Mortal Kombat Deception

[New Era Outlaw]

Actually, I think I like this version of Liu Kang.
Adds a new spin to his character, don't you think?
Of course, it's not EVERY day you play with a corpse.

One thing, though...if anything, he's one of the most over-powered characters in the game.
He can pull 12-hits combos virtually out of his Yin-Yang, and his Bicycle Kick ALONE can cause more damage to the Dragon King than ANYBODY's Style Branch combo in the game. Wicked.

Also, I like his fatality.
It's freaky. In a good way.
By the way, did anybody else other than me predict that Liu Kang's fighting style would be the same as Marshall Law from Tekken?                      

[New Era Outlaw]

- WARNING!!!-
May contain SPOILERS!



Well, now that I've spent a good couple of weeks on this game, and virtually found out everything there is to find in this game, I think it's time for me to jut down exactly what I thought of Mortal Kombat:Deception.

-First Impressions-
Well, basically, when I first picked up the game, I started out with one of my favorite characters, Baraka. He had pretty decent, easy-to-learn combos, and was an all around balanced character. I squared off against the CPU, and picked them off, one by one, until my fight with Onaga, the Dragon King. And I'll say this: Blade Fury sure did a number on that guy. Shao Kahn and Onaga must have been trading notes or something, because I couldn't believe the sheer number of times he fell for that move.
So....I beat the game in a grand total of....6 minutes.
Seeing as how I put the game on default (Medium) difficulty, I felt a tad disappointed at how short the game was from that first game.
Well, this isn't really the type of game you just beat once and say 'been there, done that', so I continued to play on.

Well, I pretty much got roped in after that. I spent some good, long hours playing this game, sometimes sacrificing sleep just to see what new things I've earned since I've started. To unlock some of the cooler stuff, though, I had to wane through Konquest mode. To me, it was more of a chore than anything, so I just ran through the entire Konquest mode just to unlock some new secrets in the Krypt. And when Konquest was finally over, I just couldn't help but take one big old sigh of relief. That was certainly one big LONG treatise of my time.

The mini-games are what have me coming back, though.
Chess Kombat was simply a blast, although you chess purists will be a little ticked that the game is nowhere close to being actual chess. Ah, well...it still plays pretty good.
And, being the Super Puzzle Fighter 2 maniac that I am, I just simply could not resist Puzzle Kombat. Plays exactly the same, and the skills that I've garnered from SPF2 easily crossed over here.


Okay, that's pretty much enough for first impressions.
Let's break it down now, shall we?


-Graphics-

Well, when it comes to graphics, I suppose that you can't go wrong here in Deception. The backgrounds are really well rendered and detailed (though not as much as Deadly Alliance), and the artwork's pretty much on par with Deadly Alliance. However, I just can't but help thinking that they shirked on a couple of things here.....character costume design being one of them. The characters aren't as decorated as in DA, with some of them reprising similar appearances from previous games (Smoke, Liu Kang, Scorpion) while others are just a helmet away from their alternate costumes (Hotaru) and others are just.....ick. (Rayden, Tanya).

Also, the graphics for Konquest just upsets me.
I understand that you may not have much more room to give the graphics the old spit shine as in the other games, but did you HAVE to make the characters look like God-awful Nintendo 64 sprites? Yeesh.

Other than that, character movements are pretty fluid and they animate very well when pulling off a special move. The popcorn fatalities which plagued DA are lessened to an extent, but I notice that there's probably less blood in this game than the previous one.

As for the opening movie, very well animated, and done with a quality that tops Deadly Alliance. I just wish that same effort applied for the rest of the game.

Score: 7/10

-Sound-

In a word....simply AWFUL.
The background music is simply GRATING on your ears, and the only saving grace in that department are the tunes from the previous games. Thank God you won't reallly notice it too much when you're beating up on somebody, but pay a visit to the Soundtrack section of 'Kontent' and you'll see...er, hear what I mean. Deadly Alliance was probably the peak of the series when it came to BG music....that collection was simply awesome. This is probably the low point....NONE of the new tunes are good. Well, the opening for 'Falling Cliffs' is pretty all right, but after that, it gets repetitous....pretty much like every other tune in the game.

