Mortal Kombat: Armageddon

Mortal Kombat: Armageddon is the seventh title in the Mortal Kombat fighting game series. The PlayStation 2 version was released in stores on October 11th, 2006 while the Xbox version was released on the 16th, with a Wii version released on May 29th, 2007 in North America. There are no plans to release an Xbox version in PAL territories. This game is the last Mortal Kombat for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox, and the first and only one on the Wii.

Storyline
thumb|300px|right|The opening sequence. Throughout the Mortal Kombat universe, the kombatants of the realms were growing too strong and numerous for the realms to handle. The warriors' powers threaten to utterly destroy the fabric of the MK universe. These warriors clashed in a single battle royale that threatened to rip apart reality and bring about the apocalypse. Without warning, a pyramid rises from the ground, and the tip bursts into flames, attracting the warriors' curiosity to see what it was. The kombatants fought one another to get to the top, while Blaze revealed himself to them. The firespawn was created by the Elder Gods to destroy as many fighters as possible in order to save the realms from Armageddon. This would be the warriors' last battle, their last chance to prove that they are worthy of surviving, while many others will perish. This was the final battle for Mortal Kombat, the battle that determined the fate of the realms...

But soon after the battle concluded, nearly every kombatant met their demise, except:
 * Taven (who was turned into Edenia's Protector God).
 * Shinnok (who was actually in the Netherrealm; only his clone had been killed in the battle).
 * Liu Kang's Spirit (his spirit was observing the battle while his body was destroyed)
 * Raiden and Shao Kahn (who concluded Armageddon as they battled atop Blaze's pyramid for the final time, with Shao Kahn being the victor)
 * Daegon (who was being punished by Argus).

New Characters

 * Taven - The hero of Mortal Kombat Armageddon's Konquest Mode and brother to Daegon, who serves as Taven's rival in the quest to defeat Blaze.
 * Daegon - Taven's evil younger brother. He awoke prematurely centuries before his brother, causing his unbalanced nature, and began plans to ensure that he would be the one to defeat Blaze when the time came. During his lifetime, he located and killed his parents and founded the Red Dragon clan, using his dragon to create portals between the realms.

Returning Characters with new designs

 * Chameleon - A mysterious warrior who has been spying on the events from Liu Kang's first victory to the return of the Dragon King.
 * Fujin - A wind god who seeks to turn Raiden and Liu Kang back to normal. He returns to fight on the side of good to prevent Armageddon.
 * Jarek - A former Black Dragon member who was almost killed by Jax, he seeks to kill everyone. He returns to fight on the side of evil in Armageddon.
 * Kai - A former Shaolin monk who seeks enlightenment. He returns to fight on the side of good to prevent Armageddon.
 * Khameleon - A female Zaterran who seeks to destroy Shao Kahn for destroying her realm.
 * Kintaro - Believed to have been killed in the Outworld tournament, he returns to fight on the side of evil in the last battle in Armageddon.
 * Meat - An experiment who escaped Shang Tsung's flesh pits.
 * Motaro - A centaur who was supposedly killed by Sheeva, after supposedly being resurrected, he and his fellow Centaurs were cursed by the Shokan.
 * Rain - Half-brother of Taven and Daegon and son of Argus, Rain claims to be prince of Edenia. He returns to fight on the side of evil in the last battle in Armageddon.
 * Reiko - Once a member of Shinnok's armies and now serves Shao Kahn, he returns to fight on the side of evil in Armageddon.
 * Sareena - Forced to serve Quan Chi again, but was freed from his control, she returns to fight on the side of good in the Battle of Armageddon.
 * Sektor - Leader of the Tekunin, he returns to fight on the side of evil in the last battle in Armageddon.
 * Sheeva - A female Shokan who was killed by Shao Kahn but somehow resurrected, she returns to fight on the side of evil in the last battle in Armageddon.
 * Shinnok - This Shinnok is actually a clone of the real Shinnok and was sent to fight alongside Daegon but he disappeared. He joins to fight on the side of evil in Armageddon.
 * Stryker - An officer of the NYPD, he returns to fight on the side of good to prevent Armageddon.

Character roster and information
The PlayStation 2 and Xbox versions of Armageddon contain 62 fighters (other than those that can be created by the player in Kreate a Fighter mode), while the Wii version contains an exclusive fighter, Khameleon, making a total of 63 fighters, the most of any Mortal Kombat game to date:

* Wii only

Armageddon contains every character from the six fighting game installments of the series and their respective upgrades, not counting the adventure games such as Special Forces and Shaolin Monks. Due to popular demand, Khameleon from the N64 version of Mortal Kombat Trilogy was added to the Wii version of Armageddon.

