Although it’s an obvious statement, it bears repeating that all fighting games are not created equal. The few people who pine for a new addition to the Killer Instinct “franchise” need only glance at Midway’s Mortal Kombat series to see just how saggy in the middle the fatality-happy fighter has become. With each addition to the series, the game that stole the thunder from Street Fighter II drifts further and further into irrelevance, now in an almost needless, gimped version for Wii. While this motion-”enhanced” version of Mortal Kombat: Armageddon lets you wave your arms around to execute imprecise fatalities (which abandon traditional character-based fatalities for user-customized — and therefore less interesting — fatalities), tacks motion steering onto the rubber-band A.I. frustration of the Motor Kombat mode, and adds an unnecessary new character (Khameleon, bringing the roster well into the 60-plus range), a better value is to be found in the online-enabled Xbox and PS2 versions, which can now be found at half the price. The over-the-top, bloody cartoon violence of Mortal Kombat was once the perfect tonic to the rampant sequelitis that then plagued Capcom’s Street Fighter series. But that was in 1993. With every addition to the Mortal Kombat series, quantity takes over for quality, and personality has taken a backseat. With over five dozen fighters (not to mention the “Kreate-A-Fighter” option) on the roster now, Midway seems content to steer this franchise in the direction of King of Fighters territory, without the relative balance and finesse (not to mention a pure focus on fighting) that that series contains.
While Armageddon’s graphics hold up well on the Wii, the gameplay is straight out of the ’90s, despite the multiple stances and forms and gimmicky interactive environments. While modern fighters move ahead with the times, adding multitiered environments and nimbler controls, Armageddon still mails in the tired old P+P+K combos that make games like Tekken 5 seem fresh by comparison. Armageddon’s only saving grace — beyond the superfluous yet mildly enjoyable extra modes — is the unbelievable wealth of unlockable content. For example, the Konquest mode is little more than running down a path, picking up tokens, and getting in the occasional fight, and Motor Kombat (haha, get it?) is a goofy but ultimately shallow take on the Mario Kart concept, complete with rubber-band A.I. that makes for thankless races against super-deformed Kombat stars.
To say that Sub-Zero and friends have run out of steam may be premature, but this unnecessary port to the Nintendo Wii overestimates Mortal Kombat’s place in this world. The millions of die-hard fans who wanted to get their Kombat on will have no doubt already picked up the superior PS2/Xbox version six months ago. And for all the soccer moms and uncles and grandmas who’ve recently bought the Wii for Wii Sports and Wii Sports alone, well, we can’t imagine them wanting to pull out anyone’s spine any time soon.