Also gone is the brilliant voice acting from Deadly Alliance.
Replacing Rayden as narrator is newcomer Shujinko, who talks pretty much like a monk reading from a cue card. Seriously, he should NOT be narrating....nor should he EVER again. And I seriously don't know why Rayden's voice actor from Deadly Alliance was dropped...that person gave a compelling performance. This one is just...well, boring. He doesn't in the least bit convince me that he's Rayden gone bad.
Also, you'd pretty much notice an overall re-hashing of male and female voice for all characters during the fights....they did it for Deadly Alliance, sure, but it's more obvious here.

Don't get me started on Konquest.
The voice acting is very unconvincing and just plain bad.

Long story short, this game strikes out in the sound department.

Score: 2/10


-Controls-

The controls here are pretty much the same as in Deadly Alliance....you could port your skills in that game over here pretty easily. However, you'd probably notice that the control is a LOT stiffer this time around. It's not like the good old days where you could mash one button repeatedly and then move on to the next when your on-screen character's finished with that move. Now, you have to execute the move EXACTLY how they tell you to do it in the command list. Little leeway here, folks. Certain characters that were cake to play before (Scorpion) turn a bit harder with the stiffness of the controls...sometimes, you won't even get the combo you need, leaving you wide open for an attack. It's also a sheer B!TCH to pull off in Konquest mode, where it really counts.

Still, the controls are pretty responsive, despite this irritating fact.
Blocking feels a bit loose this time around, though, and sidestepping seems to have been cut in effectiveness this time around.

Also, you DA players would probably notice right off the bat that the fighting styles of several veteran characters have changed. For some, that's a good thing (Li Mei), while others....no. (Scorpion, Kenshi). This can throw you off a bit at times, but I suppose that's just to keep the characters fresh.

Score: 6/10

-Gameplay-

Pretty much varies here. Sometimes, the CPU is just there, taking serious whoop-arse from you, making you feel like you're kicking hiney and taking names! Boo-yeah!
Other times, though, they turn cheap.
Simply missing a combo because they ducked it and pokes you up afterwards is enough to mess you up. And it appears that Midway likes to see cheap pokes get the better of you....they made a boss out of it. And his name is Onaga. For some strange reason, blocking is somewhat twisted in this battle. Sometimes, you will successfully defend against his attacks...other times, he'll nail you when by all rights, he should not have. All that adds for a recipe of frustration.

Still, the combos feel pretty solid, and I think I have an even better time plugging at my opponent than in DA. Especially when they get hurled into a Death Trap, one of the perks of this game. Liu Kang and that Bicycle Kick....sheer brutality when it coms to Death traps. Heh.

So, pretty much, you'll have fun playing this game, but, mind you, at times the CPU will test your patience.

Score: 8/10

-Replay Value-

Replay value? Of COURSE this game has replay value. You're not simply going to play through with one guy, win and say you're a MK Champion, are you? You'll have to play through this game several times, that is, if you want to find out everything this game has to offer.
And trust me, there's a lot.

However, when you do find everything, do you still feel compelled to play? Well, speaking for myself, I feel like giving the game a rest after unlocking so many things. To tell you the truth, I just don't really see a reason to play as much as I did, now that I've seen virtaully everything the game has to offer.

So, pretty much, this game suffers from the same problem as Deadly Alliance....the replay value is pretty much dependent on the unlockables, not the gameplay. (sigh) What a crying shame.
Sure, there are characters that give me joy to play (Liu Kang, Baraka, Mileena), but, in the end....same old, same old.
Puzzle Kombat and Chess Kombat, however, may have you hanging a little longer.

-Fatalities-

Ah, yes.
The very STAPLE of a Mortal Kombat game.
The very ESSENCE of what it is supposed to be!
You'll see fatalities in full form here, two per character (a plus considering that each characters having only ONE in DA really bites), plus a Hara-Kiri suicide move when you lose.

However, when it comes to fatalities and this game, let's face it.
You know they've REALLY run out of ideas when they give Scorpion SUB-ZERO'S Head Rip fatality. And basically, the gist of nearly all of the fatalities involve one of three things.....blowing up, being cut in half, or decapitation. Yawn. Some show promise, though.....Hotaru's triple neck breaker's pretty decent, and I caught serious kicks watching Darrius re arrange my opponent's body parts and look at it as if it's the Blue Ribbon in a sculpture contest.

