Mortal Kombat: Deception [GC]

The stages and environments of Mortal Kombat: Deception are top-notch. With barely any noticeable difference between the PlayStation 2, Xbox and GameCube, they look terrific and are packed with particle effects, multiple kinds of textures, and destructible objects. Players can even walk up to certain items and press the "grab object" button to create makeshift weapons for themselves. Additionally, the ability to drop down into multiple levels of a single stage is a feature that we've always appreciated in fighters, and we're glad that Midway decided to expand upon it.

Animation freaks, glitch fiends, and audiophiles, however, may not be as supportive of Deception as we are for a couple of minor reasons. Number one: the movements of the fighters are still somewhat stiff and robotic when compared to something like Dead or Alive or Virtua Fighter 4. There are also a couple of strange collision issues when it comes to getting hit too close to "deadly environment" zones -- it's way too easy to get knocked into them. Even so, they're nowhere near as strange as the collision issues faced when fighting our hated, scumbag enemy, The Dragon King; who seems to penetrate your blocks with his tippy-tapped shots with a strange and unexplainable inconsistency. Meanwhile, some of the texture choices in the game are disappointingly bland. Although strong, Mortal Kombat's soundtrack is marred by somewhat basic sound effects and cheesy kung-fu theater voice acting (though it's obvious that it's intentional). Thankfully, the game does run in progressive scan mode on Nintendo's console, which is a nice plus for HDTV owners.

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