Casual killing spree

by ERIK LEIJON

With all the hoopla surrounding the possible AO rating and even outright ban of Manhunt 2, how fitting it is to be playing the latest iteration of the series that put casual sadism on the map. Mortal Kombat Armageddon (Wii/Midway, Midway Chicago) is the Wii-ified version of the same MK game from last year, but since no one actually played Armageddon on the Xbox or PS2, we are starting fresh with this imperfect yet charming comeback for the once proudly defiant franchise. Well isn’t that toasty?

To be honest, I had more fun playing Armageddon than I had any business having. The new motion sensor controls, although intriguing, are unresponsive, and as a fighting game, Mortal Kombat was never a technical masterpiece. There hasn’t been a Mortal Kombat really worth your time since 1995’s Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. But with series co-creator Ed Boon back in the saddle, the indefinable MK vibe is back (John Tobias left Midway a long time ago to make the disappointing Tao Feng for the Xbox).

Mortal Kombat Armageddon initially tries to impress you through sheer volume; the number of modes and characters dwarf any previous title, and the character creation mode will provide hours of entertainment for those who want to make a duplicate of Gary Bettman to smack around. Two of the non-fighting modes, the beat ’em up action Konquest and the Mario Kart clone called Motor Kombat, are forgettable but decent enough to play over a rainy weekend. In the case of Konquest, loads of new outfits and items can be won for use in the fighting arena, so if you can tolerate a jittery camera and drab environments, it’s possible to blow through the mode relatively painlessly.

These two new features may have come at the expense of the traditional arcade ladder-challenge, but the fighting system is a decent reminder of where the always visually extravagant Mortal Kombat excelled. Even if it lacks the depth of every Japanese fighter ever made, MK’s special moves are unforgettably cool looking (and imitable, in my youth). From Scorpion’s spear to Liu Kang’s bicycle kick, they have all been upgraded to the 3D realm, and at some point, the series started implementing a weapon-based stance (where each character uses a sword to pull off some Soul Calibur-inspired attacks), which is easy to get your character into when using the nunchuk controller.

Moves can be pulled off with the analog just like old times (the D pad on the remote represents the four kick and punch buttons), but Midway decided to jump on the motion-sensor bandwagon too. Special moves can be done by holding the B trigger and mimicking the analog movements (such as quarter-circle forward or back-forward). It’s an interesting concept that works at times, but the motions are too similar and often I found myself shooting a fireball instead of teleporting.

All of the characters from every MK are here (including Khameleon, who was excluded from previous versions of Armageddon), so despite the obvious similarities between the fighters, it breaks the monotony to learn someone new. Sadly, they don’t have their own fatalities, but rather one standard set of custom fatalities. You’re still decapitating and disembowelling your fallen foes, but it doesn’t compare to having a unique set of kills for each character. In the age of Grand Theft Auto, Mortal Kombat isn’t as controversial as it once was, but Armageddon on the Wii won’t be the death knell for the series.

Hedgehog returns

Edmonton developer BioWare, known for Jade Empire and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, is working on a new DS RPG based on Sonic the Hedgehog. Hopefully, it will make us all forget Sonic for the 360.