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I live to serve Sindel!!!
As I fight and claw my way through Mortal Kombat's Deception Konquest Mode, I keep one thing on my mind, to free my Queen Sindel. I admit that visiting Earthrealm, Netherrealm, Orderrealm, and my favorite Chaos Realm are interesting, but Mortal Kombat is all about kicking butt and looking at Sindel's perfect butt.

It is good that the old classic characters are still around. Who would want to pick up an MK game without Sub-Zero or Scorpion? And even though I never really liked Tanya, it's good to see her still kicking it, but I so much prefer the hotter and sexier Mileena, Kitana, Jade, and Liu Mae.

I don't spend too much time with the chess or tetris game. I like to beat the boss in arcade mode, and I'm still trying to get through Konquest.

Some characters can be purchased outright in the Krypt, others must be unlocked through Konquest. I wish I could just buy Sindel, but if I could I would not play konquest, and I guess the makers had that in mind.

The levels, fatalities, and boss do not disappoint in this game. The imagination and gore are still a big part of the MK series and in Deception there are no disappointments there.

Krazy skills
Umm, pretty fun I liked the previous title Deadly alliance a lil better just because you learned a little more about your character in Konquest mode instead of running around Konquesting. The actual Kombat and Kombat levels as well as Fatalities are pretty sick a lil more like the original MK games that came out a while back where you have several fatalities to choose from.

A mixed bag, complete with variations on Chess, Puzzle Fighting, RPGs and the traditional fighting modes
I'm one of those Mortal Kombat enthusiasts who sees the past through a pair of the ever-popular rose tinted glasses. Even though I'd never fought a single round of 3-D rendered MK prior to purchasing Deception, I unconsciously deemed every game since that switch to be of lesser quality than their vid-captured predecessors. I'd spent far too many quarters on the first three games in the series to see its trademark live-action cheesiness cast aside in favor of the polygonal rendering and three-dimensional environments that had become all the rage in the fighting genre. In a way, I want to stand by my pre existing pompous, know-it-all attitude. A lot of the charm and personality of the series was based around its B-Movie aura and the macabre sense of humor apparent therein. But the series will likely never be returning to that form, and it's probably for the best to wipe the slate clean and give these new-look MKs a chance before I blindly crap all over them.

Deception succumbs to many of the problems I'd feared it might, but it also contains a few successes I couldn't have foreseen. For instance, it's more of a variety pack than a straightforward fighting game. In addition to the standard "fight to the top of the ladder" single player brawl, the package contains a strangely provocative translation of chess, complete with death traps and damage amplifiers. Additionally, it hides a truly challenging and entertaining Puzzle Fighter knock-off, (with a handful of post-match fatalities thrown in for good measure) a sort of hybrid fighting RPG that reminds strangely of Shenmue, and a gift shop-styled "Krypt," where the credits you'll earn throughout your gameplay experience can be used to purchase production art, hidden characters, alternate costumes, movies and the like. As someone who's always shied away from purchasing fighting games in the past, due to the problems with longevity and depth that I instinctively associate with the genre, these additions were a blessing in disguise.

Upon reflection, I probably spent more time working through the Konquest mode than I did actually fighting my way up the ladder in single-player Kombat. Superficially, Konquest is probably among the worst games I've ever played. It's wooden, it's blatantly hurried, it's insultingly elementary in both visuals, audio, controls and motivations. Speaking to the commoners that frequent a city's streets, for instance, is like reading dialog from a story written by a third grade student with a D in English. What's worrying is that this story was evidently supposed to be the backbone of the whole of Deception, with every character's ending sprouting from ideas presented within. Shujinko, the martial artist you control throughout Konquest mode, is the tale's pivotal character. He's obviously meant to be something of a replacement for Liu Kang, which is a nice shift, since the series' reliance on Kang was becoming borderline obsessive.

