{"id":297,"date":"2024-05-11T04:11:26","date_gmt":"2024-05-11T04:11:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gaminginsurrection.com\/mortalkombatmayhem\/?p=297"},"modified":"2024-05-11T04:11:26","modified_gmt":"2024-05-11T04:11:26","slug":"game-review-mortal-kombat-armageddon-2006","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gaminginsurrection.com\/mortalkombatmayhem\/index.php\/2024\/05\/11\/game-review-mortal-kombat-armageddon-2006\/","title":{"rendered":"Game Review: Mortal Kombat Armageddon (2006)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Armageddon cometh but kind of mediocre<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"You know you’re scraping the bottom of the barrel when you have to pull two collection games out of your hat. We got Mortal Kombat Trilogy, which was completely unnecessary but OK for pulling together the major players of the Arcade Era. But then here comes Armageddon, the last crowning jewel of the main canon games of the Midway Mortal Kombat days. And, just like that, you could see the relevancy of Mortal Kombat slip away.<\/p>\n

Armageddon tells a light tale that has since been superseded by other more competent remakes. In Armageddon, the forces of evil – led by series villains Shang Tsung, Quan Chi, Shinnok, Onaga and Shao Kahn – are intent upon defeating Blaze and taking out the forces of good – heralded by series go-to leader Raiden. This imminent clash was foretold by seer Delia and her Edenian protector god husband Argus. To stall for time and prevent the titular Armageddon, they seal their sons Taven and Daegon away to awaken and pursue a quest that ends with defeating Blaze and preventing Armageddon.<\/p>\n

Aside from the fact that Delia, Argus, Taven and Daegon are weird characters for various reasons not limited to some dubious decisions and choices, the story isn’t half bad. That is, until you realize that the story is obviously retconned by Mortal Kombat 9 in that game’s opening moments. That immediately makes everything that happens in Armageddon superfluous. But then years later, Mortal Kombat 11 came into existence to neatly wrap all of this up in a nice bloody bow by telling you that this is just one tale out of countless tales that repeat these exact events.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

In hindsight, and knowing what we now know as the MK Multiverse, this story still stands and it’s OK in the grand scheme of things. It needed to be told, and it’s decently paced and nuanced so that any casual or hardcore MK fan can follow it and understand what’s at stake.
\nWhile I can deal with the story, I’m less enthused about the surrounding product. Everything else is mediocre and kind of lazy. There’s the now-standard Krypt, Konquest mode – which tells the story through adventuring with Taven – Motor Kombat and Kreate A Fighter. All of these modes are kind of half-baked, undercooked with a hint of promise. Konquest mode is better than previous iterations but it’s still kind of obnoxious to deal with because of slipshod controls, a goofy camera and Taven being the densest character ever created in a fighting game. It’s not a hard mode to mess around in, but it’s not a whole lot of fun, either. Motor Kombat, which is the worst of the bunch, is a not-so-cute rip-off of Mario Kart.<\/p>\n

Of all of the mini-games MK has shoehorned in the 3D era, Motor Kombat plays the worst. It’s limited in what it’s stealing from Mario Kart, and it’s not even stealing the best parts. There’s little incentive to play it because of the meager Krypt koin collection, and the AI is obnoxious even on the lowest difficulty. It really seems like it’s just there as a time filler. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: The time spent on these mini-games could have been spent bettering the product, like making the practice mode a lot more in-depth and filled out. By the time Armageddon was released, there were other fighting games on the market doing better with the basics in the practice mode than this. There’s no excuse for the barebones mess that makes up that mode. By far the best mode is actually the Kreate A Fighter. Even with its paywalled items and bare feeling, it’s still got a lot to offer and might be where you spend the most time.<\/p>\n

The game obviously runs on the Deception framework, so it plays exactly like that game. So, if you were a fan of the combo system of Deception and the look and feel, you’re probably going to like how Armageddon gets down. Deception was and is an “in hindsight this plays OK” kind of game, so I don’t have issues with Armageddon’s feel.<\/p>\n