As for the Hara-Kiris....pretty cool, but in the same boat as fatalities.
Meh. Mortal Kombat has pretty much slumped in the fatality department after 2, and it looks like the slump continues....

Score: 4/10


-Overall?-

Mortal Kombat: Deception's a pretty decent game.
It's got a lot going for it, what with all the mini-games and bigger selection of characters and whatnot. Tons of unlockables add to the replay value of this game.

However, awful BG music, stiff controls and a lack of accomplishment when you beat the game with a character hinders this game a bit.
I recommend this game for any die-hard fan, of course.
However, please heed me when I say that between DA and this game, Deadly Alliance was by far the superior title.

Final Score: 27/50.
Not what I was expecting, really. Solid title, but a lot more could have, and should have been done.


By the way, sorry about the double post.
Needless to say, this post is pretty long, and I didn't want to make it longer with what was said above.
Anyway, that's pretty much my review of the game.
Have fun.                        

[unforgiven]

?? i find the fatalities thati saw so far were very good!!!...i really like this game its a total improvement over a good game (MKDA)

ok i said that the fatalities were good but after seing someof the others i dislike them ..but there are a few really nice ones in there thou                    

[camrE]

My counter argument to NEO's reveiw.

Ok, not to start any beef or anything, i wonder how you rate a game. You complain of the difficulty on the default level. why? If the medium difficulty level is too easy for you, you can go to the options many where the programmers convinently placed an option for you to make the game harder or easier. Try it.

While the Konquest mode was far from great, I have to apply me explanantion once again, these men develop fighting games for a living so what exactly did you expect from the Konquest mode? Final Fantasy VII? Oh, do you want to build an engine for the Konquest mode also? Seeing as it is so terrible. If square Enix made that Konquest mode, then you have room to complain. As it is right now, seems a little unreasonable

once again, you complain of the comparisson of the detail in MKDA arenas and those of MKD, you measure up the size of these levels and tell me if your complaints are just. You are the only person that I have heard complain of these arenas.

I agree with you on the costumes, Hotaru and Tanya, but what's wrong with Raiden's costume?

while the music in this game is not great, it is better than music in every other fighting game. Dan Forden has always been very original and artistic in hi scores, the music is great.




Liu Kang's Main style is Jun Fan, which is a watered down version of Jeet Kune Do (way of the intercepting fists - which basically means counter rather than block), which is the style that Namco used primarily for Marshall and Forest Law. That's why they look similar. Johnny Cage utilized Jeet Kune Do in MKDA . Now why would they change the name from Jeet Kune Do to Jun Fang, well, there could be two explanations. 1) Westerners took Jeet Kune Do, a style that was built on formlessness, efficiency of economical movement and claimed that they cleaned it up into something more optimal (to quote the many Neo's from the wall of screens, "bu11$h!t!" others claim that  this was the original style that Bruce lee invented, the essence of the style is actually Jun Fun Jeet Kune Do, so Carlos Pesina perhaps see a distinction in the two styles, OR they tried to pull a fast one and make it seem like a whole new addition to the diverse repertoire of the game.                    

[Imperial_X]

As a player of this game, I must ask, who cares?
REALLY?  Who the hell really wants to know all this background horsesh!t!!!!!

                     

[rb]

while the music in this game is not great, it is better than music in every other fighting game. Dan Forden has always been very original and artistic in hi scores, the music is great.

you're joking right ? you must be joking                    

[camrE]

Actually No! I am dead-ass serious. Name another game that has better sound than MKD? Not even Soul calibur II, Soul Calibur II is the highest quality fighting game out there but lacks real orchestra BGM. So you name another game that has appropriate music for the levels such as MKD. Oooh, I'm awaiting you to jump off with some kinda offbeat nonsense like guilty gear or marvel vs. capcom. Y'all be out here to argue, just for arguing sake!                    

[rb]

Guilty Gear did have great music , each piece fit the character it was made for. The King Of Fighter Series (post 2000 sucks though) tops the list for music. The SNK music team of old would produce high quality music on a yearly basis for the series. Unfortunately after KOF2000 the music went downhill. Yeah you must be thinking ooooh what a dumbass he's comparing midi type music to real music. If that's the case then please get  one of the arranged soundtracks KOF96 and 99 are my recommendations.                    

