Medicine Man @Whatever.
Reviews
Mortal Kombat: Armageddon (PlayStation 2)
A great way to end the franchise on this generation of consoles
The Good
Using the same engine from Deadly Alliance, Armageddon looks a bit outdated, though this never ruins the fun of the game. The blood effects in fact look better than in Deception and the characters made specifically for Armageddon (those which were not directly taken from the 2 previous games) look quite nicely detailed, but that's about it.
Not so much to say about the sound either - the sound effects sound just like in Deception for the most part, and there are a couple of good soundtracks playing on the arenas. For some reason, unlike in Deadly Alliance or Deception, after being decapitated or getting their neck broken, characters still tend to scream after that. Was it a bug which Midway was too lazy to fix or they felt some nostalgia in it (the same thing was in the old 2D MK-s, remember?), it isn't actually annoying and doesn't ruin anything.
As for the gameplay, Mortal Kombat: Armageddon, in any way, is it online, versus mode, or just the arcade, is a quite fun game. You've got a huge roster of 62 characters from the entire franchise, that alone makes it a must-buy for a Mortal Kombat fan, new additions include air combat, which is simply fun, a parry to brake an opponents attack (combo breakers from Deception also remain here), lots of arenas with different death traps (or in other words, stage fatalities), an option to create your own fighter, improved online mode, compared to Deception. You can even take your created fighter to show and fight with it online, after this and everything else I mentioned, what more can you ask for? A new way of finishing your opponents has been added to this game, namely Kreate-A-Fatality. This is something which was never seen before and it is definitely fun to discover in what way can you simply finish off your opponent (the variety and amount of moves is as ridiculous as it is good).
In tradition of the 2 previous games, Armageddon has some bonus features in it, although being primarily a fighting game.
One of these is Konquest mode, which appeared in both of the previous games. However, this time it's different from the previous ones. If previously the Konquest mode involved around the main character traveling in worlds and interacting with other characters, here it's more similar to a single player action game like Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks, or God of War (there are even a couple of RPG elements, namely you get new special moves). By this, Konquest is probably better than in the previous games, as it is just more fun. You run around levels, collect Koins, items that you need to unlock new characters, find chests with alternate costumes for characters, face off hordes of enemies, sometimes using a cold weapon, sometimes battling in a traditional MK way with other game characters. Add to that that it has a quite interesting storyline. This all makes Konquest worth even more than one play-through, you will enjoy this mode, believe me.
Another thing that returns is the Krypt, where you stop by after you collect Koins from different modes (Kombat, Konquest, or Motor Kombat) and use them to purchase extra game content, which include alternate costumes for characters, new arenas, soundtracks, videos, sketches, pictures and other boring stuff.
A completely new feature in Armageddon is Motor Kombat. This is simply a parody on the Mario Kart series. You have 10 cartoonish versions of different characters, who you race in 5 different tracks. Each character has a special move, and to make it more fun, the tracks have specific stage fatalities on them, so you better drive carefully. This can also be played up to four players on split-screen, or up to 8 players online. Although not near perfect, it's actually pretty fun to play when you get tired of the main game some times.
The Bad
Armageddon is a big game with many content, and so it is that it is impossible for a game with that many content to not have flaws.
Starting with Kombat mode, the biggest complaint from fans has to be the Kreate-A-Fatality feature. Although at first points quite interesting, after several times you pull out an Ultimate Fatality, you'll start to miss the traditional fatalities from previous games. Although you can in fact recreate some classic fatalities by characters, you still can't recreate some classics like Kitana's "Kiss of Death", Liu Kang's "Dragon Morph", Scorpions' "Toasty", the list goes on... Also, there are more than a few bugs in this game, and once you'll start playing online, you'll immediately notice how unbalanced the game is. None the less, generally it's a good game.
A small complaint I also have about Konquest mode: the fact that the camera is problematic at following the character makes it frustrating to navigate through the traps in the levels sometimes, but you can live with that.
The Bottom Line
Despite its flaws, Mortal Kombat: Armageddon is more good than it's bad, and actually almost very good. Both MK fans and fans of other fighting games will find Armageddon a worthy purchase and will have lots of fun with it.
By Medicine Man on July 29, 2010
Hexen: Beyond Heretic (DOS)
A descent Medieval shooter that just tries to be too many games at once
The Good
Although two years have gone past since the release of Doom, Hexen doesn't look old for 1995, and in fact, does add something new that hasn't been possible before - this is in fact the ability to jump. Therefore like Heretic, Hexen drives the Doom engine forward 1 big step. I would also like to note that weapons look more detailed than in Heretic and Doom, but that's pretty much it. The levels, monsters and other items don't stand out with art beauty in Hexen.