While some of the design decisions are questionable, at least the graphics and the soundtrack are good. The game looks like a better resolution version of Deception, which wasn’t a terrible-looking game to start with. Character models look clean and crisp, and the characters actually look interesting enough for me to want to try them out if I happened to miss the entry they originated in. The soundtrack is also spectacular. There are quite a few bangers here, which was surprising. The sound effects are fun but for the most part is the nonsensical foolishness you’ve heard in 3D Mortal Kombat for decades. It’s nothing life-changing, but the soundtrack is the star here.<\/p>\n

Most of Armageddon is mediocre, already-tread stuff, but one of the more disappointing things that the game tries to present as a gift is the Kreate A Fatality system. Never have I been more disappointed in the lack of creativity in a Mortal Kombat game than I was with Armageddon’s god-awful goofy system. The reasoning for it doesn’t even make sense: If MK Trilogy was able to pull off that many characters and have two fatalities per character in the age of discs and cartridges, there should have been a way for Armageddon to do the same. In fact, my solution was to not give everyone two fatalities; they should have picked the best or most iconic one for each character and called it a day. Shockingly, the Kreate A Fatality system was not good and went over about as well as Hara-Kiris. Thankfully, that feature went out and creativity came back in with later entries.<\/p>\n

MK Armageddon isn’t the worst game in the franchise, but it’s not the best, either. It could have used more initiative and effort in some areas, and overall, it suffers from senioritis. You could tell it was time to start thinking about new ideas for the franchise direction and it was kind of phoned in, which Mortal Kombat has never been about. It’s a decent entry for the collection but it’s fine if you skip it and jump straight to the Reboot Era. You could sleep through this Armageddon, and it still would be fine.<\/p>\n

