One flaw keeps it from gaining the lead.
It plays just like the previous games, with the addition of EVERY SINGLE CHARACTER IN THE SERIES!!! Now that was the big eye-opener! You name a character in the series and that character will be here: Baraka, Goro, Sektor, Shao Khan (did I spell that right?), and even Chameleon. Yep. You jump into the action and get the Mortal Kombat action you expect. Yes, there are still pit fatalities--still as gruesome as they always were.
The Konquest mode is much better than it was in Deception, whereas Konquest in Deception was better than it was in Deadly Alliance; it's just getting better and better! (although I must admit that Konquest in this game is short compared to its predecessors) A new mode in this installment would be Motor Kombat, a racing game (well duh! Hence "Motor") which I find to be kind of fun. It's a neat little break from all the fighting.
Another great installment is the new Kreate A Fighter mode.....don't tell me you really need me to explain what this is!?.....create your own fighter. GEEZ! Yes, you even have the freedom to give your fighter their own moveset, although many special moves aren't included here (e.g.: Stun Gun, Kiss Of Death, Chop Chop Blades, Chemeleon). The other bad part here, aside from a lack of many special attacks, is the fact that you are only able to create one fighter per profile. (c'mon, Midway! Do you really think our imagination is limited to just one character!?)
Those were pretty much the good sides of the game.....and now, sadly, for the ugly side.
First off, while it doesn't seem to be a really big deal--unless you play defense--is the fact that the game seems to have a hard time understanding when you press the block button unless you press it hard enough. Before you say (or think) anything, no it's not my controller; it works fine with every other game, including the previous MK games. I've noticed that this seems to happen at the worst time: whenever I finish an attack animation, it would help to block any attacks that would counter my own, but as I've said, the button needs to be pressed hard enough in order for the game to acknowledge that I want to block. It works fine when I'm testing the block feature without being attacked, but really spits in my face when I need it the most!
The second, and quite possibly the worst flaw in the MK series, is the Fatality system. In previous games each character had their own unique Fatality, even if it was just flat-out horrible, it was still their very own. Now, none of the fighters have a finish of their own. Instead, what we get is this "Kreate A Fatality" nonsense where you just throw in this attack sequence in order to finish off your opponent. Think of it like this: it's like a Brutality, but without the insane "punch, kick" frenzy, just punch a bit, pull of their arms, and end it with some disappointing head crush or neck snap. That's it! No more of Scorpion's flaming skull breath, Stryker's bomb attachment or Reptile's acid breath. In a game where Fatalities are the symbol of the series, you'd think that Midway would put more effort into finishing off your opponents. In other words, EVERY FIGHTER NEEDS THEIR OWN FATALITIES, NOT SOME LAME, SHARED COMBO ATTACK!!!
So in the end, this game is only ok. It could have been the greatest, even surpassing Mortal Kombat Trilogy (and what a gem of a game that was!), but the disappointing Fatality system pulled it from the Road To Victory and back to the intersection of "failure" and "success."