Yet, despite all the horrors contained within, underneath the surface of Konquest resides some intangible element that just kept me coming back over and over again. I think it was an underlying interest in understanding and mastering the nuances of the game as a whole. Although it's fairly elaborate and large-scale, the meat and potatoes of this RPG mode is a training regimen for every character in the game. Since Shujinko's fighting style is a mix of special moves and combos from each combatant, it makes sense for him to spend time learning each character's fighting style. The end result is not only a close familiarity with Shujinko's story, but also a clear understanding of both basic and advanced attacks with every playable character. I think I can safely say that I've never spent twenty hours working through a tutorial before, but in Konquest mode I scarcely noticed.

As with any long-standing fighting franchise, a new chapter brings new playable characters, and Deception is no exception. Nine fighters are making their debut this time around, including the non-playable final boss, Onaga. Yet, with only one or two exclusions, these new faces can't even compare to the classics, neither in form nor function. They seem much more faceless than the creatures we've come to expect in a Mortal Kombat game. Their fighting styles are much more subtle and martial arts-based, and while there's something to be said for going the way of realism for a change, the new warriors just don't look formidable alongside Scorpion, Sub-Zero and Raiden.

As I've said in my opening paragraphs, I consider myself to be something of an older-minded fan as far as the MK series is concerned. I liked the old games, complete with their goofy projectile attacks and inexplicable teleportations from one side of the screen to the other. It was taken for granted that such silly abilities would still be present with this year's model, and that surely is the case. Unfortunately, in their unyielding quest to constantly top themselves, the special move as a whole has become so far over the top and hard to believe that it's really starting to hurt the gameplay. If I'm fighting an eight foot dragon and he breathes flames over 97% of my body, I can accept the fact that my fighter may have trouble continuing. I'm still totally OK with the idea that a ninja can fire a mystical, freezing blast from the palms of his hands. Where I start to have questions, however, is when my fighter is knocked unconscious by a guy stomping really hard on the ground fifteen feet in front of me. Something tells me it's time for the team at Midway to take a step or two back and think about where they're going with their special attacks, because Deception is really stretching it with some of these things.

In that same vein is the series' infamous cherry-on-the-top fatalities immediately following a fight. These, too, occasionally go too far over the top, but are granted a bit more leeway than the special attacks I mentioned above. For the most part, they're at once hilarious and horrific, with little touches and nuances making them all the more disturbing. Like the way an impaled torso squirms for a moment, after being separated from each of its limbs and its head, before falling into inactivity for the last time. Hilarious, because it's so unabashedly violent, but also sickening, because the layman wouldn't even think of something like that before witnessing it in all of its polygonal glory.

At this stage in the consoles' lives, I think there's very little room to impress with the PS2, Xbox or Gamecube's visual capabilities. As such, MK:D is a strictly average graphical performance. There are some intriguing touches, such as the way fighters begin to display facial damage as the rounds carry on, but for the most part it's by the books. The stage designs and accompanying backgrounds are stellar, which may give the impression that things are looking better than they actually are, but under close scrutiny it's easy to discover a few shortcuts and trimmed corners. Especially bothersome is the endings, tailor-made to each character in typical series fashion. Where there's a lengthy FMV introduction to the game that's close to five minutes in length, the endings are at most three slides of still renderings with half a paragraph of subtitles and a voice-over. I'd have much rather been entertained with an introductory paragraph at the outset and rewarded with a beautiful series of cutscenes after finishing the game with each character, personally.

Of course, the series made its name on its bloodletting, and on this front, Deception certainly doesn't disappoint. Rather than spraying abstractly into the air after each strike, the player's crimson fluids take the shape of thick, rotund blood droplets which slowly roll their way down the player's body after a rough attack. In a way, it's like watching a tree bleed syrup. When those globs hit the floor, you'll notice that a series of intertwining blood trails left behind. After a fight, if you look closely enough at the ground, you'll notice a map of where each major strike occurred during the brawl, as evidenced by the trail of blood splatters and puddles. In a way, it's kind of like a twisted version of the Family Circus maps that followed each child around the neighborhood, just with more broken bones and dislocated spines.

