MK: Deception is based on the MK: DA engine and feels more like a slight upgrade than a full fledged sequel. The big difference is the fact that the game includes Puzzle Kombat (Super Puzzle Fighter Rip-off), Chess Kombat (Archon rip off) and the game is playable online for the first time. I wish Midway spent more time on tweaking the fighting engine instead of making this lackluster mini-games. I cannot comment on online play since I do not have an Xbox live account.
The actual fighting in Deception is fairly slow compared to some of the other lighting fast 3D fighters on the market (DOA and Soul Calibur come to mind), but it is still solid. The fighting takes a while to get used after playing games like Tekken 5, Virtua Fighter 4 and such, but the MK games are a different breed of fighting games. Most matches play out from a distance with projectile attacks followed by short Kombos…rinse and repeat. While this isn’t a bad thing it just takes some adjusting after playing other 3D fighters. The Kombatants respond well and executing special attacks and perferming kombos is a breeze. The addition of Kombo Breakers actually turns out to be a smart move by Midway. If you get caught in a Kombo all you need to do is press block and forward and you can break the combo. This helps keep things fresh and interesting, especially in 2 player fights.
I do not particularly like the line-up in this game. For every great old addition (Baraka) there is an equally bad addition (Nightwolf). Also some of the new fighters are given fighting styles from characters in Deadly Alliance so they don’t really feel like new characters at all. Havik is one of the coolest characters Midway has come up with in a long time (kind of grim reaper like), but he has Shang Tsung’s “Snake†fighting style and it makes him feel like a recycled character. This happen again with Kira who is basically a female verision of Kano. Why make a crappy new character when you already had a great old character? The lineup in MK: DA was MUCH better and I wish several of those characters (Cyrax, Reptile, Kung Lao, Shang Tsung etc…) were playable in this game.
Another strike against Deception is the fatalities. While the creative deaths are abundant, they are a pain in the ass to execute. In DA Midway FINALLY did away with the fatalities that required you to meticulously stand in a certain area. They ruined Deception by bringing this back.
Graphically this game is a real mixed bag. I personally feel that DA on my gamecube looks better than this Xbox game. The characters look great, but the backgrounds have muddy textures and some effects look really bad (Bo Rai Cho’s flaming fart fatalities come to mind). The Konquest mode is the worse offender of graphics and it’s also more boring than ever. It’s far too tedious to unlock everything in this mode, though I did like learning more about the MK characters. Besides the pleasure of playing DA was earning Koins and unlocking things in the Krpyt. Now the best secrets are found while exploring during different times in Konquest mode…bad idea.
All in all MK Deception is still rather enjoyable. The backgrounds now all have interactive stuff (read: amusing ways to slaughter opponents) and this thankfully got rid of the hard to perform stage fatalities. The MK franchise is one of the few fighting games that is constantly changing. This is both a blessing and curse. In deception for every good aspect there are couple of bad aspects. I only wish for some better characters and easier fatalities. I still prefer MK: DA over this game and I hope that the upcoming MK Armageddon will be everything I’ve ever wanted in a 3D MK game. Until then I will be eating people's heads with Reptile in MK II!
Overall Score: C+
