A large character cast make for some great multiplayer, but still most people have seen what Armageddon offers before.
(-) single player offerings seem threadbare; aside from a higher resolution echoes the graphics of previous games in the series; the game itself hasn't evolved that much from its beginning
Mortal Kombat was never much of a metamorphic video game series. Most of the games have a similar set of characters, similar arenas to fight through, and similar move set. This was known all the way back from when it was a brand new release, when Sega supported the "Genesis does what Nintendon't" slogan. I still have memories playing as Sub Zero back in the 16-bit polygons and spamming the three buttons on the Genesis controller, seeing how fast I could brutally slam Scorpion.
Keep in mind that was like what, a century ago? It's a pretty awkward mix of emotions, how we're at the end of the console generation for Dolby Surround Sound Pro Logic and progressive scan for 480p, and we're getting pretty much the same Mortal Kombat experience, but with some solid extras. People who have always religiously loved the series are in luck here, because it stays faithful to their basic button-mashing to create bloody fatalities, but for others they'll find a very familiar experience that may seem a bit too familiar.
One solid addition to Armageddon was an improved story mode called Konquest mode. I haven't played the mode myself, but I watched my brother play it on occasion. The game turns into a third person exploration adventure, of course battling enemies with your fists, blade, thunder, or drunken fists (wow), and it does show some effort to bring the series up from its triumphant introduction.
But to appreciate the Konquest mode, you need to either be a really patient-hearted player or a long-time fan deprived with a thirst of nostalgia, because creating profiles makes for some confusion. There were already profiles listed on the memory car incidentally left in my Playstation 2 system, and I created a profile of my own while my brother was asleep, then the game asks me to create a password. I put something paper-thinly simple, just five X's. When I looked at the bottom of the scene after I got some chills from the deviant half-face glaring at me at the title screen, I was confused to see my brother's profile activate instead of mine. So instead, I chose to find what was available other than the Konquest that requires a profile.
The game also has an endurance mode, where you choose a fighter and battle based on a tower of cubes with the images of fighters on them, another thing I remember seeing on the Genesis, and battle them out in that order. But the difficulty spike is practically insane, the first battle you can practically win while pressing buttons with your eyes closed, then the third battle the enemy counter acts your every move with excessive guards as well as some mundane special attacks. So the game had very little to offer me as a single player, simply because I couldn't really get my profile to work. Annoying.
But if you have a willing friend at your side, the multiplayer can be fun. The game's fighting engine is pretty basic, just mashing buttons unless you mastered some favorite special moves. It plays exactly like you remember from the days of old, which can be both good and bad to several people. However there are various surprises that you'll see in the fight. For example, you deliver a fast kick, and your enemy projectiles into the background and gets torn around by a huge fan. These incidents can be both unpredictable and game changing, and its good because otherwise the battles would feel a little too closely resembled to the earlier games. But one thing Armageddon does very exceptionally, is the horde of characters to choose from. There are more than 60! Some of them are familiar, some of them are obscure, some of them are morbidly unbalanced, but any way you look at it, that's a massive roster to work with. Just trying out different characters with your friends to observe their fighting styles can be a fun way to waste time.
Another added feature that found its way to Armageddon is Motor Kombat, which is a kart racer. Yes, a kart racer. At first this idea sounds like a throw-away, and its easy to see why, but it works surprisingly well.You have a limited amount of fighters that take the track in their own representative rides. The racing is done pretty basic, having some lightning bolt pick-ups to boost speed, and gold star pickups that will activate a character-specific special move. In addition, you can also bump other characters off the track with your car. This idea was handled both staying true to the game's core design, counting a crashing enemy into the lava off the track as a "fatality", and with tight controls and a good sense of speed its also fun to play. You only get a few different tracks to race on though.
It's not to say Mortal Kombat Armageddon is a bad looking game, because the menus and arenas have that spooky leer, the characters are animated well, and the frame rate is fluid. It makes good use of the processing power of the Playstation 2. But the problem is, aside from the higher resolution, it still looks like the same game most of us used to play on the Sega Genesis. For example, I remember a stage where the fighters are in a room of what appeared to be a flying ship, because an enormous window in the background showed moving clouds. The same level is on this version, and it looks and plays exactly as I remember. The sounds are also familiar, from the grizzly voice "Round one: Fight!" to the screechy sound when you cut through an enemy's block, it all feels a little too familiar.
Mortal Kombat Armageddon has a very large cast of characters, perhaps the largest in any game in the series, as well as some other additions like the practically un-heard of Motor Kombat. But some of these new additions, as solid as they are, aren't enough to make Armageddon stand too high above its many, many predecessors. The series has been going on for a long time, and it will continue to grow with every console generation, but it seems to be changing at a very slow rate. It is a good way to relive some memories without digging up an old Super Nintendo or such, especially with some technically improved visuals, but after all this time there ought to be some risks for Mortal Kombat to take sometime soon.