One of the largest European gaming sites, Eurogamer, has posted their review for the recently released PAL region version of Mortal Kombat: Armageddon. In terms of reviews from well known sites, this is the poorest rating the game has received as of yet. In the end, MK Armageddon was rewarded with a 5/10. Numerous issues were cited by the reviewer, including the lack of change from the previous two games and similar looking characters and moves.
Armageddon welcomes back every character ever to have graced the series but with a roster sixty characters strong, don't expect any kind of real balancing. While fans of the series may struggle not to drown in their own drool over this massive cast, anyone even marginally less fanatical won't recognise at least half of them. Much of this number is made up by the huge number of clone characters that were nothing more than cheap additions to the digitised versions and while there's obviously been some attempt to differentiate between them, the fact that so many characters look and play alike is still very much in your face. Some of the bigger characters and bosses have been toned down to be made playable too, so where Motaro was once a giant centaur, he's now lost a couple of feet for his bipedal and far less imposing look in Armageddon.
Strangely, unlike the other major sites Eurogamer mentions the Kreate-a-Fatality system in a positive light, stating it is arguably one of the game's strongest points:
One of the strangest choices with this final MK of the generation is to do away with traditional character-specific fatalities and replace them with the universal Kreate-A-Fatality mode. Once the trademark 'Finish Him!' booms forth, you're now able to string together any number of minor punishments into one huge string of hurt. Much of the lure of each new Mortal Kombat title is going through the characters and seeing what gruesome new ways those bloody-minded chaps at Midway have come up with for putting a full stop at the end of a fight, so to do away with this is really pretty brave. The move pays off though, and while there's only so many times you can enjoy Liu Kang setting someone on fire or Reptile getting his snack on with the loser's limp body, this freeform system is arguably one of the strongest points in the game's favour.
On one final note, the reviewer mentions online play as hazardous for Europeans. From the quote under the second image on the review page:
Online modes are always welcome but expect to get pummeled by Americans who wrongly think that Armageddon is the best thing to happen to gaming since Master Chief picked up a second gun.
To correct Mr. Albiges on this point, PAL and NTSC games can not play one another in MK: Armageddon's online play modes, so it's pretty obvious that this judgement was made without even bothering to test the mode. Despite this slight anti-American gaming bias, click here to read the rest of Eurogamer's article.
Thanks to forum member
