Mortal Kombat Deception

You just threw your opponent fifty feet to his suspected death, but he bounced off the roof and landed amongst hanging bodies in the sailing ship your in. You meet him down there only to deal death in spades, you finish his life and end it quickly with a brutal fatality. Welcome to the sixth in the long hailed series of Mortal Kombat: Deception.

Voted Best Fighting Game of 2004 – Mortal Kombat Deception is heading to the GameCube full throttle come March 2005. Where it lacks in online features, it makes up in sheer quality. Chess mode, puzzle fighting (ala Tetris style), and a full realized Konquest mode bring the world of Mortal Kombat to new heights. Gorgous arenas, dozens of new fatalities, and a butt load of available characters and fighting style – Deception looks to outdo all previous MK outings in one single blow. Having already graced the Xbox and Ps2 in October, Deception will soon be unleashed on the GameCube come March 7th 2005. The aforementioned Konquest Adventure plays out as a role playing game interlaced with fine tuned combat battles. You’ll collect and earn points that can be used for unlocking special features, and your character will earn experience and age before becoming unlocked for kombat mode.

Deception doubles as a board game as well as a puzzle game, yet unfortunately not an online game. New to the classic mode combat, are tiered levels; combat may unfold onto different levels as you push your opponent to new heights or new depths. Also new to the scene are death traps, players can down lock in instant kills via unique death traps that are hidden throughout each level. You may witness rotating spikes sandwich your enemy or less lethal attacks such as glass shattering as you kick your enemy through windows and down roofs. The core combat remains unaltered and juiced up with new fighting styles and fatality moves. Combat is fast paced, deep, and above all brutal; blood will spill and heads will pop off. A number of fighters that have appeared throughout the series will return, as well as a handful of new characters. There is also completely new arenas with multiple levels as mentioned earlier.

Deception is rich on features, and just as rich in terms of visual prowess. This is the best looking Mortal Kombat and equally one of the greatest looking fighters period. Large levels that double as interactive sandboxes, detailed character models, lights and shadow, and picture perfect skylines paint a bloody scene for fighters. Expect the typical set up on the audio portion of Deception, nothing groundbreaking here – sounds that do the job and that’s all. GameCube owners bite the dust once more with online play, but maybe the added puzzle modes and chess modes will keep you gamers content, otherwise get an online version.

Midway plans to ship this deceiving title come March, hopefully GameCube will get some exclusive love. Then again, the release is love enough. The GameCube was never originally supposed to get Deception. Look for a review shortly after the games 2Q 2005 release.