MORTAL KOMBAT!

I don’t get too carried away with a video game, but there are a few out there that bring out the compeditor and kid in me. Since it first debuted at my local arcade at the movie theatre, Mortal Kombat has been one of those games. Contraversal cause of all the blood and the fact that you could kill your opponent with special moves, kids all over north american were drawn to the game just to be rebelious… and it rode that success to be one of the biggest games of it’s time and also turn into a decent movie with a crappy sequel… and playing this game brings back memories and also relieves a great deal of stress. Taking out your anger on Scorpion or Sub Zero is very theraputic

Recently, a new Mortal Kombat game, titled ‘Armageddon’ came out for P2 and X-Box. Eager to give the new game a try, I hit my local store and swipped it up along with a lot of other MK fans. This game is all that and a whole friggin crate of chips. Right from the beginning you get to choose from over fifty fighters, and there are still half a dozen locked characters to also pick from. There is a quest feature, a role playing game that you use to earn points and unlock other features to the game. The reason why you need to earn points is because of the best new feature, which is the create your own Kombat Character. This is first for the series but one that many MK fans have been dying to see. That’s the part of the game I’ve been having the most fun with.

This is what I’ve come up with so far. His appearance is pretty basic but I’ve been spending all my points on special moves instead so my fighter will be psychotic on the battle field. Most of the good stuff for the created characters have to be bought with earned tolkens. So rather than waste my tolkens something super fancy to wear, I spent most of mine on moves like fireballs and teleportation which have been very effective when trying to lay the smackdown on other fighters. I like this outfit though because it’s basic and a little traditional for a MK character. A silver ninja outfit with a few perks such as a fancy lion belt, different shoes and some black fighting wraps on the hands. There are tons of other options, but for now until I get more tolkens I decided to go simple first…

This is another interesting feature, as the fighter’s style and martial art are options for the character as well. You can pick the basics like Karate, or something more unique like Jeet Kindo which is Bruce Lee’s variation of Kung Fu. Each individual move can be picked as well so you can customize each action character uses when fighting. By doing that, you’re not forced to use moves that are akward and only the punches and kicks that will compliment your fighter. As you can see in the above picture… my fighter has a very normal fighting stance, but I like this one and it works very well with his style.

Here is my guy on the battle field… it’s a nice stance and keeps the opponent at a decent distance which helps with certain kicks and punches. I’ve actually been very happy with how this character has managed to hold his own against tough fighters. Paying on the moves rather than how he looks has paid off early, but I’ll work on the uniform the more I play the game…

And my favorite part… the FATALITY! You are able to create your own fatality for created fighters, and this one is rather simple. My character grabs the other fighter’s head and rips it right off! You can see in this picture that my fighter has his opponent’s head and spinal cord in his hand… pretty sweet, eh?

As you can tell I’ve been having a lot of fun with this new game. Nothing makes a bad day at the center go away like coming home and kicking the snot out of some MK fighters and ripping their heads off. Very stress relieving and allows me to take out some anger on something ficticous rather than someone real. It’s been fun and I can’t wait to work the character creation a little more and when I make something cool I’ll post more pictures just for kicks. Hope everyone is having a decent week, and everyone be good to one another… or else! (Just kidding… maybe!)

Peter