Despite my early concerns, Deception really does retain a lot of that old-school Mortal Kombat personality. The instances are frequent where I find myself laughing at a fatality in the same way I did in '92, upon catching first glimpse of the original arcade machine. However, those instances do appear to be shrinking. It seems to be the right time for this series to reinvent itself, as the initial concept has been stretched to the point of breaking on more than one front and the threat of a descent into complete self-destruction looms on the horizon. I'm really looking for this series to re-establish itself as pushing the envelope, as it seems to have slipped into complacency in the last decade. What made it so special and so unique in the first place was its willingness to do what other games wouldn't. Deception has a lot of good elements - it's still a very challenging game, it provides a lot more variety than many of its peers, and it provides a good blend of comedy and stone-faced sobriety. As a "greatest hit," there's no question I'm happy with my purchase. What it doesn't do, unfortunately, is bode well for the future of the franchise if this path is continued for much longer.

What has Midway done to this franchise?
I picked up this game a while back for my Xbox, after not picking up a MK title since the disappointments that were Mortal Kombat 3 and Mortal Kombat 4. This game also failed horribly to impress me.

First off, one of the things that was great about the early Mortal Kombat games was that you could pick up your controller, choose your favorite character and just kick some serious butt. Now, the Kombat franchise has been so overly saturated with half-assed characters that Deception is almost unrecognizable as a Mortal Kombat game, except for the fact that Baraka, Mileena, Sub-Zero and Scorpion are selectable from the get-go. Kitana was one of my favorite characters in the series, and I found out later, on gamefaqs, that this character had to be unlocked in the "Konquest" mode, with another character that this player really couldn't care less about. This is one way that Midway has messed up this franchise.

Gameplay is also another screw-up. The combo system that was implimented in Mortal Kombat 3 was horrible. This system, on the other hand, with 3 separate fighting styles, and God knows how many combos you have to learn, and not to mention the fact that the combos are almost impossible to pull off, makes this addition to the franchise even worse.

I played my way through the game, up to the final fight against the Dragon King, with Sub-Zero. This boss has the worst case of the SNK boss syndrome that I've ever seen. For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, the King of Fighters series has always been well known for end bosses that can beat you in 3 hits or less. The Dragon King in this game can do just that. The only end boss I've seen worse than this thing is the end boss in Dead or Alive 4 on the 360, who can take off 65% of your life bar in 1 hit.

Now, allow me to talk about the additional modes in Deception. Puzzle Kombat is just another "Puzzle Fighter" clone, only with MK characters. Did Midway really need to add this? I don't think so. Kombat Chess just about made me weep for this franchise that revolutionized fighting games, as it's been turned into a cheesy "Battle Chess" clone. "Konquest" Mode was just another quest mode, taking Mortal Kombat and turning it into an RPG.

Midway, you've messed up one of your best franchises. Stick a fork in the Mortal Kombat franchise, people, it's done.

MK Strikes Back!
I'm a big mortal Kombat Fan and when I first got deadly alliance I loved it. It was my favorite mortal Kombat game and still is. When I got news about MK Deception I had to play it or at least see the cover of it. Anyways I now have Mortal Kombat,Mortal Kombat 2,Mortal Kombat 3,Mortal kombat 4,Mortal Kombat Deadly Alliance,Mortal Kombat Deception, and I use to have MK Shaolin Monks But I hated it so I got money for it by selling it. MK DA is still my favorite but Deception is a very good game too. You will love the new Konquest mode which I already beat and you sub-zero fans will love to see the bad version of subzero again. The way I can tell is because there is no scar on his face. I'm glad they brought back old characters like one of my favorites Ermac,and the sharp witted Baraka. They have also layed out some new characters like Kobra and Dariou. This game is fun and has crisp sound and graphics. Check out my reviews on any MK games. You will know because my logo will be at the bottom of the review.

(logo) SMK