Multi-tier arenas, fatalities, deathtraps, revamped fighting system, and several mini games! MKD is packed!
24 endings from MKDA led us to wonder if the deadly alliance did in fact succeed. Mortal Kombat Deception's intro soon answers that question. It seems that even the joint efforts of the last three standing is not enough to stop Onaga. When the dust clears you see a shadowy figure against a wall of flame, and the word deception is still ringing in your ears. What in the world just happened?
MKDA took mortal kombat in a great direction and MKD enhances it even further by offering more of the same with some nice updates. Three fighting styles, many different attacks, and several special moves for each fighter. Not only do we fight in a 3-D environment, we now have the multi-leveled stages and deathtraps to enjoy. New fatalities, stronger combo system, stage weapons, character specific throws, and much more. What could make a game even greater? The risky task of adding several new mini games to MKD.
Midway introduced several different diversions or side games to make the game itself seem bigger and fuller. After a while of playing arcade mode, the player may want a change of pace. With puzzle kombat, chess kombat, and now a much better konquest mode, the player has more options to consider.
Arcade - For some, this is only enjoyable part of the game. Mortal kombat has always been about fighting and some players feel that it should have stayed that way. I understand both sides. But isn't it more fun to do some side game diversions as a break from playing the CPU all day?
You start with only 12 of the 24 characters available. In the gamecube version you can play as Goro or Shao Kahn right from the start. Each have their handful of special moves, combos, fatalities, and even a hara kiri this time. If you enjoyed the fighting in MKDA then you should enjoy this game as well. Although there are higher damaging combos, infinites, and OTG (on the ground) hits that may steer players away from this game, it is still a great addition since MKDA. Characters still retain 3 fighting styles and many more launching attacks than in MKDA. Skill is one thing but with the addition of deathtraps players need to play a little more cautiously. Nothing burns more than dominating the computer player and then at the last second they knock you into a deathtrap and the round is given to them.
Deathtraps - This concept was discussed and nearly implemented in MKDA but time and/or space restrictions reserved this concept's birthday for MKD. I like the idea and it is very helpful for those who aren't pros at this game. It also keeps you on your toes and forces you to pay attention to your surroundings. Now, in MKD, the background has more significance than the previous titles. Stage fatalities were great in the other MK games but now we don't have to wait until the end of the round to sit back and smile.
Fatality - Graphic and beautiful. The team is definitely spending more time on them. No longer do they need a 5 second blood bath for the coin-op arcades. They are now in our homes on great consoles and the fatality animations have definitely improved. Things like this were mentioned in the "behind-the-scenes" part of the MKDA game. Each fighter has two fatalities and this time distance is important, unlike with MKDA where you could stand anywhere. Pressing the right button to get into fatality stance was a useful for newcomers and they really appreciate it returning to MKD. That way you don't find yourself jumping around while trying to do a 4 button input in 5 seconds or less.
Hara Kiri (Suicide) - Not welcomed by all but then again nothing by midway ever is. While your opponent is trying to do their fatality you can do your character specific "self-fatality" so that they don't get the glory of tearing you to shreds themselves.
I found a glitch with this and since I made a video to the public it has had thousands of views and comments. My friend "tobemorecrazy" hosted this for me and later I finally got it on my own youtube page. It was glitches like this that made me question the testing part of midway. The glitch is this:
Have the winner of the match do his fatality "while" the loser tries to do their hara kiri. If your timing is perfect you will get some hilarious and gruesome results. I won't spoil it. If your interested please look at my youtube page or search for "hara kiri + fatality glitch".
Stage Weapons - Another nice addition to the game. They are usually in plain sight and very destructive. Once picked up they can easily be returned to their original location by pressing the change style button. I don't use them much but that doesn't mean they are useless. I just think of them as another gum drop that midway added to this game.
The fighting in MKD is very fun and though it is the core to this game there are other mini games to try while you take a break from the standard mode of play.
Puzzle Kombat - If you like tetris then get ready for another dose of it MK style. There are 12 miniature fighters to choose from and 5 stages. Each stage has its own deathtrap that springs on the loser of the match. The characters have unique special moves to impair the other player's game in a matter of ways. Some are strictly offensive - rearranging, freezing, or even hiding your opponent's blocks. There are also some fighter's that have defensive special move instead. They will remove some or most of your own blocks if you use them correctly. Puzzle kombat has its own "arcade-like" ladder of around 8 or so enemies. Completing puzzle kombat doesn't unlock anything unfortunately.
