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Mortal Kombat: Armageddon
is the latest title in the
Mortal Kombat
fighting game
series. The
PlayStation 2
version was released in stores on
October 11,
2006
while the
Xbox
version was released on the 16th, with a
Wii
version announced for early 2007. There
are no plans to release an Xbox version
in
PAL
territories. It is also the final
Mortal Kombat game on the
PlayStation 2 and Xbox, and the first on
the Wii. |
Storyline
Throughout the
Mortal Kombat universe, the warriors were
growing too strong and numerous for the realms
to handle. The warriors' powers threaten to
utterly destroy the fabric of the MK
universe. These warriors clashed in a single
battle royale that would threaten to rip apart
reality. Without warning, a pyramid rises from
the ground, and the tip bursts into flames,
attracting the warriors' curiosity to see what
it was. The kombatants fought one another to get
to the top, while Blaze revealed himself to
them. The firespawn was created by the Elder
Gods to destroy as many fighters as possible in
order to save the realms from armageddon. This
would be the warriors' last battle, their last
chance to prove that they are worthy of
surviving, while many others will perish. This
will be the final battle for Mortal Kombat,
the battle that will determine the fate of the
realms...
Character roster and
information
Originally,
Armageddon was billed as featuring every
single fighter from the six main installments of
the franchise thus far. Later, developers went
on to add characters that were exclusive to the
renditions of such titles (for example,
Chameleon from
Mortal Kombat Trilogy)
to the final roster.
The Armageddon
roster contains 62 fighters (other than those
that can be created by the player in Kreate a
Fighter mode), the most of any Mortal Kombat
game to date:
A pre-release version of the Armageddon
character select screen
Armageddon
does not include every single fighter that has
appeared in the franchise. Some characters that
have appeared in the adventure titles -
Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero,
Mortal Kombat: Special Forces,
and
Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks
- are not in Armageddon. Also absent is
Khameleon,
a secret character who appeared in the
Nintendo 64
version of Mortal Kombat Trilogy. As a
result, Khameleon is the only character from the
actual fighting games of the series that does
not make an appearance in Armageddon.
Only two characters, Daegon and Taven, are new
to the series.
It should also
be noted that not all the characters have
alternate costumes. Some of the "boss"
characters, such as
Onaga,
Moloch, and
Blaze do
not have alternate costumes, while some of the
special characters, such as
Chameleon,
Meat,
Mokap, and
Daegon, are
limited to one costume as well.
Konquest
mode
The Konquest mode in
Armageddon is a combination of the same
mode seen in Deception with elements
borrowed from the spin-off adventure title
Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks. The storyline
centers on Taven and Daegon, two brothers who
were put in suspended animation because their
mother known as Delia, (a sorceress) and their
father, Argus, (the Edenian protector god)
foresaw a cataclysmic event brought about by the
Mortal Kombat fighters. Their awakening
leads into the Konquest mode, which in turn
leads into the game's standard play.
Taven is the main
hero that the player controls in Konquest,
whilst Daegon is the primary antagonist,
plotting with villains such as Shinnok and The
Red Dragon Clan to destroy his brother. Certain
weapons are available at times in Konquest mode,
which appear to handle very much like those
found in Shaolin Monks. Collecting
various artifacts throughout this mode unlocks
characters and rewards in the rest of the game,
while successfully completing the Konquest
entirely will unlock Taven for arcade play.
New features
Kreate a Fighter
In addition to the
choice of over sixty characters, Armageddon
gives players the ability to design and use new
fighters in the game.
From the
number of options, there are potentially
thousands of different combinations available.
During production, the game offered at least
fourteen different character classes, which
include humans,
Tarkatans,
Mercenaries,
Black Dragon Members,
Ninjas, Retro Ninjas, Geisha Assassins, etc.
However, after the game's release, only one
preset was available to the two genders,
Sorcerer to Male, and Tarkatan to Female.
Although the clothing of each class is still
available, it must be individually unlocked, and
cannot be preset. (All these presets can indeed
be unlocked by unlocking each piece of clothing
that makes up that class. The preset will then
appear under the preset menu.)
Players can give
their character a unique fighting style, by
changing their stance and assigning different
attacks to the buttons on their controller.