Only two characters, Daegon and Taven, are new to the series, while Sareena makes her debut on non-portable consoles and Meat makes his debut as a legitimate character (he previously appeared as a minor character in Mortal Kombat 4).

It should also be noted that not all the characters have alternate costumes. Some of the boss characters, such as Onaga, Moloch, and Blaze do not have alternate costumes, while some of the special characters, such as Chameleon, Meat and Daegon, are limited to one costume as well. It also remains same in the Wii version.

Arenas

 * Armory
 * Kahn's Arena
 * Bell Tower
 * Tower
 * Falling Cliffs
 * Fire Well
 * Goro's Lair
 * Hell
 * Hell's Foundry
 * Lumber Mill
 * Meteor Storm
 * Nethership Interior
 * Outworld Spire
 * Reptile's Lair
 * Sky Temple
 * Soul Chamber
 * Subway
 * Tekunin Prison
 * Wasteland
 * Botan Jungle
 * Arctika
 * Lin Kuei Palace
 * Charred Mountain
 * Red Dragon Caverns
 * Chamber of Daegon
 * Netherrealm Cliffs
 * Pyramid of Argus
 * Shinnok's Spire
 * Shinnok's Throne Room
 * Reiko's War Room
 * Balcony (MK Armageddon)
 * Shao Kahn's Throne Room
 * Scorpion's Lair
 * Edenian Ruins

Krypt
A returning element from the preceding titles, the Krypt appeared once again in Armageddon with a completely new look that's more like a catacomb than the traditional graveyard or tomb. This time around, all of the Koffins are clearly marked with what they contain, and are broken up into groups for Artwork, Gameplay, and Media, so the player knows precisely what they're going to unlock before they unlock it. Also unlike past Krypts, a player can unlock the items in Armageddon through different means, either by paying the requisite amount of koins like before, or by unlocking them via the game's Konquest mode. Gathering up all 60 Relics in Konquest mode will unlock nearly everything in the Krypt straight away, allowing the player to save their koins for unlocking items for the Kreate a Fighter mode (which also requires koins to unlock). One Koffin in the Krypt, a question mark box, allows codes to be inputted to unlock items at no cost.

The Krypt in Armageddon includes four unlockable characters, almost two dozen arenas, alternate costumes for most of the characters, blooper and concept videos, and more, though it is worthy of note that none of the items available in the Krypt this time around are "joke" items (such as Cooking with Scorpion in Deadly Alliance), and are all meant to be directly related or used in the game.

To look up the list of items, click on Mortal Kombat Armageddon: The Krypt.

Konquest
The Konquest mode in Armageddon is a combination of the same mode seen in Deception with elements borrowed from the spin-off adventure title Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks. The storyline centers on Taven and Daegon, two brothers who were put in suspended animation because their mother known as Delia, (a sorceress) and their father, Argus, (the Edenian protector god) foresaw a cataclysmic event brought about by the Mortal Kombat fighters. Their awakening leads into the Konquest mode, which in turn leads into the game's standard play.

Taven is the main hero that the player controls in Konquest, whilst Daegon is the primary antagonist, plotting with villains such as Shinnok to destroy his brother. Certain weapons are available at times in Konquest mode, which handle very much like those found in Shaolin Monks. Collecting various relics, one for each Kombatant (except Taven, Chameleon and Khameleon), throughout this mode unlocks characters and rewards in the rest of the game, while successfully completing the Konquest entirely will unlock Taven for arcade play. There are sixty relics in all, with a new reward available upon the collection of ten relics, not necessarily in any particular order.

Kreate a Fighter
In addition to the choice of over sixty characters, Armageddon gives players the ability to design and use new fighters in the game.

From the number of options, there are potentially thousands of different combinations available. During production, the game offered at least fourteen different character classes, which include humans, Tarkatans, Mercenaries, Black Dragon Members, Ninjas, Retro Ninjas, Geisha Assassins, etc. However, after the game's release, only one preset unfortunately was available to the two genders, Sorcerer to Male, and Tarkatan to Female. Although the clothing of each class is still available, it must be individually unlocked, and cannot be preset. All these presets can be unlocked by unlocking each piece of clothing that makes up that class. The preset will then appear under the preset menu.

Players can give their character a unique fighting style, by changing their stance and assigning different attacks to the buttons on their controller. There is a range of swords and axes (the only weapons available) and special moves to choose from. Most moves and costume items need to be purchased with koins earned in the game's other modes, though some moves and items are available for free from the beginning.

