|
As
one of the worlds leading beat-‘em-up franchises, Midway have
huge legacy to live up to. They’ve have had a lot of success with
the Mortal Kombat franchise,
right from its early days people the world over have spent hour
after hour kicking two tons of crap out of the characters or
friends on multiplayer. Previous 3D renditions of the franchise (Mortal
Kombat: Deadly Alliance and Mortal Kombat 4) have fallen
short of this. Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance now appears like working code for Mortal
Kombat: Deception. The moves didn’t flow into each other and
the graphics weren’t as well presented.
Although
Mortal Kombat: Deception is never going  to
be released on the GameCube in the
UK
, to my delight a college of mine (who was in
America
) bought me a copy. The GameCube version of the title had been held
back because the other formats were falling behind schedule. So
Midway added a few special features; Shao Khan and Goro as playable
characters (never before have these two characters been playable).
At the beginning of the game you start with 6 more players than the
other versions.
I’ve
played Mortal Kombat: Deception on the Xbox and PlayStation2 and, although
it’s a great game on both systems it falls short of the GameCube
version - partly because of the systems themselves. It’s not so
much the systems fault the developers haven’t worked so hard at
correcting all the faults and sloppy controls; the PlayStation2’s
Dual Shock2 controller just hurts my hands and the S-pad
controller for the Xbox is plain awful - why did Microsoft change
from their original pad? You know, -the chunky pad- which in my
opinion is a much better pad. I hear you say  “well
the PlayStation2 pad is a better controller than any other pad!”.
This is the response you get from the uneducated gamer - people who
don’t give a system the chance to prove itself. You simply
can’t just play one game then judge a system (just like our
preconceptions when we meet someone new).
In
my opinion the design of the GameCube release is a much better
system. It’s clearer than the PlayStation2 version, the controls
(oh those lovely GameCube controls) are much better and the newly
added Analogue control is calibrated perfectly. The usual moves
apply like pressing towards on the D-pad whilst pressing B, B, Y, B
for combos etc… My point is bolstered by the fact that Nintendo
gave full development of the controller to a gamer; instead of just
improving on earlier designs. I can’t work out why everyone moans
about the GameCube controller, everyone says “I can’t get used
to it, the controls are all  in
funny places it’s a weird shape blah de blah…”
The controls are there at your fingertips, it fits snugly
into the palm of your hands, and the Analogue sticks are in much
better places and, the WaveBird -what an amazing piece of
technology.
Mortal
Kombat has evolved into a really hard but truly great game,
causing the same effect on the market that the original did over
ten years ago. They’ve polished all the imperfections out of the
game which Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance had in abundance.
You still have the three fighting styles (although polished up a
bit to allow the moves to flow into each other easier). New
multi-tiered arena’s to take the game to new levels, which
includes brutal death-traps and mid-level weaponry. Unleash combos
and other various moves on your opponents to get them to the edge,
pull off an uppercut and watch them fall into the depths of a pit
to be impaled on spikes or smash to pieces on the rocks below.
There are also various other death-traps like a hot iron press,
throw your opponent into the press and watch them squeal as they
try to escape the clutches of death. The
combat is solid and a well constructed series of specials and
combos. The usual array Mortal Kombat finishers return, with
a variety of Fatalities and Hara-Kiri’s for each character.
There
are other modes as well which includes the traditional
Arcade
and Multiplayer. A new addition is Chess Kombat, a game
based on chess with a Mortal Kombat style twist. The aim is
to play through the game like the traditional Chess game, take your
opponents pieces one-by-one. When two pieces meet they engage in Mortal
Kombat. The pieces strengths depend on which player they are,
remember to be careful when confronting pieces on the board. You
can also lay traps which eliminate any pieces that land on the
square you chose to lay said trap on. There are also power-up
squares which increases your chess pieces strength.
Compete against your friends or the AI in Puzzle Kombat, a
game reminisce of the original Nintendo classic Tetris with
another little Mortal Kombat twist. Whilst playing you will
notice mini-me characters fighting at the bottom of the screen. You
have a super-bar to fill by performing combos (which you achieve by
destroying multiple blocks). When your super-bar is full you can
press Y and unleash a special attack; ranging from either
rearranging your opponents blocks or reducing the amount of blocks
on your board. The Krypt makes a return giving you the option to
buy character profiles, new arenas, art work etc. when you have
earned lots of Koins – done so by winning bouts of any mode
against AI opponents.
The
Konquest mode allows you to explore a free-roaming
environment. Expanded heavily since Mortal Kombat: Deadly
Alliance
, you play as a  novice
fighter you have tough training to do, learning moves and improving
your prowess as a warrior - which allows you to improve your
ability to defeat your opponents a lot more effectively. The moves
you learn become harder and harder to pull off, but after a while
they become second nature like previous games in the franchise,
although when you are running around the free-roaming environment,
it reminds you of controlling a player in a PlayStation game.
The
management of the polygons is near perfect, the characters are much
sharper than the characters in Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance and
the textures in the arenas have been vastly improved on, with
almost no imperfections. The theme tune and background music is of
becoming of a Mortal Kombat game of this calibre, but rarely
more than average for the GameCube.
This
title is the most complete Mortal Kombat package to date,
making it a must have of this generation. But unfortunately it will
never be released in the
UK
on the GameCube, once again making importing games or yelling at
Nintendo a priority depending on your situation. Rival system’s
versions fall short of the GameCube release, and so my advice is to
buy it on import because you are missing out on the greatest
version of this game. 
|