[camrE]

Duke, what are you talking about? Listen to any soundtrack for any game, or movie for that matter and it's always professionally done, with an orchestra. that is not a point nor arguement. The in-game soundtrack for Legend of Zelda Majora's Mask sucked, but the soundtrack on on disc was well done. Have you ever heard any of the tracks for Final Fantasy X or even Metal Gear Solid 2 Sons of Liberty, off the hook. The soundtracks are always top notch when burnt on a disc for commercial sale. What we are talking about is, in-game score. And MKD tops all other fighting games out there!                      

[New Era Outlaw]

Okay, guys, just STOP IT.
If this is going to erupt into a flamewar, I'm locking down this thread.
Got me? GOOD.

My counter argument to NEO's reveiw.

Ok, not to start any beef or anything, i wonder how you rate a game. You complain of the difficulty on the default level. why? If the medium difficulty level is too easy for you, you can go to the options many where the programmers convinently placed an option for you to make the game harder or easier. Try it.

While the Konquest mode was far from great, I have to apply me explanantion once again, these men develop fighting games for a living so what exactly did you expect from the Konquest mode? Final Fantasy VII? Oh, do you want to build an engine for the Konquest mode also? Seeing as it is so terrible. If square Enix made that Konquest mode, then you have room to complain. As it is right now, seems a little unreasonable

once again, you complain of the comparisson of the detail in MKDA arenas and those of MKD, you measure up the size of these levels and tell me if your complaints are just. You are the only person that I have heard complain of these arenas.

I agree with you on the costumes, Hotaru and Tanya, but what's wrong with Raiden's costume?

while the music in this game is not great, it is better than music in every other fighting game. Dan Forden has always been very original and artistic in hi scores, the music is great.


Liu Kang's Main style is Jun Fan, which is a watered down version of Jeet Kune Do (way of the intercepting fists - which basically means counter rather than block), which is the style that Namco used primarily for Marshall and Forest Law. That's why they look similar. Johnny Cage utilized Jeet Kune Do in MKDA . Now why would they change the name from Jeet Kune Do to Jun Fang, well, there could be two explanations. 1) Westerners took Jeet Kune Do, a style that was built on formlessness, efficiency of economical movement and claimed that they cleaned it up into something more optimal (to quote the many Neo's from the wall of screens, "bu11$h!t!" others claim that  this was the original style that Bruce lee invented, the essence of the style is actually Jun Fun Jeet Kune Do, so Carlos Pesina perhaps see a distinction in the two styles, OR they tried to pull a fast one and make it seem like a whole new addition to the diverse repertoire of the game.

Anyway, camRE, to answer your questions:

1. I never complained about the difficulty. I just have experience in Deadly Alliance, which I ported over to this game. And I pretty much KNOW what a difficulty setting IS, thank you very much. I'm not stupid, you know.

2. So? Just because they don't have experience in RPG style gaming doesn't mean that they couldn't take notes from other companies. And by the way, Final Fantasy was started by a company that was about to go bankrupt and had ZIPPO experience in RPGs, and STILL was a humongous success. So that is no excuse.

3. Take a closer look at the arenas. Anybody can tell you that a lot more effort as placed into Deadly Alliance's arenas. Plus, if you read as many articles on the game as I have, they left out a LOT of details from the actual game that they were planning to put in the game. Remember just how much levels were supposed to be on the Nethership? It was supposed to have FOUR levels, one for each side of the ship, plus a section where prisoners pin you to the walls if you get too close. Now, there is only a part where you get knocked into the lower sections of the ship.

4. It's ugly. That's what I think.

5. No, it's not. Different strokes for different folks, but I find the music horrid compared to the techno tunes of MK3 and the mood-inducing melodies of Deadly Alliance. One repetitive thrash is all I hear when it comes to the new music composed for this game. And I agree, Dan is a musical genious, but if you even bothered to check the Soundtrack section of the game, he didn't compose the majority of the new songs.

6. Hate to break this to you, but nobody cares.
All people care about is how well characters in these games fight.
And, thankfully, Liu Kang fights exceptionally well in this game.