There is a range of swords and axes and special
moves to choose from. Most moves and costume
items need to be purchased with koins earned in
the game's other modes, though some moves and
items are available for free from the beginning.
The fighters
can also be given their own storyline. If a
player uses their creation to finish a single
player game, they will see the ending that the
player designed for them, although the ending
will cut off after roughly twelve lines or if
the last line consists of one word. They can
also be used in multiplayer games and online,
using the PlayStation 2's
online capability
or
Xbox Live.
The ending that the game shows is the same text
that the player inputs as the fighters
biography.
Kreate a Fatality
Also new to
the series is the ability to create a
Fatality.
These custom fatalities are a constant series of
commands that players input until the Fatality
ends. This method of performing Fatalities
replaces the character-specific Fatalities of
previous Mortal Kombat games, where
gamers would simply enter one input and view the
Fatality cinematically. As the player adds each
input, less time is allowed for further inputs
and some moves cannot be repeated. There are ten
levels that can be achieved with Kreate a
Fatality (novice gamers average 4 or 5 inputs,
achieving a "Bloody Fatality" or "Mortal
Fatality", while an expert may reach 11 inputs
and achieve an "Ultimate Fatality"). It should
be noted that custom-created fighters lack the
ability to transition the opponent into another
position during these Fatalities.
Motor Kombat
Mortal Kombat: Armageddon's
mini-game is named "Motor
Kombat".
True to the name, Ed Boon compares it to
Mario Kart
in the September 2006 issue of Official Xbox
Magazine. Each of the characters has a
customized
go-kart, as
well as their own special moves. The Motor
Kombat characters keeps their cartoonish "super
deformed"
style that was introduced in Deception's
"Puzzle Kombat" mode. It also includes
style-based fatalities for characters, also
deathtraps.
Motor Kombat
features online play, as well as off-line
support for up to four players (two players in
PS2 version) with a split-screen display. In the
game, players can knock their opponents into
various deathtraps on the courses.
The character roster
for Motor Kombat is Scorpion, Sub-Zero, Bo' Rai
Cho, Jax, Baraka, Raiden, Kitana, Mileena, Cyrax,
and Johnny Cage.
The 5 tracks
available for Motor Kombat are Bo' Rai Cho's
Brewery, Botan Jungle, Lin Kuei Raceway, Lost
Pyramid and Outworld Refinery.
Other info
-
The "Versus Screen" feature from previous
titles in the Mortal Kombat series (MK
through MKG) makes a fresh return in
Armageddon with animated backgrounds.
-
Each character possesses two fighting styles
(instead of three), one hand to hand and one
weapon. It has been said that some
kombatants will focus more on weaponry
styles, while some will focus more on hand
to hand combat and others will mix and match
weapons and martial styles. Some of the
larger bosses, like Onaga, will only have
one fighting style available (which does not
show up) to them to reflect their massive
size. Other Characters forfeit their weapon
style for a second unarmed style.
-
Several classic fighting arenas such as "The
Bell Tower", "Goro's Lair" and "The Subway"
return in Armageddon in 3-D, with new
arenas such as "Lumber Mill", "Meteor Storm"
and "Outworld Spire" as well. There is a
total of 34 fighting arenas in Armageddon.
-
New special moves assigned to many
characters in Armageddon, for
example, Kitana now has a teleport move,
Sonya has a new projectile move, Hsu Hao can
use the laser turret on his chest and so on.
-
Techniques such as Breakers and Parries can
be done in the air.
-
There are alternate ways to unlock all the
features.
-
There are 4 different limited editions
featuring the following content:
-
A 60-minute bonus DVD
with a History of Fatalities movie and
new videos for more than 50 characters,
an animation cell of the cover art
autographed by creator Ed Boon and an
arcade-perfect version of
Ultimate Mortal
Kombat 3.
The limited editions are only available
on the PS2.
-
These
limited editions have different metallic
covers exclusive to certain stores:
Response
So far the
response has been mostly average to positive in
the US with an average score in the 76
percentage at
Game Rankings.
Fan response
has been mostly favorable, citing a complete
character roster (though without
Khameleon),
improved Konquest, and increased playability due
to the inclusion of aerial combat and the
"wake-up" game.