The sound in Hexen does what it is supposed to, and that is building a quite creepy atmosphere. Hostile growls of monsters, creepy and fitting music combined with other game sound effects makes Hexen probably the scariest game ever released with the Doom engine (although, calling it a scary game by itself isn't quite correct, to be honest). Although like in Heretic, the composers were able to write a couple of memorable tunes in the game, most soundtracks are in fact so quiet that you might not even notice them, what's to say about memorising them after...
As for the gameplay, this is what makes Hexen the most unique - for the first time in a Doom engined shooter we are able to pick up from 3 different characters to complete the single player campaign, each having unique weapons and a unique storyline (which doesn't really change anything) and we can also play as these guys in deathmatch and co-op! Like in Heretic, we still have the inventory, where we can collect usable items. These items can heal us, make us stronger or can be used as a separate weapon against the enemies. Unlike in Heretic, this time if you for example have 2 Porkalators and go to a next level, you will still have 2 Porkalators in there. In Heretic, you would always end up with 1 of each item, which is a good improvement in Hexen. The collectible items are quite interesting in Hexen, although some of them may seem completely new and not like those you've seen in Heretic, many of these are actually the same from Heretic, just remade and with a new name. Even some weapons bare a resemblance to the ones from Heretic, the same goes to the enemies in the game, however, yet again, there are some completely new foes which are nothing like those you've seen in Heretic or even in Doom.
A big change in Hexen's gameplay over Heretic's are the levels - in this case Hexen is more similar to Half Life, because like there, if you enter a new level, you can sometimes go back, which is a good way to pick up some health or ammo from the previous level if you really need it. But going from one level to the next and back is not just for that, but it is the key to solve a puzzle in one big central level of an... umm... we'll call them episodes :). Thus Hexen is a game made up off puzzles and mystery. Still, like in Doom and Heretic, you're gonna face lots of monsters so you won't get bored... or will you? Now let me talk about what really pissed me off of this game...
The Bad
First of all - the feel of the game. Almost every level has a dark theme and uses mostly these colours - black, grey and brown, thus building (or tries to build) a Medieval scenery. But the repetitive scenery only makes this game boring as hell. Sure, you will see different areas like forests, swamps, castles, graveyards and caves, but because all of them look almost the same, it's completely impossible to navigate through them and it's very easy to get lost.
Also, almost all "puzzles" involve themselves in searching for a stupid switch, hidden somewhere in the level, or a key that must open the door, which hides yet another switch behind it!
Another complaint is the monsters - not the fact that they are stupid, but the variety is so small. In Doom and Heretic there are about 10-15 different monsters you can see in a level. But in Hexen? Let's actually start counting, how many different types of monsters are there: 2 headed guys with morning stars, flying demons, serpents, centaurs, evil priests, plus some levels have exclusive ice monsters or swamp beasts... and that's it! So, the maximum amount of different monsters you can see in a level is about 5-7, with some episodes having a boss in the end, add to that the fact that your character has basically only 4 weapons (every new weapon can be found only in the next episode, which makes it even worse) makes running through some small, repetitive corridors in search of a stupid switch rather doll quickly. And by the fact that the game has 3 different characters, it is possible that it has some replay value? I doubt that.
The Bottom Line
It is unsure for whom was Hexen developed for. I can say as a Doom fan that it's definitely not for a fan of Doom, as it lacks all of the awesomeness Doom has. As for those whose first shooter that they played was Heretic, this sequel might be worth trying out if your deep into running around Medieval castles and searching for puzzles, but if you're more of a fan of action and killing huge amounts of monsters with different weapons, Hexen is not the game for you. It might be that the reason why Hexen is not a good game like Doom or Heretic is the fact that it was probably meant to be acceptable for fans of RPG as well, as it has many similarities to RPG games (Medieval scenery, different selectable characters, puzzles to solve in big levels), however, i doubt that even they can find it a good combination of the two genres.
Good or bad, Hexen is definitely not the sequel to Heretic which i wanted it to be, which is probably my biggest complaint about this game. It's hard to tell for what kind of gamer was Hexen made, i can say only one thing: if you've never played FPS-s before, make sure Hexen is not your first FPS game. Better start out with games like Doom and Heretic.
By Medicine Man on July 29, 2010
F.E.A.R.: First Encounter Assault Recon (Director's Edition) (Windows)
By Medicine Man on March 6, 2010
Return to Castle Wolfenstein: Operation Resurrection (PlayStation 2)
By Medicine Man on October 29, 2009