Mortal Kombat: Armageddon [PS2]

Fatalities -- always the shiny beacon of MK's gameplay -- have been altered. That's both good and bad news, as Midway decapitates the motto, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." Instead of being character-specific, everyone has the same pool of general fatalities to pull off. The trick is to do as many in the allotted time as possible. It's definitely intriguing, but it eliminates the whole "go through every character and do their fatalities" exercise that was such a hallmark of the series. In an ideal world, players would get a game with both character-specific and these general/stackable fatalities. Environment-caused deaths are still in play, though, and are some of the more entertaining scenes of the game.

Konquest mode is back for solitary players, and it's a darn good play. While one can nitpick about the targeting or linearity, it throws a ton of things at you and a lot of it sticks. The story is a good one, pitting demigod brother against demigod brother, and starring new characters Taven and Daegon. Of course, MK has always been one of the best story-telling series in the genre. Konquest's gameplay alternates between Shaolink Monks-style multi-enemy confrontations to one-on-one showdowns, with plenty of loot-finding in between. At times, you'll have to contend with a timer, while other instances make you battle large monsters. Armageddon's Konquest is among the best single-player modes of any fighting game.

Replacing the beloved Puzzle Kombat and Chess Kombat is Motor Kombat. This diversionary mode is actually a very fun kart racer -- complete with attacks, speed bursts, and several creative levels. Motor Kombat's quality surpasses some of the standalone kart titles out there, so it's quite a bonus. While without a circuit dynamic, the fact that it supports eight players online more than makes up. The Krypt back, packed with literally hundreds of unlockables.

With the decision to stay on current-generation hardware comes some production value issues. Graphically, it's tough to distinguish from 2004's Deception -- which itself wasn't a visual powerhouse. Both character models and level designs are a little bland, relying on the gore factor for eye candy. On the audio front, the music is lacking in intensity a little bit, and the grunts can become repetitive.

Mortal Kombat excels at offering plenty of great extras to compensate for its lukewarm gameplay. You can't help but love Motor Kombat, Konquest mode is a must-play, and the ensemble cast is eye-popping. Once this series makes the leap to next-gen -- which will hopefully happen soon -- it definitely needs to sharpen its fighting skills. It'd be nice to embrace an MK game because of its gameplay, rather than in spite of it. In the meantime, fans of the series can't help but once again scream, "MORTAL KOMBAT!" at the top of their lungs.