Mortal Kombat: Armageddon: Difference between revisions

'''''Mortal Kombat: Armageddon''''' is the seventh canonical installment in the ''[[Mortal Kombat]]'' franchise. It was released for Playstation2 and [[Xbox]] in 2006, and for [[Nintendo Wii]] in 2007. This game marks the last [[Mortal Kombat]] releases for those consoles, since the games after this have been released only for Xbox360 and Playstation3.

''Armageddon'' [[Dream Match Game|brought back the entire cast from the previous six installments]] in the [[Fighting Game]] franchise—from ''[[Mortal Kombat (video game)|Mortal Kombat]]'' all the way up to ''[[Mortal Kombat: Deception]]''—and also added Sareena from ''[[Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero]]''. It includes a total cast of '''[[Loads and Loads of Characters|63 playable named combatants]]''', including the ''Trilogy'' exclusive characters ''[[Ditto Fighter|Chameleon]]'' (for all consoles) and ''[[Ditto Fighter|Khameleon]]'' ([[Regional Bonus|exclusively]] for [[Wii]]), ''[[Joke Character|Meat]]'' from ''4'' as a [[Secret Character]], and ''[[Playing with Fire|Blaze]]'' (a [[Secret Character]] from ''[[Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance]]'' who was turned into a [[Elemental Powers|Fire Golem]] in order to be the game's [[Final Boss]]). To cap off the roster, '''all''' previously unplayable bosses and sub-bosses -- [[Mortal Kombat (video game)|Goro]], [[Mortal Kombat 2|Kintaro, Shao Kahn]], [[Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance|Moloch]], and [[Mortal Kombat: Deception|Onaga]]—were turned into playable characters without any need for unlocking them. There was even room for two new characters (''[[Cain and Abel|Daegon and Taven]]'', the main characters of this game). At first, ''Armageddon'' appeared to be a dream come true: every potential ''Mortal Kombat'' dream match was now possible.

The game delivered in roster depth, stages (bringing back almost every past stage, with their own [[Death Trap]]s), and customization (the 64th option on the character select allows players to create their own character) -- but it lacked a solid story (characters thought to be [[Killed Off for Real]], such as Hsu Hao, came [[Back from the Dead]] for no apparent reason), and the franchise's defining feature (the Fatalities) now required players to execute a button sequence for ''each part of the Fatality sequence''. These two glaring flaws were the most criticized aspects of ''Armageddon''.

''Armageddon'' is followed in the franchise itself by ''[[Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe]]'', but it is followed canonically by 2011's ''[[Mortal Kombat 9|Mortal Kombat]]'' (a retelling of the first three games of the series where the story is directly affected by this game's events).

* {{spoiler|[[The Bad Guy Wins]]: The canonical winner of Armageddon? '''Shao Kahn.'''}}

* [[The Chessmaster]]: Shinnok is [[The Man Behind the Man]] to Daegon and is trusted by Taven (who is unaware that he had fallen), and pits the two against each other. He seems to have a greater awareness of what is going on than most other heroes and villans, and he chooses to use an avatar for the final battle rather than show up in person. {{spoiler|It is implied in ''[[Mortal Kombat 9]]'' that the entirety of that game is a result of his machinations in this one.}} Quite impressive, though he's as much of an [[Anticlimax Boss]] as a fighter as he ever was (even if, granted, he's not technically a boss).

* [[Enemy Mine]]: The Forces of Darkness. As opposed to the Forces of Light, who are mostly comprised of [[True Companions|friends and family]] (and even the newcomers are on good standing with the more senior members), there is nothing but bad blood between the villains (and the occasional neutral character). Darrius hired Dairou to kill Hotaru, while [[Order Versus Chaos|Hotaru and Havik]] don't hold each other in high regard. Several of the members would probably be better suited to fight for the Forces of the Light if it weren't for their personal vendettas. Take Nitara for instance. She's most likely the closest thing the group has to a [[Token Good Teammate]] ([[Word of God]] confirms that she's [[Character Alignment|morally]] Neutral/Good), but is there to defeat Ashrah because {{spoiler|Ashrah's [[Cool Sword|Kriss]] is a [[Knight Templar]] towards the [[Our Vampires Are Different|Vampire]] race, which it sees as [[Exclusively Evil]].}} Scorpion, an [[Anti-Hero]], is another good example. He's only aligned with them because he ''hates'' Quan Chi '''intensely''' (seeing as the man was responsible for {{spoiler|killing his family}}, it's pretty damn justified), but he ultimately engages in battle with his former nemesis Sub-Zero (as seen in the intro).

* [[Fighting a Shadow]]: Shinnok is not actually a playable character in this game ''per say''; instead, he was [[Genre Savvy]] enough to use an avatar. {{spoiler|In the next game, Raiden cheats Shao Kahn of victory by altering time... but it is implied that Shinnok, since he never actually lost due to not actually being present, might have altered time ''first'', taking advantage of this trope.}}

* {{spoiler|[[Kill'Em All]]: Canonically, ''every single fighter'' dies in this game with the exception of Shao Kahn, who [[The Bad Guy Wins|kills Raiden and achieves ultimate power]], Taven, who ascends to protector god status and attempts to stave off Armageddon as best he can, and Shinnok, [[Actually a Doombot|who only sent an avatar]]. Raiden utilized a time-travel gambit to change history, though he may have actually made things worse and Shinnok, being at a safe distance, might have beaten him to the punch...}}

* [[Lazy Artist]]: The game has received many flak for recycling ''Deadly Alliance'' and ''Deception'' character models. Several of the new characters also have recycled animations from previous games, even when they don't fit. Then there's the absolute lack of unique fatalities. Whilst an argument could be made that trying to give [[Loads and Loads of Characters|every character on the roster]] a fatality would have been time consuming & likely seen some characters using similar fatalities, the fact remains that there were only 17 characters in the game who didn't appear in the two previous games, which is less than the rosters of ''Deception'' and ''Deadly Alliance'', and the characters returning from those games could have reused those fatalities if need be.

* [[Mini Game]]: "[[Just for Pun|Motor]] [[Racing Mini Game|Kombat]]"

* [[Scunthorpe Problem]]: When making a custom character, the game won't let you use swears in any text field. While this ''might'' have at least kept people from having to fight [[Video Game Perversity Potential|a million bored twelve-year-olds who named their characters after obscenities in online play,]] one of the words it doesn't allow is "Hell". Which is ''the name of a stage in the game.''

* [[Enemy Mine]]: [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]]; Quan Chi rallies Shao Kahn, Shang Tsung, Shinnok, and Onaga to join forces, even if briefly, so that they can defeat the heroes, knowing that afterwards, backstabbing will ensue.

* [[It's a Wonderful Failure]]: {{spoiler|'''YOU ARE DEAD'''}}