Score: 2.5 out of 5<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Who’s the boss in the world of Mortal Kombat?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Mortal Kombat, at its core, is about the battle between good and evil. And the evil of Mortal Kombat is notoriously super evil. These big bads of the MK franchise have made an impact through their various misdeeds and foolishness on a cosmic scale.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Goro<\/strong>
\nFirst appearance:<\/strong> Mortal Kombat 1992
\nBoss appearances:<\/strong> 2
\nThe four-armed menace known as Goro has captivated our hearts since his introduction in the attract mode of Mortal Kombat. He didn’t have to say anything; he just wailed away with his four arms of destruction to get his point across. Anytime Goro is on the roster or is featured in the hierarchy, we get scared. That is how you make a name for yourself in the fighting game boss landscape.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Shang Tsung<\/strong>
\nFirst appearance:<\/strong> Mortal Kombat 1992
\nBoss appearances:<\/strong> 6
\nShang Tsung appears to be the head honcho as the boss of the first game, mostly because he’s the last person you face. His shapeshifting abilities create an illusion of a dangerous shifty character who shouldn’t be trusted. We didn’t realize how correct we would turn out to be. He’s not even the guy in the big chair, and he’s somehow the most obnoxious out of all of Mortal Kombat’s bad guys.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Kintaro<\/strong>
\nFirst appearance:<\/strong> Mortal Kombat II (1993)
\nBoss appearances:<\/strong> 1
\nIt’s a shame that, though Kintaro is physically more imposing than his Shokan cousin, he really is a poor man’s Goro. He has more moves and does more damage, but he isn’t up to the snuff that his dragon kin established in the first game. He does not engender fear or concern, though we mostly chalk that up to mastering MKII. Still, he’s not the most fearsome boss and after Goro, we’re not impressed.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Shao Kahn<\/strong>
\nFirst appearance:<\/strong> Mortal Kombat II (1993)
\nBoss appearances:<\/strong> 4
\nIt turns out Shang Tsung reported to someone above him because he was just a junior executive in the Mortal Kombat Outworld is Terrible Association(tm). Shao Kahn is “the guy” in Outworld, and you know how he got there? By killing the previous “guy.” He then proceeded to run everything into the ground, corrupt the Tournament and invade other realms needlessly. Oh, and he tried to obliterate Earthrealm illegally, resulting in Armageddon several times. Too bad he’s a dumb narcissist who trusts the wrong henchmen.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Motaro<\/strong>
\nFirst appearance:<\/strong> Mortal Kombat 3 (1995)
\nBoss appearances:<\/strong> 1
\nYou hear more about what Motaro does than actually seeing Motaro. He’s really just a placeholder middle management minion for Shao Kahn in Mortal Kombat 3 and its update, so he’s really not worth getting excited about. The only thing that’s worth noting about him is that he reflects fireballs. Other than that, he’s mid-tier at best.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Quan Chi<\/strong>
\nFirst appearance:<\/strong> Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero (1997)
\nBoss appearances:<\/strong> 6
\nQuan Chi looks ridiculous but is actually a powerful Netherrealm sorcerer who continuously has his fingers in a lot of the machinations of Mortal Kombat lore. He’s known for his constant scheming and betrayals, so it’s no wonder that he finds a way to stay relevant in whatever timeline he shows up in.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Shinnok<\/strong>
\nFirst appearance:<\/strong> Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero (1997)
\nBoss appearances:<\/strong> 3
\nShinnok is one of the worst bosses of Mortal Kombat, and it’s mostly because he had the unfortunate distinction of coming after Shao Kahn and Shang Tsung. Though he’s arguably more dangerous, he associates with and trusts Quan Chi, so that’s a knock to start with. He also doesn’t do anything particularly well in any of his appearances, other than start mayhem and then get owned by Raiden.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Onaga<\/strong>
\nFirst appearance:<\/strong> Mortal Kombat: Deception (2004)
\nBoss appearances:<\/strong> 1
\nOnaga is the big boss that you think is going to be frightening but turns out to be a waste of precious time and resources. Yes, he was fearsome in the intro to Deception. But he stuck around for one game and most of his appearance was someone guarding his egg. Shao Kahn also poisoned him to take over Outworld. Any being who employs Shao Kahn and doesn’t see that betrayal coming is not worthy of praise.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Blaze<\/strong>
\nFirst appearance:<\/strong> Mortal Kombat Armageddon (2006)
\nBoss appearances:<\/strong> 1
\nSo, you are given a job and get kidnapped on your first day. You lost to Shao Kahn and basically became the baseline reason why a timeline was reset. And let us not forget, you started out existence as a weird Easter egg that no one had any clue about until your creators made you top dog for a giant compilation game. Blaze, my man, you need to get with someone after class and catch up on the notes. At least your stage battle music is fire.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Dark Khan<\/strong>
\nFirst appearance:<\/strong> Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe (2008)
\nBoss appearances:<\/strong> 1
\nThis weird amalgamation of Shao Kahn and Darkseid makes little sense, but also consider the fact that MK vs. DC Universe also makes little sense. However little sense it makes, it does posit that the merged being is one of the strongest in either universe. That does make sense considering both are incredibly powerful in their separate universes. Neither are fun to fight on their own, so they aren’t going to be fun to fight merged into one being.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Kronika<\/strong>
\nFirst appearance:<\/strong> Mortal Kombat 11 (2019)
\nBoss appearances:<\/strong> 1
\nThe first female boss of Mortal Kombat is actually beyond all powerful. Verging on omnipotence, Kronika is really the overall series big bad and pretty fun to fight against. It would have been nice to see her finishing move actually used in game (Editor’s note: The AI never uses it, but it’s programmed), but she’s still a good villain just based on the sheer power she displays in crafting the Mortal Kombat universe. It’s too bad she only makes one appearance and will not be returning, as indicated by in-game dialog.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Armageddon cometh but kind of mediocre You know you’re scraping the bottom of the barrel when you have to pull two collection games out of your hat. We got Mortal Kombat Trilogy, which was completely unnecessary but OK for pulling together the major players of the Arcade Era. But then here comes Armageddon, the last<\/p>\n

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