So we come to the middle of our listing of Mortal Kombat games from best to worst. For a recap, see the previous post. Next on our countdown(up) is:
Mortal Kombat: Armageddon (2006). As stated, this game was originally announced as the final chapter of the original Mortal Kombat continuity. This in turn led many people to think it was the last game that would be made whereas if they'd paid attention to the wording, it was clear that it wasn't. Armageddon was the 3rd game in Mortal Kombat's second trilogy of fighting games and it was supposed to bring all the main story lines to a close. Did it? Well, not exactly. Given the direction that the series has taken since 2006, we still don't know which parts of the game are canon and non-canon. The game itself improved on its predecessors in terms of more fluid gameplay and it featured the largest cast of characters in any MK game yet made.
The game was hampered by one humongous problem, "Kreate-a-fatality." This feature replaced the programmed fatalities for each character in the game and for the most part made them all generic. The only standouts were the stage fatalities (known as "death traps") as they maintained their originality. It's been said that it's unthinkable that an MK game could exist without fatalities but that apparently didn't stop them from trying in a way. It's a real shame this feature was included because other, than the fact that the endings of the characters weren't as cinematic as they usually are in the games, it was an extremely good game. The Konquest Mode of the game which told the story of Taven and Daegon was absolutely stellar. The only complaint I had for it was its abandoning of the open-world style that MK: Deception's Konquest Mode featured in favor of a linear style of Konquest mode. In a sense, it's like Konquest Mode made a change from Zelda to Mario in terms of style but that didn't stop it from being a lot of fun.
While Armageddon certainly wasn't a bad game by any stretch, it left a lot of room for improvement. Especially with the idea that we still don't know which parts of the game were and weren't canon. Now in 2013, I'm afraid we've reached the point that no one honestly cares what is canon from this game as it has pretty much fallen into obscurity at this point. In fairness, it would've been nearly impossible for the game to improve on its predecessor which will be listed later in this countdown. Not a great game, but if you can find it for say less than 15 bucks these days, it's probably still worth a go if you can find the Kollector's Edition which featured a bonus disc containing several video featurettes as well as an arcade port of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3.
Up next on our listing, we go all the way back to the beginning. Our next game is:
Mortal Kombat (1992) AKA Mortal Kombat 1 to differentiate it from the 2011 rehash. This was the game that started it all. A surprise hit, the game introduced the major characters to the franchise. Many of which have now become legendary in the annals of video game and pop culture history. There really isn't much I can say because there's nothing previous to compare it to and I personally consider it unfair to compare it to the later games because the technology changed and evolved so quickly in just a few years. If you look at MK1 and MK3 which were created/released just 3 years apart, the only similarities between them is the digitized graphics and gameplay style but even then, they're so different that there's hardly no comparison. I guess the biggest thing I can say about MK1 that most people may not know is that it was developed by only 5 people: Ed Boon, John Tobias, John Vogel, Tony Goskie, and Dan Forden. The game was also intended to be a cheap cash-grab because Street Fighter II was not only the hot fighting game of the time, it was arguably the hottest video game period. I would be willing to argue that this simple cash-grab not only equalled Street Fighter II, but it far surpassed it and even more, I would personally argue that the MK franchise has gone farther than the Street Fighter franchise has. It must be conceded however that if there were no Street Fighter II, there would probably be no Mortal Kombat franchise.
Anyone who is a fan of video games and has never played the original Mortal Kombat owes it to themselves to seek out and play the original. You'll not likely be impressed by it in 2013. In fact, you might look at it and think it's quite primitive. You'd be right, but don't let that stop you from playing the game just to see how the whole thing started. The graphics and audio is extremely primitive compared to today's games, but the gameplay holds up and probably surpasses a lot of modern games which seem to focus so hard on graphics and far less on gameplay.
Mortal Kombat nearly ran out of steam in the late 90's leaving many people to feel the franchise had run its course and would fade away with the 90's. Midway decided the series needed to be rebuilt from the ground up and the result was the next game on our list:
Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance (2002). Much like MK1 did in 1992, this game actually became a sleeper hit in late 2002. As previously stated, most people had written off the franchise by the turn of the century. There hadn't been a new game since MK4 other than Special Forces and the less said about it, the better. John Tobias left Midway in this time period which left Ed Boon as the sole creative lead of the franchise. Mortal Kombat needed their next game to be a hit and not only was it a hit, it completely revitalized the franchise and took it in a whole new direction. Deadly Alliance is the first game in MK's second trilogy and this game is really where the storyline of the series began to shine. Developed for the home consoles, Midway was able to expand the story so much farther than the previous arcade versions of the game were capable of doing due to expanded memory. Aside from introducing many new characters, it also introduced Konquest Mode to the franchise which served as a side-game and helped tell the story of the game itself. It also worked to flesh out some previously untold backstories of many of the more established characters. This trend would continue with Deception and Armageddon.
Many consider this game the first true 3D Mortal Kombat because it was the first to take place in a completely 3D environment and the first to allow for truly 3D movement. The gameplay was rebuilt from the ground up. Gone were the days of each character's basic attacks being the same. Starting with Deadly Alliance, each character was given their own fighting styles which made every character unique in terms of their abilities. It also helped that each style was based on a legitimate martial arts style.
Many people bemoaned the changes to the game because they couldn't get over the fact that the game was evolving and expanding. I feel that the changes were necessary because it wasn't simply the same-old same-old. It brought MK to a fresh audience and expanded the series in terms of richness, character, and gameplay and it saddens me that so many people were so stuck in the 90's that they refused to accept this. This trend would only continue with the releases of Deception and Armageddon and it directly led to the complete rehash that was MK9 in 2011. Whether these clowns like to admit it or not, Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance extended the series lifespan by at least a full decade.
We've reached the end of part 2 of our countdown of Mortal Kombat games. Coming up will be the final edition of our rankings. There are only 3 left and most people should know what 3 games these are, it's just a question of the order. The final edition of this post will hopefully be up by Saturday at the latest.
