Mortal Kombat: Deception

THE BAD:
No online. Konquest is a bit stale. Every word begins with K.

SUMMARY:
The Deadly Alliance has fullfilled its destiny. Even the Earthrealm Champions could not stop this force from taking over the Outworld. The Thunder God, Raiden, stood before the alliance, challenging them to Mortal Kombat. He fought well, but the strength of the two warriors was too much for Raiden to take. Falling before them, the Realms seemed to be under the control of Shang Tsung and Quan Chi. However, greed filled them, and the Alliance fell into Deception. The two fight in Kombat, and Quan Chi becomes victorious. However, the ancient phropehsy is forfilled, and the cursed Dargon King has been resurected. Quan Chi tries with his last power to stop the evil King, but to no prevail. Shang Tsung rises, and the old Alliance combines there power to destroy the Dragon King. But this does nothing, even when Raiden might is added. Knowing the end is near, Raiden uses his last breat to bring about his strongest power and destroy everything. The Dragon King escapes the blast, and is back to control the Nexus. And that's just the opening movie.

Everyone know Mortal Kombat. Lots of blood. Lots of fighting. Lots of fun. Deadly Alliance was a good step forward in the seris, and so is this. Let's start with the good stuff.

First off, the gameplay is basically the same as Deadly Alliance. The controls are solid and the gameplay is fierce. However, new to the battle are stages with multiple layers. Imagine this. You're fighting a guy ontop of a huge tower. Near the edge, you throw him over. He falls to the ground onto another level after taking some serious damage. Sweet, huh? Also, there are death traps in each level. Anything from a pool of acid to a large spike throguh the gut; give your opponet a push and it's instant victory. Kinda cheap, actually. The fight can end very quickly if you know the satge well. But very cool, none the less. Also, as many MK fans know, there are three diffrent fighting styles for each characters, making it seems like there's three times as many characters. Swithcing between stances is essential to winning, and you must master some difficult combos if you want to kill the Dragon King.

There are also new modes, including Puzzle and Chess Kombat. Chess is what you expect: the ancient game with the bloody goodness of Mortal Komat. You make a team and challenge others to fight. However, weaker pieces, like Grunts (Pawns to normal people) are weaker in health than others. Also, when you fight, you keep the damage you sustained from the last battles. Good stuff. There are also sorceerors to bring back lost pieces and kill others. You can also set traps to instantly kill other teams peices. For Puzzle Kombat, it's that. A puzzle. No fighting at all. Just a Dr. Mario type rip-off. But extremly fun. It's good times.

There is also a Konquest mode, which you take the roll of the Elder God's Champion to try and save the Realms. Now, my problems start. There are a hell of alot of invisable walls, so you get stuck without even knowing. Also, there are alot of pop ups as well, so building appear out of no where. You also have to quit the game when you save, which is annoying.

Did I say fatalities? I don't think I did. With over 50 gut-busting, blood-squiritng, soul-shreeding moves, you can kill your opponent in more than one way. Also, there are suicide moves called Hari-Kari's, in which you can kill yourself instead to becoming fatalitized. Also, instead of online play, the Gamecube version gets Shao Kahn and Goro. Any MK fan knows this is amazing. Both characters are brutal and fierce, some of the best characters in the game. However, online would still be nice.

One of my favorite parts of the game is the Krypt. Normally in games, you do a certain task to unlock diffrent things. In this game, however, you are awarded Koins, which unlock Koffins in the Krypt. Damn. Alot of K's in this game. Each Koffin holds a diffrent unlockable. You never know what's gonna come up, so it's a gamble. Anything from new characters to a picture of a guy who made the game. And you do get alot of pictures.

Overall, a great fighter. At $40, it's a good buy. You'll spend alot of time playing this and enjoying most of the time you do. It's just not good enough to be great.