The fighters can also be given their own storyline. If a player uses their creation to finish a single player game, they will see the ending that the player designed for them, although the ending will cut off after roughly twelve lines or if the last line consists of one word. They can also be used in multiplayer games and online, using the PlayStation 2's online capability or Xbox Live. The ending that the game shows is the same text that the player inputs as the fighters biography.

Kreate a Fatality
Also new to the series is the ability to create a Fatality. These custom Fatalities are a constant series of commands that players input until the Fatality ends. This method of performing Fatalities replaces the character-specific Fatalities of previous Mortal Kombat games, where gamers would simply enter one input and view the Fatality cinematically. As the player adds each input, less time is allowed for further inputs and some moves cannot be repeated. There are eleven levels that can be achieved with Kreate a Fatality, depending on the number of chains the player can achieve, the player will get a predetermined rank, lowest being rankless (simply Fatality) and highest being "Ultimate". The greater the number of inputs for the Fatality, the more amount of money is gained. The Fatality will be stopped if the timer reaches zero, or if the player enters an input but that input surpasses the eleventh mark. No rank will be given, and no koins (apart from the ones given by winning the match) will be awarded, regardless of the number of chains you inputted earlier.

Motor Kombat
Mortal Kombat: Armageddon ' s mini-game is named "Motor Kombat". True to the name, Ed Boon compares it to Mario Kart in the September 2006 issue of Official Xbox Magazine. Each of the characters has a customized go-kart, as well as their own special moves. The Motor Kombat characters keep their cartoonish style that was introduced in Deception ' s "Puzzle Kombat" mode. It also includes style-based Fatalities for characters, and Deathtraps.

Motor Kombat features online play, as well as off-line support for up to four players (two players in PS2 version) with a split-screen display. In the game, players can knock their opponents into various deathtraps on the courses.

The character roster for Motor Kombat is Scorpion, Sub-Zero, Bo' Rai Cho, Jax, Baraka, Raiden, Kitana, Mileena, Cyrax, and Johnny Cage.

The 5 tracks available for Motor Kombat are Bo' Rai Cho's Brewery, Botan Jungle, Lin Kuei Raceway, Lost Pyramid and Outworld Refinery.

Other info

 * The "Versus Screen" feature from previous titles in the Mortal Kombat series (MK through MKG) returns in Armageddon with animated backgrounds.
 * Each character possesses two fighting styles (instead of three), one hand-to-hand and one weapon. It has been said that some kombatants will focus more on weaponry styles, while some will focus more on hand to hand combat and others will mix and match weapons and martial styles. Some of the larger bosses, like Onaga, will only have one fighting style available (which does not show up) to them to reflect their massive size. Other characters, such as Smoke, does not have a weapon style, but a second unarmed style.
 * Several classic fighting arenas such as "The Bell Tower", "Goro's Lair" and "The Subway" return in Armageddon in 3-D, with new arenas such as "Lumber Mill", "Meteor Storm" and "Outworld Spire" as well. There are a total of 34 fighting arenas in Armageddon
 * New special moves assigned to many characters in Armageddon, for example, Kitana now has a teleport move, Kano has a new taunt mode, Hsu Hao can use the laser turret on his chest and so on.
 * Techniques such as Breakers and Parries can be done in the air.
 * There are alternate ways to unlock all the features.
 * There are 4 different limited editions featuring the following content:
 * A 60-minute bonus DVD with a History of Fatalities movie and new videos for more than 50 characters, an animation cell of the cover art autographed by creator Ed Boon and an arcade-perfect version of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. The limited editions are only available on the PS2.
 * Several limited edition versions of the game have different metallic covers exclusive to certain stores:
 * Wal-Mart: Kano/Sonya
 * Best Buy: Shao Kahn/Sindel
 * EB Games/GameStop: Johnny Cage/Goro
 * Game Crazy: Dragon Emblem
 * The Wii version of Armageddon has a new motion-based control system, along with playability on the Classic Controller and a GameCube controller. It also brings a new Endurance Mode, a Wii Remote Training Mode, new menu screens and Khameleon as a playable character; however, this version does not have online features.

Reception
So far the response has been mostly average to positive in the US with an average score of 76% at Game Rankings.