Chess Kombat - While the origin of chess was designed to be a "thinking" game, MK takes it in a different direction. The rules are similar but you don't need to be good at chess to understand this mini game. You'll still have some of the movement restrictive roles for pieces that we would acquaint as queen, bishop, rook, pawn, etc. Now they are called champion, shifter, sorcerer, grunt, and of course your king. When two pieces try to occupy the same square they will have to fight a round of mortal kombat to determine who takes it. There are some power-ups and other advantages to help you get through the match and kill the opponent's king.
Konquest Mode - I'm very impressed to see how drastically different this mode is from the one in MKDA. For MKDA it was a painstaking and yawning experience climbing the "ladder" for each character. While some story was uncovered, it was still just a bunch of combo and dodge practice for the 23 fighters. In MKD you get to explore 6 different realms. Each realm has its own design and schedule for what the random townspeople do and which villagers have a goal for you. It is a fetch-style mode but it is fun getting to interact with hundreds of different people. Some even shed more light on MK's back story and other rumors.
You start as a young martial artist named Shujinko who is being trained by Bo Rai Cho. You will meet other well-known MK fighters and be faced with many different challenges. When your not do fetch quests, training, or fighting other MK characters, you will mostly be exploring. Through the course of the game you will have both general and specific agendas. While koins and treasure boxes may be in plain sight, some things only appear during a certain amount of time on a certain day. The world of konquest treats minutes like seconds so time is always moving. Most townsfolk return to their locked homes at night so you may need to plan your exploration / fetch quests in order to get the most out of each day. In this world of konquest it is easy to lose track of your own time playing the game. While following the main story line you might see something out of the corner of your eye and investigate, only to find another hidden secret in the game. Konquest mode holds the keys that unlock the special goodies in the krypt.
The Krypt - This interface is much better than a cheat code window. It's a 3-D graveyard with each of the 400 koffins requiring a certain amount of money or a rare key to unlock. This really adds to the replay and time spent for this game. Players will feel a need to complete this game and many of the villager's quests in order for the pay off. The koffins hold things like additional characters, costumes, arenas, bios, music, sketches, photos, and other miscellaneous things. Since the krypt keys are located only in konquest the player must explore it thoroughly in order to unlock the bulk of extras in this game.
Kurrency - There are 5 types of money. Gold, sapphire, ruby, jade, onyx, and platinum. You will get them from winning matches, completing quests and training, inside of treasure chests, or just laying around in plain sight. Even after completing konquest mode koins will appear once again and liter the realms for your greedy hands to take.
Online Mode / VS mode - I have not had a chance to play the vs mode much and I don't have online mode capability. From what I've read this mode is fine when the infinites, OTG's, and un-duckable throw cheats aren't used. In the gamecube version most of the infinite combos, un-duckable throws, and OTGs were corrected. Any and all lag problems are due to connection and not the game itself.
Cheats - If you use Action replay max or a good alternative you can play as the characters of MKDA that did not make the cut on the player selection screen. You would normal encounter them in konquest mode. They don't have fatalities or hara kiris and if you're using PS2 then the game will crash when attempting some of the fatalities and deathtraps on them. Xbox users need not worry. My friend nukesgoboom has a video showing all of this in action. Look for his page or google something like "Mortal Kombat Deception Fatality Glitches with Unplayables". You can also use an MKDA hack in puzzle or chess mode. There are "red flags" to watch out for. If you don't know what your doing the game will probably crash. For ps2, puzzle fighter hacks will crash the game if they attempt to do the special move. If you're interested in things like this PM me and I can try to help you understand it. It makes this game a lot more fun.
Graphics - The fighters look realistic and move accordingly. I love the addition of legitimate fighting styles and move names. It makes it feel more like a real fighting game because of the different martial arts styles. The gore is over the top but that is a trademark of midway. The fatalities are disturbing and graphic and they seem to be getting better as the series continues, if you don't count MKA.
Sound - Fine. The sound of clashing weapons and smacks to the face are terrific. Even the blood-curdling screams are satisfying when you're sick of your opponent killing you and you finally get to return the favor. The music is great once again. I think that Dan Fordan, Vince Pontarelli, and Rich Carele all have made great contributions for this game.
Replay - Lots of it! Either for the desire to unlock everything or to just roam around the many realms in konquest mode to look for the unexpected. I continuously like it for the combos. I have done combo videos and if you're interested search for my youtube page.
Difficulty - Since this game has its own style of fighting you may not get it down right away. If you've played MKDA or MKA then this game will feel much easier. It is not that these new MK games have a hard learning curve to them, it's just that to feel good enough to beat the game on hard or so you will probably need to spend some time in practice mode to get the feel and timing of the game down.
As a final note to you readers I highly recommend buying this game. It takes a while to acquire the good stuff and unless you rent it and play non-stop for a couple days then you're probably not going to get everything. To date, it is my favorite fighting game of all time.