The game itself was transitioning the Mortal Kombat franchise into 3D. Many ideas sounded good but only good on paper. Multiple fighting styles per character? It sounds good to shift between fighting styles. 3D gameplay? Well, 2D seemed obsolete until you realize some good fighting games are in 2D! A new plot was unfolding namely the return of Outworld's previous ruler known as Onaga. It was discovered through the Gamecube version that Shao Kahn overthrew his previous master. Onaga is a menace that returned seeking revenge. The fact he was Shao Kahn's former master had plenty of room. Yet, there was one character that somehow (in-joke) ended up proving that the game won't age well. It's the old man Shujinko! Shujinko isn't boring because he's an old man. I mean, Heihachi is old but he's still one badass old man. Shujinko is nothing more than a character without his own moves. He sounds cool on paper but boy do I hate this guy.
The Konquest Mode in this game is flat-out boring once you get into it. Not too much lore in contrast to how MK Armageddon actually did it. At least, Armageddon gave you lots of interesting stuff to do for a game that was surely dull with the Kreate-A-Fatality system. The Konquest Mode here is so lackluster that spending hours playing Tekken 6's campaign scenario would be a much better option due to its richer mythologies and more interesting gameplay. For me, the Konquest Mode here is so weak that is it even worth playing? I only did it to complete the roster and to get Liu Kang in (because I'm a Liu Kang fanboy). Other than that, it hasn't aged well.
Gameplay just starts to get old too fast. The multiple fighting styles get boring eventually. It causes you to LOSE FOCUS as you try and learn the game. Try playing MK Deception and Tekken 5 and see which game gets you more engaged. Tekken 5 for me is still worth a replay unlike MK Deception for the reason of more focused gameplay. The Tekken series makes side-stepping less spammy unlike MK Deception where you only needed to press up and down. Having only one fighting style per character with dial-a-combo actually provides more depth. Think of why Tekken has been that popular for so long. It's all about accessibility - something MK Deception fails to have. The lack of accessibility makes it less fun. The depths and layers of complexity seem to be just there to be there. In the long run, I even regret why I even got the game to start with! The franchise really hit Armageddon after Armageddon. Somehow, the 3D era of Mortal Kombat was only good on paper, right?
Fortunately and thank the Elder Gods for a game that Netherrealm Studios would really do almost everything right. That would be a near-perfect game which would be called Mortal Kombat 9 or MK9 by the fanbase. MK vs. DC was really a wobbly game and suffered the same idea of adding unnecessary depths. MK vs. DC itself was still stuck in the 3D gameplay. Mortal Kombat like many projectile-based games should've stayed in the 2D fighting plane. Scorpion's spear to Sub-Zero's freeze all become near-useless when you're in a 3D fighting plane. Now, it was time for the franchise to be rebooted and simply call itself Mortal Kombat with the release. Often, it's simply called MK9 to avoid confusing it with MK1 which didn't age so well either.
Why does this game really kick Deception without an ounce of mercy? It's because it's the game that truly brought back the franchise after Midway went bankrupt. Now, we've got Warner Bros. games rebooting the game. The game itself is what I'd call Mortal Kombat Trilogy done right. The game has the near-perfect balance and it returns back to 2D. I remembered being afraid that the game would go back to high and low attacks. Instead, I was delighted to know that they were using the one-button per limb from the Tekken series - making it a worthy competitor to Tekken 6. Sure, I may still end up picking Tekken 6 over MK9 but I like both games nonetheless. Both games are very good in their own respect. The Story Mode itself owns Konquest a million times as the greatest MK movie never made - some character models were obviously based on the 1995 movie.
Why does this game really kick Deception without an ounce of mercy? It's because it's the game that truly brought back the franchise after Midway went bankrupt. Now, we've got Warner Bros. games rebooting the game. The game itself is what I'd call Mortal Kombat Trilogy done right. The game has the near-perfect balance and it returns back to 2D. I remembered being afraid that the game would go back to high and low attacks. Instead, I was delighted to know that they were using the one-button per limb from the Tekken series - making it a worthy competitor to Tekken 6. Sure, I may still end up picking Tekken 6 over MK9 but I like both games nonetheless. Both games are very good in their own respect. The Story Mode itself owns Konquest a million times as the greatest MK movie never made - some character models were obviously based on the 1995 movie.
What MK9 has that MK Deception doesn't is better accessibility to newbies. Gone are the unnecessary delaying mechanics of MK vs. DC too. Having one fighting style per character keeps the gameplay focused. You have the dial-a-combo which you could learn to combine with other dialed combos. The game starts off accessible but starts to get deep. You soon start to learn to use your X-Ray moves more strategically or how to create more badass combos by discovering them. I think the whole start your combo with this style and end with that is really only good on paper. MK9 makes combo making accessible yet not so accessible to noobs. Noobs start to get into it with less frustration until they are challenged by pro-players to link longer combos. This, in turn, creates more competitive gameplay one way or another.
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What do you think of his rather random rant?
What do you think of his rather random rant?
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