Little more than a decade ago, when arcades were still many game players' primary exposure to new titles, two series rose to supremacy in the fighting genre. Both Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter were equally responsible for my parents' quarter shortages, but, for me, Mortal Kombat was the clear victor. I was in my early teens, and the gratuitous blood, violence, and (what was then considered) realism appealed to me in ways that ludicrous legislation and sensational journalism appeal to Jack Thompson. Needless to say, Mortal Monday was a day I would not soon forget.

Throughout its lifespan, the Mortal Kombat brand has had its ups (Mortal Kombat II, UMK3, Deadly Alliance) and downs (Special Forces, Mythologies, MK3). For every innovation Ed Boon and Co. introduced into the genre, like multiple fighting styles or fatalities, there seemed to be equal numbers of rehashes or titles that focused too greatly on quantity over quality. Unfortunately, it looks as though Armageddon will be grouped with the latter. The prospect of playing as any character from the franchise's history excites me today as much as it did with the announcement of Mortal Kombat Trilogy. Unfortunately, like Trilogy, Armageddon seems to be little more than a stop-gap measure to satiate fans of the series until a next generation title can be developed.

Perhaps my biggest disappointment, as Greg Kasavin astutely described in his recent review, is the game's new Kreate-a-Fatality feature. When I was first introduced to MK, it was the awesome character-exclusive fatalities that drew me in. I found myself performing each finisher on every character in the game, just to see how the animations looked on different opponents. The Kreate-a-Fatailty feature had the potential to engross me once again, but the glaring omission of character-exclusive finishers finished off my excitement (incredibly awful pun intended). What's left is a generic dial-a-fatality system in which every character has the same repertoire of moves that we've already seen in Deadly Alliance and Deception. Of course, I'll reserve judgment until I play the game (extensively) over the course of the week. The Kreate-a-Character system is promising, as is the improved Konquest mode.

It seems that Mortal Kombat has always been a love-it or hate-it franchise. Both its praise and criticism are equally justified. There's just something about the series that has always kept me coming back, moreso than any other title in the 2D or 3D fighting genres. I loathe the term fanboy. It's juvenile, unnecessary, and a sign that this industry and its fans need to mature beyond playground politics. But if there's one game, console, developer, or publisher to which I have been a loyal fan despite mounting criticism, it's Midway's Mortal Kombat.