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Armageddon usually marks the end of the world, but in this case, it's the beginning of an amazing new one. Mortal Kombat: Armageddon brings the fabled franchise to Wii for the first time, with unprecedented levels of customization. The roster of fighters tops 60, giving you the most playable characters of any Mortal Kombat game to date. Konquest Mode has been expanded, going from mere training mode to a full-blown storyline. Kreate-A-Fighter Mode and the Kreate-A-Fatality System let you customize the look and ability of your fighter, then cook up your own customized fatalities. Of course, you'll perform those fatalities, and existing ones, like never before with the Wiimote.

JIVE MAGAZINE RATING: 3.5 OUT OF 5

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EDITORIAL:

By  Darth Kommissar

INTRODUCTION:
The Mortal Kombat series is, well, anything but mortal. Ever since its birth in 1992, the series has been loved and hated by many. With its unique take on the fighting game genre, as well as blood and gore galore, it's the series that has taken the world by storm and never let go. After a lengthy hiatus following 1998's Mortal Kombat 4, the series made a comeback in recent years with games like Deadly Alliance and Shaolin Monks. The most recent entry in the series in Armageddon. Just a year after Armageddon's release, it has been ported to the Nintendo Wii.

OVERVIEW:
Mortal Kombat Armageddon was released in 2006, and the Wii version was released in 2007. The game features numerous gameplay modes, including traditional arcade play, Motor Kombat, Endurance, Konquest, and a Kreate-A-Fighter mode. The fighting roster features every playable character from every traditional MK game so far.

REVIEW:
When the Mortal Kombat series went on an extended hiatus following the release of Mortal Kombat 4, a lot of people forgot about the series and lost interest. I was amongst them. New titles began to surface, but I paid them little attention. But as soon as a friend of mine introduced me to Armageddon, I was almost instantly back into the series. MK is back with a vengeance. And this is the finest installment to date.

-THE GOOD-

-HUGE CHARACTER ROSTER. Every character ever featured in a Mortal Kombat game as a normal, playable character or a boss, is playable here. From the well-known members of the cast like Sub-Zero and Scorpion, right down to the forgotten characters like Reiko and Kabal, they're all here. The characters from the most recent installments on modern systems appear too. Plus there are a few new characters. The total roster comes out to around SIXTY CHARACTERS!

-KREATE A FIGHTER MODE! I honestly doubted whether or not this sort of thing had a place in the Mortal Kombat universe, but after giving it a whirl, I forgot my doubts. This system works out great. You get to customize your character's appearance, moves, backstory, and plenty of other stuff. You start the game with limited options, but can unlock new moves and clothes in other gameplay modes, and with the currency you get in other modes.

-MOTOR KOMBAT. The real oddity here, but fun nonetheless. Imagine Mario Kart but with Mortal Kombat characters and gore. It's a fun, simplistic game, but definitely worth checking out.

-ENDURANCE MODE. Think you're the best MK player out there? Then take a fighter and pit them against opponent after opponent until you die. It's the ultimate test of skill.

-TONS OF UNLOCKABLES. Throughout various game modes, you'll earn currency you can trade for unlockables. These include pieces of music, alternate character outfits, new levels, concept art, videos - the list goes on! This aspect of the game definitely adds something the old pre-hiatus games lacked. The currency can be earned in nearly every mode of the game, as well.

-MULTIPLE FIGHTING STYLES AND WEAPONS FOR CHARACTERS. Weapon fighting, which was godawful in Mortal Kombat 4, is perfected in this game. The fighting styles appeared in other recent titles as well, and they definitely add something to the experience.

-KONQUEST MODE. This is essentially a story-oriented mode revolving around the new character Taven, and it mixes Shaolin Monks-style action/adventure play, as well as traditional MK one-on-one deathmatches. In this mode you can find plenty of unlockables, further adding to the mode's value.

-EXCLUSIVE WII CHARACTER: KHAMELEON. The Wii version lacks some of the features of other versions of the games, but makes up for it by including an old character that didn't make it into the other console's ports of the game.

-WII EXCLUSIVE CONTROL SCHEME. The game makers took advantage of Nintendo's motion-sensitive controls, and put them to good use. I was a skeptic at first, but was instantly proven wrong. (For info on how this system works, watch Amazon's video on the control. Scroll up to find it.)

-COMPATIBLE WITH OTHER CONTROLLERS. Don't like the motion controls? No problem. Just hook in a Gamecube or Classic controller, and play the old-fashioned way.

-MAKE OUR OWN FATALITY. This is an innovative feature, and an interesting edition to an excellent series.

-THE BAD-

-NO ONLINE PLAY OR ULTIMATE MORTAL KOMBAT 3 PORT. These things appeared on other systems and it disappointed me not to find them in the Wii version of the game.

-REPETITIVE PLAY IN THE KONQUEST MODE. This mode is required to unlock stuff, so you'll find yourself playing it a lot. But you'll also get frustrated by the repeated scenarios and instant death traps. They could have done a lot more to keep things fresh.

-UNEVEN COMPUTER INTELLIGENCE. Sometimes the computer plays a smart game and/or cheeses you to death, other times it doesn't seem to know what the hell it's doing.

-MOTOR KOMBAT NEEDS WORK. I think this was an excellent idea, and I'm glad they put it in the game. But the gameplay is repetitive and the control needs work. More diversity in this mode would have been nice.

-ONLY TWO FIGHTING STYLES PER CHARACTER. Not a big deal to me, but it will be to gamers who played the last few MK games which had three of them per character.

-NO CHARACTER SPECIFIC FATALITIES. I was glad to hear about the Fatality creation mode, but had no idea it would take the place of the age-old, classic, character-specific Fatalities that have defined the series since the beginning. As such, Fatality customizing gets old fast, since every character does the same things.

-NO "SPECIALTY" FATALITIES. What happened to Babalities, Friendships, Brutalities, and Animalities? I miss all this stuff. When's it coming back to the series?

-ONLY ONE VERSION OF SUB-ZERO, AND ONE OF SMOKE. We only get the ninja-style versions of these characters - meaning no unmasked Sub-Zero and no robot Smoke. Not a big deal, but it's still worth mentioning here.

OVERALL:

Mortal Kombat is back with a vengeance. If you're one of those guys who lost interest after the fourth installment, this is the entry that's good enough to get you back on the series bandwagon. I'm being a bit generous with the five-star score, but this game deserves it since it's a rare example of a good Wii fighting game. Do yourself a favor and pick this one up if you're fan of the series, old or new alike, or a fan of fighting games in general.