compete against other players worldwide. The Motor Kombat is basically a dumbed down version Mario Kart with a dash of Mortal Kombat violence thrown in; it's entertaining, but it's not the real meat of the game.

By far, what I found to be the biggest disappointment of the game is what they did to the Konquest mode. In the previous title, Mortal Kombat Deception, Konquest mode was a full blown adventure game. You could of almost called it 'The Kombat RPG'. It was a vast and fully fleshed out game, though it lacked any real ending, it was very entertaining and enjoyable. I spent a lot of time playing it.

I beat the Konquest mode in Mortal Kombat Armageddon in two sittings. And the only reason it was two sittings instead of one was because I had to get up to use the bathroom once.

The Konquest mode in this title was basically watered down version of Mortal Kombat Shaolin Monks, without the in depth character progression, freedom to explore, or story scope. It amounts to little more than a uninteresting imitation of one great games, and an unworthy successor to another.

Mortal Kombat Armageddon is a decent game. It is disappointing when compared to other recent Mortal Kombat games like Mortal Kombat Deception and Mortal Kombat Shaolin Monks. It you are a fan of the Mortal Kombat universe, it will undoubtedly tickle to get to play will of the characters presented. If you are not a Mortal Kombat fan, I would at least suggest you rent the game and try it out. It does have it's enjoyable moments.

Knot every kombat game is going to be a killer knock out, but at least here you have a klue as to what is koming and what to expect.

The Dead or Alive (DOA) series of fighting games has always presented us with excellent games, and the addition of Dead or Alive 4 to that series proves to be no exception. It is a beautifully rendered and executed piece of interactive video art, and pretty damn fun to play… as long as you have a real person sitting next to you to play it with.

The graphic engine that runs this game is a testament to the power of the Xbox 360; a superb title to shows what this system is capable of doing, and provides us a window through which we are presented hints of what is to come. All of the character models are beautiful and move with a grace I have rarely ever seen in a game of this genre before.

The stages are complex and gorgeous also. Many of them have multiple levels, and some even branch into different arenas. On some of stages elements in the background will come to the foreground and interact with you. There is a stage where animals will run across the screen and knock you over, and another where you fight in the street while dodging cars.

The sound is adequate. If you like Aerosmith (apparently the game designer Tomonobu Itagaki does), you'll probably enjoy the sound track. Overall the music seems to fit the game well and the sound effects along with the character comments all appear to fall right on cue.

There are multiple game play modes to enjoy. You can play the story mode and discover each characters tale. This title, more than any of the previous titles, gives you more story background and explains things in much greater detail by use of the cut scenes and endings. The story of each character also determines what boss that character will face, not everyone faces the same opponent in the end. You can play the time attack mode where you try to beat the game a quickly as possible, or survival mode where you try to survive as long as you can against a stream of opponents. You can also take your fight online is that is something you like to do.

The combat system is somewhat complex, and seems to be quite a bit different from this series earlier incarnations. In addition to learning the combat moves you need to learn how to guard and how to counter. Becoming a master of the game play can be quite frustrating. A sparring mode for training is provided that will help you master some of the more difficult moves.

All of the fighting styles are based on hand to hand martial arts of some sort. There are no weapons as in Soul Calibur, or supernatural powers or projectiles (that I know of) as in Mortal Kombat. Some of the ninja characters can teleport though.

The major fault I find with this game is that it is very hard when playing against the computer. The computer opponent will block and counter many of your moves while you will often fail while trying to do the same. Against a human player you will find that you have a much greater chance of success at these attempts, but against the computer – you will end up getting really frustrated. There are times that you even find yourself driven to hurl your wireless Xbox 360 controller across the room and smash it into the wall (so far, the thought of replacing that fifty dollar controller usually stops me in mid swing).

I blame this obscene difficulty on Tomonobu Itagaki. He is one of those game designers, in the school of thought that is enjoined by Capcom and a few others, who believe that pain is enjoyment. That you must be nearly bleeding from your fingers and greatly frustrated to properly enjoy the games he helps to create. If the title is not supremely difficulty, you will have no reason to play it. Or so he and others seems to think.

Me, personally, I'm perfectly fine with healthy fingers, and good game play. That is why I say you should play this beautiful title with friends. They will suck just as bad as you suck. The will not counter and block every single move you try. They will not be able to cheat, as the computer player will always do.

With your friends, you will enjoy this title.

Alone, it will hurt you, or hurt your wallet when you end up buying a new controller after smashing your old one in frustration.

Disappointed.

That pretty much sums up my feelings about this game.

I don't usually write reviews, but I felt I had to say my bit on this title.

It is a very pretty game. I'll give it that, but little else.

DOAX2 = DOAX1 + better graphics + novelty features - in person multiplayer - some reason to play the game

Let's see... we have the new eye candy mini games. Neato if you love button mashing madness.

We have the new Jet Ski race. Big yay there. It's an entertaining diversion, but nothing overly special. Got old for me quick.

The new casino games are OK. I spent more time playing in the casino than anything else.

We have ONLINE multiplayer now! Woo Hoo! Now you don't have to worry about making real friends and inviting them over! You can just play with whatever random person is out there on the net.

We have online multiplayer at the expense of the offline two player game.

That pretty much kills the game for me.

One of the biggest components of this game and the previous title is going about gathering all of the bathing suits and other goodies for the various characters in the game.

With the old game, whenever a friend came over to play a two player volley ball match, you could show off the various outfits you had acquired, make inappropriate comments about the ladies, whine about losing because of the control scheme, and enjoy your company in general.

With the DOAX2, there is no offline multiplayer game. No local two player mode. I guess the people who made this game figured that the players who would play it didn't get out enough to know any people in person, and those they did know they only talked to over a crackling headset.

Well, that wasn't the case with me and my friends. Between rounds of Halo and Soul Calibur we'd pop in DOAX1 for a change of pace and everyone liked it.

That was the part of the game I really liked: The social aspect.

That made me want to collect all the different outfits and items so I could show them off, and hear my buds comment on them. It gave me a reason keep playing the single player mode (which in no way had an elaborate storyline). And I enjoyed it. I really did.

DOAX1 was a gem.

And while DOAX2 has a pretty face, there is nothing shining behind the eyes.

All in all, even with the online bit, you are still alone, just playing with yourself.