Because this series was a very important part of my own childhood, I’m gonna give a little background on my obsession with the series first.

It’s pretty safe to say that this would’ve been my dream game had it been released in the mid 90’s. Back then, like almost every other 10 year old I knew, I was a huge MK fanboy. I was introduced to it when my mom rented the first one for me when I was six, at the dawn of my gaming obsession. The game was not only violent, but had a certain enigmatic quality to it (Goro literally gave me nightmares). MK II was even better, and was the game that really got me hooked on the series. I have fond memories of going to the arcade on weekends to see if the new MK was there, and skimming through countless magazines to find even the tiniest scrap of info on the next MK game. We even used to roleplay classic MK fights during recess with the MK movie theme as background music. I always picked Reptile.

Naturally, me and many of my friends eagerly anticipated MK III. Unfortunately, they changed a lot of things about the series when I first saw the game in the arcades, so much that I didn’t even recognize it as a Mortal Kombat game at first glance. It almost reminded me of X-men. Despite this change, I still loved it to bits, just not as much as the previous games.

After that, a few "sequels" were made (Ultimate MK 3, MK Trilogy) and some spinoffs (MK Mythologies) as well. Being the diehard fan I was at the time, I even got some enjoyment out of Mythologies. It didn’t take me till years later to realize that it was a (to borrow from the MK lingo for a bit) Komplete Piece of Krap. And just a quick note, do NOT watch the second MK film, as it’s a real eye bleeder.

When MK 4 arrived in the arcades, I wasted no time scraping up some quarters to play it. However, I left the arcade in bitter disappointment, as it was not the game I hoped it would be. Even though MK was now in 3D, not much had changed from past installments. This would be the game that broke my obsession with the series. But shortly afterwards, I finally got to try my hand at other 3D fighters like Tekken, which was just an all around better game than Mortal Kombat.

When Deadly Alliance came out, I was mildly interested, but ended up passing over it. That is, until I read some reviews that it "gave new life to the MK franchise". After buying a used copy a year later, I was blown away by how great it was. Deception hit a little later and was just as good if not better. 

With my interest in the series renewed, I picked up MK Armageddon used at EBGames about a month ago. And now that I’ve spent a good deal of time with it, I’ll share my thoughts on the game below.

Gameplay

I’ll be honest here, I was initially disappointed that Midway changed so much from the past two installments for Armageddon. For instance, in the past two games there were 3 fighting styles for each character, but now there are only two. And also, the fighters no longer have their own unique fatality’s. Where’s Kano’s heart rip fatality? And what about Kung Lao’s hat slice? Or Raiden’s shock till ya explode finisher?

I guess this is what they had to do to make room for all the characters they put in it, but whatever. Speaking of characters, they’re ALL in the game. Nightwolf, Sheeva, Kai, Reptile, Kintaro, you name em, and they’re in it. Even Liu Kang is back, even though hes in zombie form now.

In addition to this, they have added some pretty cool new features, like air combos for example. Think of the air fighting in Dragon Ball Z and youll get the idea. Theres also some new stuff like Motor Kombat and MK Online, which I havent been able to test out for myself due to a lack of a proper set-up.

The Konquest, on the other hand, is very linear and about as irritating as the non-Sonic stages in the 3D Sonic games. And Im gonna have to take more points off for the exclusion of Puzzle Kombat, which I thought was barrels of fun.

And before I forget, the stages are mostly 3D remakes of pre-Deadly Alliance arenas, such as the subway (MK 3), the lair (MK 1), graveyard (MK 3), and the soul chamber (also MK 3).

6.5 out of 10

Sound

The music in the game ranges from moody Eastern style tracks to haunting lair music (for lack of a better description). And in classic MK fashion, there’s plenty of blood curdling screams when you knock you’re opponent into a pool of acid or a pit of spikes.

Sorry, no Toasty’s though.

3 out of 5

Overall

It’s a disappointing, but still fun spiritual follow up to MK Trilogy from way back in the 32 bit era. If you can, buy it used, because it is not worth paying full price for it.

I hear the next game won’t even include any of the characters from the original series, so I’m gonna keep a lookout for news on it. And if you ever were a diehard MK fan like I once was, you should too.

Total: 9.5 out of 15