Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance was
released to pretty good reviews and decent sales. So it's not
surprising that Mortal Kombat: Deception doesn't mess with MK:DA's
successful formula too much. Rather, Deception adds onto what Dark
Alliance began by introducing a host of new game types, characters, and
a very long quest mode.
I didn't like MK:DA's fighting. It was stiff, shallow, and generally
not fun. Deception retains the same fighting engine, but it does make a
couple of improvements. The first change is the introduction of combo
breakers that you can use a few times a fight to stop your enemies
attacks. Also new is a gauge that shows you when your enemy is
vulnerable to counter attacks, when he's blocking, and when he's
attacking. The biggest change is the "danger zones" in each arena. At
any point during the fight, you can instantly wipe out your opponent by
hitting them into one of these. There's a pit of fire, a grinder, a
cliff, and some floors that you can be knocked through. Sometimes
getting hit into one of these feels cheap, but it is actually a fun
element to the game when you're playing with a friend. Even with these
changes, the battles are generally the same as MK:DA, and grow tiresome
after a few hours of play.
Like MK:DA, Deception has a ton of content. Some of it is pretty good.
Most of it is really worthless. Konquest mode has been completely
overhauled. It plays more like an RPG now than a set of missions.
You'll interact with every MK fighter, collect a lot of coins, and
fight across a host of different realms. Konquest is necessary to
unlock the strongest fighter in the game, but it's never especially fun
to play. Also added is a MK-themed chess game. It plays basically like
chess, with a few twists ,and you'll need to fight to take a space
occupied by an opponent. This is totally unneccessary, and not that
much fun at all. Lastly, a tetris-like puzzle game is the best of the
new games, and is a blast. It's a combat style puzzle game where you'll
try to clear out your board before your enemy. It's a great diversion
from the main game. The krypt returns, basically unchanged, and still
holds a ton of unlockable content.
Deception retains the same combat from Mortal Kombat:Dark Alliance, and
adds enough new features to separate it from MK:DA. However, the stiff
and shallow combat has not been addressed, and the new features are
very hit-or-miss. I would suggest this game as a rental, or a bargain
bin purchase.