There have
also been complaints by fans, however, some of
which have to do with the rather short length of
the Konquest mode, the new Fatality system that
removes part of what made each character unique,
the recycling of
Deadly Alliance,
Deception
and
Shaolin Monks
character models, and what some view to be
limited resources in the Kreate a Fighter mode.
The storyline of Armageddon has met with
the most amount of criticism. Many characters
who have died in past games or not returned in
ten years suddenly reappear with no mention of
how or why they returned, or what their goals
may be in the tournament (other than for the
sake of simply including them in the roster).
Though the "Premium Edition" of the game
included brief character video bios, further
details were still unclear, usually rehashing
what was already known of the character's
storyline before they vanished. Character
endings have also been ridiculed by many fans,
claiming they do not follow the characters'
established continuity, are generally
nonsensical, poorly written and/or renders their
storyline for the game moot. Midway also
confirmed that there would not be any character
biography screens in Armageddon, adding
to the complaints that the storytelling in
Mortal Kombat was becoming increasingly
confused and of a lower standard. However, in a
recent interview on Mortal Kombat Online, Ed
Boon later stated that bios would be made
available on the Armageddon website.[7]
Kenshi's
bio was the first to be released, made available
on
December 21,
2006. In
January 2007,
Fujin and
Sareena's
bios were released as well.[6]
Awards
-
2006 Spike TV Video Game
Awards: Best Fighting Game.
-
2006
IGN
Awards: Best PS2 Fighting Game.
-
Gaming Target
- 52 Games We'll Still Be Playing From 2006
selection
Trivia
In order to
meet Wikipedia's
quality standards,
this article's trivia section requires
cleanup.
Content in the trivia section should be
integrated into other appropriate areas of the
article.
-
In October 2006, the
attorney
Jack Thompson
sent a letter to
Midway Games,
demanding they
cease and desist
selling Armageddon, claiming that the
game was illegally profiting on his
likeness, because gamers could use the
Kreate a Fighter option to make a character
who looked like him.
-
Previous MK titles Deadly Alliance
and Deception required players to
keep track of six different kinds of "koins",
or money used in the game, to unlock hidden
features. In Armageddon, developers
decided to simplify things and make only one
kind of "koin" available, which can be
earned in various amounts by completing
impressive combos or moves in arcade mode,
as well as collecting them under the other
modes of play. Koins allow gamers to
purchase hidden artwork, arenas, or extra
features for their Kreate a Fighter(s).
-
This is the first and only Mortal Kombat
game to date that does not have official
bios for the characters in-game. There were
rumors circulating recently that there were
bios made, but were not put into the game,
but fansite Mortal Kombat Online has
confirmed with Midway that no such bios
exist, in or out of the game. However the
Krypt features a concept for Ermac's bio
before it was scrapped. It is unknown why
Midway chose to eschew the bios this time
around, especially as without them, many
returning characters in the game (including
the ones thought dead, such as Sheeva and
Motaro) do not have any explanation as to
why or how they have returned. The response
to the lack of bios has been so strong, in
fact, that Midway has agreed to release bios
for all characters on their website, such as
for Kenshi, Fujin, and Nightwolf.
-
At E3 2006, a series of machines running
Armageddon were frozen by having Sektor
fight Sub-Zero and doing a specific move.
All the machines were frozen this way, and
they had to be reset.
-
In a Konquest Mode promo movie, unlocked in
the Krypt, it shows that Taven has the
option of using bow and arrows in battle.
Also it depicts him using his Drakesword
anytime during gameplay, and the sword is
attached to his back. However, neither of
these features appear in actual gameplay.
-
An Xbox 360 version for the game was not
slated, as the game was exclusively for the
original Xbox. Along with its three
predecessors, MK: Deadly Alliance, MK:
Shaolin Monks, and MK: Deception, Armageddon
was not featured on the Xbox 360 backwards
compatibality list, resulting in many
criticisms from fans who had already
purchased an Xbox 360. An online petition
was organized on the internet, hosted by
popular Mortal Kombat forums such as
TRMK.org, MortalKombatOnline, and
MortalKombat Outworld. After many months,
Midway and Microsoft agreed to add MKD and
MKA to the list. However, the verdict for
Deadly Alliance and Shaolin Monks is still
awaited