 * Electronic Gaming Monthly- 5.67 out of 10 (PS2/Xbox)
 * IGN - 8.5/10 (PS2/Xbox); 7.8/10 (Wii)
 * GameSpot - 7.0/10 (PS2/Xbox); 7.5/10 (Wii)
 * Game Informer - 8.25/10 (PS2/Xbox); 7.5/10 (Wii)
 * GamePro - 4.5/5 (PS2); 3.75/5 (Xbox); 3.0/5 (Wii)
 * Official Xbox Magazine - 9 out of 10
 * Official PlayStation Magazine (US) - 3 out of 10
 * X-Play - 2/5 (later changed to 3/5 when the site added "Wii" on the platform list for the Armageddon review page)
 * PSM - 8/10
 * Official PlayStation Magazine (UK) - 7 out of 10
 * Official Nintendo Magazine - 85%
 * Nintendo Power - 8.0/10

Criticism
The game was praised for including a complete character roster (although initially without Khameleon, she appears in the Wii version), improved Konquest, and increased playability due to feedback from Deception. Some reviewers criticized the length of the Konquest mode, the revamped Fatality system, the recycling of Deadly Alliance, Deception and Shaolin Monks character models, and the resources in the Kreate a Fighter mode.

The storyline of Armageddon was criticized for various reasons. Some reviewers claimed that the character endings didn't follow the characters established in continuity, and also criticized the lack of character biographies and the lack of explanation for each character's status. Also with MK vs DCU and Mortal Kombat 9, the story of Armageddon has confused many fans.

Some reviewers criticized the game for the lack of individual character fatalities, Kreate-A-Fighter's limited resources, and the small number of combos in which characters can perform.

The Krypt in Armageddon features an unused concept video for Ermac's bio, which caused rumors to circulate that bios had been created for the game but weren't included due to time constraints. However, Midway, through fansite Mortal Kombat Online, confirmed that no bios had been created. A month later, in a chat event held by Mortal Kombat Online, Ed Boon confirmed that bios would be made available on the Armageddon website. While bios were put up on the website for several characters, this plan, too, was later abandoned, and as a result many characters have no biography.

Awards

 * 2006 Spike TV Video Game Awards: Best Fighting Game.
 * 2006 IGN Awards: Best PS2 Fighting Game.
 * 2006 Official Xbox Magazine "Xbox Game of the Year"
 * Gaming Target - 52 Games We'll Still Be Playing From 2006 selection.

Trivia

 * In October 2006, the attorney Jack Thompson sent a letter to Midway Games, demanding they cease and desist selling Armageddon, claiming that the game was illegally profiting on his likeness, because gamers could use the Kreate a Fighter option to make a character who looked like him. However, he was disbarred before his case could go to trial.
 * Mortal Kombat: Armageddon is the first main game in the franchise to not have a handheld port. A possible reason might be due to the fact that there are 63 characters, and memory limitations would probably result in some characters being removed. That may justify the reason for the lack of a handheld port.
 * In the Kreate-a-Fighter option, when you name the fighting style of your character, if the player types in Sambo, a Russian form of combat, a notice will pop up declining the name, stating it's an explicit word, because Sambo can also be a racist term regarding people of African ancestry. Oddly enough, only Cyrax, who is of African descent, possesses that fighting style.
 * The word "Hell" is also not allowed, despite this being a stage in the game.
 * Mortal Kombat: Armageddon appears to be the last game to be released in a major Nintendo console (not counting Ultimate Mortal Kombat on the DS). There are no plans yet for any future Mortal Kombat games to be released on Wii or a future console.
 * It is the first and only game where all the boss characters are playable without glitches or game-altering devices.
 * In the desktop background for the game, Stryker is shown in his MK3 costume even though that costume was not used in the actual game, and was only concept art.
 * If Havik, Jax, Blaze, Taven, or Ermac are knocked off the Sky Temple, they will yell a phrase as they plummet. Jax and Blaze will yell, "Oh, my God, this is not happening to me!", while Havik and Taven will yell, "Ah, man, this is gonna suck!". Also, Ermac will yell, "Suck it!
 * The background of Armageddon's Press Start screen (without the dragon logo) made earlier appearences, but not in Mortal Kombat. During the year 2000, WWE, (formerly known as World Wrestling Federation. Now known as World Wrestling Entertainment) actually introduced the background on Double Feature Replays on various episodes of Monday Night RAW.

Trading Cards

 * Blaze
 * Dairou
 * Drahmin
 * Ermac
 * Frost
 * Fujin
 * Havik
 * Hsu Hao
 * Jarek
 * Kai
 * Kintaro
 * Kobra
 * Li Mei
 * Liu Kang
 * Mavado
 * Mokap
 * Moloch
 * Motaro
 * Nitara
 * Onaga
 * Rain
 * Reiko
 * Sareena
 * Sektor
 * Sheeva
 * Shinnok
 * Stryker
 * Taven

Wii exclusive

 * Khameleon