And, by the way, camRE, don't start bashing other people's opinions.
Just because I have a different opinion to yours does not mean you can just waltz in and bash on me and the others like that. It may be your thread, but that does not entitle you to throw your weight around like that. Got it? GOOD. No more flames, people.                    

[unforgiven]

i also second that the soundtrack is good ..but really for me i like the stages about the game                    

[TriniXaeno]

Tekken had an incredible musical score.

Very memorable, stayed with me to this day. Infact, it was one of the first game tracks I collected.

Jin stage music, King stage music, Eddie Gordo stage music.

Works of art in their own right.

More recently, the Yoshimitsu stage music in Tekken Tag.

I have these in mp3 and play 'em in winamp regularly. That said, I can't even remember stage music for Mortal Kombat.

The opening theme totally owned and that too I have in mp3 but not a single stage score.

go figure.                    

[Rampage]

wait nah, you wrote the review camre ? if you did infact write it, slap me a msg on msn dey, irampagemc@hotmail.com  !!! doh stick!!                    

[camrE]

While Tekken had an impressive score and you like it, I can't remember a single tune, But I remember the soundtracks from MKDA or even MK I, so go figure... We all may have different tastes, but to put down the MKDA BGM like how NEO did, I can't stand idly. I think NEO should utilize a Q-tip now and then, (no disrespect, ear wax can build up very fast.) Joking!!!!!!

Oh, for the record, I wasn't flaming anyone, It was constructive debate. The composer is not totally responsible for how any song was finished, the producer, arranger and engineer are all equally responsible for the result. So even if Dan didn't composed the music, he may have well been responsible for how it came out. He's their lead musician anyways.

Oh, Neo, you mentioned the similarities between Liu kang and Marshall Law's fighting style, that's why I gave the details. So apparently you do care.

                     

[New Era Outlaw]

Cool.
But, mind you, I never said that Deadly Alliance's music was bad....it was probably the best for the series, with MK II running a close second. I wasn't too keen on Deception's music too much because it sounded repetitive and grating.
Then again, different strokes for different folks                    

[ShinSagat]

I was wonderin about this as i was playin d game

sonya and her so called boyfriend johnny cage was d normal scene and Kano was her enemy who wanted to res some one eye monster on she

HOW D HELL it have a character who could really suit as their children.. Kira is basically kano and sonya in one and Cobra is you guessed it Johnny cage and sonya .

This is just me biting at the originality but still lui kang make up for all ..He just bad his ending was one of the more inspiring and mystical.. Shujinko life sucks                    

[camrE]

They mixed and matched moves so you can get the best of two characters in one. thats all there is to it.                    

[TriniXaeno]

camre you said: while the music in this game is not great, it is better than music in every other fighting game. (in reference to mk)

That is a pretty strong statement and surely a matter of opinion, not fact.

In my point of view Tekken had a superior musical score. Nothing is wrong in voicing your opinion but you may want to flavour your comments a little better so it reflects that, an opinion.                    

[New Era Outlaw]

Okay....getting back on track, I just thought I'd share something with you. Pay a visit to this site and read the guy's review on Mortal Kombat: Deception.

http://www.fightersgeneration.com/main.htm


Now, here are my thoughts, with pieces taken from his review in "":

"Within the intro itself, two characters end up getting killed (Raiden and Shang Tsung), and then magically come back to life without any explanation. That's just retarded."

Raiden comes back to life because he is a Thunder God, genious. Ergo, he's NOT mortal. Also, as I recall, Shang Tsung's STILL dead.

"If you remember correctly, they made a big deal about Liu Kang dying in the Deadly Alliance story line. Well... Guess what... He's back as a selectable character. Yeah, that makes sense alright... "

I think you forgot to mention that Liu Kang is probably the best character in the game. Although his resurrection kills the dramatic turn that Deadly Alliance started, his comeback as a demented zombie makes him cooler. Plus, he can kick some serious ass in that game.

"Yeah, that makes sense alright... Baraka also supposedly died in the MK4 series, but he's back "

Baraka NEVER died in Mortal Kombat 4. Just because you saw it as an unlockable in the Krypt does not mean that it's canon to the series. The team probably thought it was the collest ending in Mortal Kombat Gold, and inserted it in as a bonus. In any case....do you HAVE a problem with Baraka being in the game?

"But hey, that's Mortal Kombat for ya, nobody "really" dies."
 True, Mortal Kombat, like Marvel comics, is getting a tad annoying with that 'nobody truly dies' shtick.


 "Unfortunately, Midway and their "team" of designers don't know how to tell a story worth anything"
I disagree. I find the story very riveting. The opening intro caught the attention of a couple of my friends, who do not like the series.

"The game engine itself is almost a replica of Deadly Alliance, which wasn't that good then, and isn't that good now."
Says you.

"The gameplay seems to be too dependent on chain combos and juggles,"

....so is Tekken, but I don't see you b!tching about that.

and not enough on distance and range (which is no doubt an importance of a quality 3D fighting game).

Oh, HELL no.

The Krypt is also back, with loads of useless crap to unlock.

So I guess finding more characters and backgrounds to play with isn't your speed, huh? I don't even think you've played enough of the game to realise that there are less koffins to unlock, not to mention the fact that there are no empty koffins. And in the majority of them, I found something useful. Yeesh.

You've got to hear Boon tell the audience how his favorite character is Scorpion. What a moron.

Oh, I get it. Just because Boon likes Scorpion and is expressing his opinion makes him a moron, am I right? By the way, WTF does this have to do with the game?

The Konquest mode is somewhat fun, somewhat monotonous. It's like a dollar store version of Shenmue. Some of the dialouge is so stupid that it's funny, and it actually made me want to keep playing all the way through. They didn't do a terrible job, but they certainly could have made the story a lot deeper. Hell, it doesn't even make sense at times.

This I agree with. The fact that Shujinko says 'Yes' to everything people ask him to do makes me laugh. I remember a comic where Kenshi tells him to drink a glass of his wee-wee and Shujinko says, "Yes! It shall be done!" Har.

Hmm. Nitara, Mavado, Hsu Hao... Well, they're not playable, but you can see them in the jail stage, behind bars where those shitty designs belong. Ha Ha Ha... That's just great... Why introduce new characters in one game, and in the sequel, stick them in the background? Why? Because Midway realized how s****y those designs were and they had nothing better to do.

No, because there was no need for their characters to be in Deception.
And...did you say Nitara's character design SUCKED?! Are you freaking G- (think happy thoughts, NEO....)

And It's definitely fun unlocking all the extras packed into this title

That's not what you said a while ago.


Overall, MK: Deception isn't terrible in casual play... You can still have some fun projectile wars, and if you waste some brain space to memorize some of the chain combos, you can "type your friends an ass kicking." ... So, anyone want to play some Tekken 5 or Soul Calibur 2?

Do you even READ what you type, sometimes?


Hmph. I am certainly glad he doesn't speak for all of us.
This guy's review is so tainted with bias you could smell it a mile away.
On top of that, I'm not terribly sure he even played through HALF of the damn game to warrant saying such crap.
Well, that's just me.
All I know is, that I LIKE the gameplay in Deception, dig the chain combos, and find this to be a very good game. Guys like these should be buried up to the neck in sand at high tide.

But, you know.
That's just me.
 
(hides shovel behind his back)

                     

[ShinSagat]

EDIT ON NEW ERA ORDERS
The gameplay has improved between the 2 because in deadly alliance you could juggle a man infinitely and win by time which is crap but yeah. It is not for certain as if u can do the impact roll (sidestep as u fall or hit wall) yuh clear but not alot of people do it. Also your reaction time after moves was real fast in deadly alliance so you coulda be more reckless than deception. Stages get over bawd but death traps make things too fast sometimes (lui kang bicycle kick is instant death in dead pool somtimes)

The konquest mode is a one time thing and they come good.. Some of them treasures overly hard to find but decent i love how the story ties in with old mortal kombats and to use it to improve krypt depth was cool (cuz as someone empty crypt easy easy it up the challange).

Nitara couldnt be used because it was either Vampire people rule all or dragon king return as raidens endin stated kinda like why reptile couldnt be there it was because of events b4. Mavado was a no show as kabal was comin back and it has to dissappear that he was '"killed by mavado"

Lui Kang comin back makes perfect sense because i was expectin gaurdian spectre but corpse is better for the setting. The story lines low point is that the two people just dead from d deadly alliance. Other than that  I like d character changes.



and rb you sayin what i sayin .. originality lacked on those 2