Mortal Kombat has one of the longest histories of any fighting game on the market today. When the series was first introduced, it was a mega-hit that rivaled Capcom's Street Fighter series. Mortal Kombat II took the series to new heights and is arguably the best MK title to date. The third installment showed up in many different forums, including the all-encompassing Mortal Kombat Trilogy on the PlayStation and Nintendo 64. Most fans consider the first three MK titles to be the best in the series. From MK4 all the way through MK: Deadly Alliance (the most recent MK title), many classic MK fans have shunned the series due to lackluster gameplay compared to other titles in the genre.

No matter what your view may be of the MK series past and present, it's hard to deny the success the series has had. Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance was a best seller on all three major consoles, so it only made sense that Midway follow it up with Mortal Kombat: Deception. Since Deception uses the same basic gameplay engine as Deadly Alliance, if you weren't a fan of DA, you probably won't like the fighting in Deception either.

Each character uses three fighting styles, just like in Deadly Alliance. While this would seem to add more variety and depth to the game, each style contains only a moderate amount of attacks and combos. Therefore, having three styles only gives each character roughly 50 moves in total; many of which are simply combo extensions and not really stand alone attacks. Couple this with the fact that once you find the highest damaging juggle/combo, you won't use a good portion of those moves, and you literally end up with about 10 different attacks per character. When you compare this to a character movelist in Virtua Fighter 4: Evo or the upcoming Tekken 5, even with one fighting style, the number of attack options completely eclipses those of MK: Deception.

Even the addition of interactive environments and combo breakers fails to extend the depth of Deception. Combo breakers can be used to interrupt any combo or juggle your opponent attacks you with. However, you are only allowed three combo breakers per match (not per round, per match), so you can't rely on them until the end of a round. Therefore they have very little effect on the fighting.

The interactive environments, on the other hand, are the best we've ever seen in a fighting game. Dead or Alive can't even touch the stages in MK: Deception. Not only can players die at any time from death traps littered throughout the stages, but when you're knocked onto one of the multi-tiered areas, you feel the pain as the character falls, while the character on the offensive takes a long jump down with an impact that makes you cringe. Not to mention many of the stages have other elements of interactivity, such as the Prison stage where old MK characters locked up in cells will grab your opponent for a free hit if they're close enough. However, this is the only new gameplay aspect that actually has an effect on the gameplay, and it's just not enough if you weren't a fan of the gameplay in Deadly Alliance.

For casual fighting game fans, this is fine. You won't be looking for the depth of games like VF4 or Tekken 5, and the interactive stages, combined with the standard MK draw of blood and gore will be more than enough. However, for hardcore fighting game fans looking for some depth in their games, MK: Deception comes up extremely short in the fighting game category. Luckily, fighting is not the only thing Deception offers.

Taking previous MK titles to a new level, Deception features a hearty selection of mini-games. A completely revamped Konquest Mode accompanies all new Puzzle and Chess Kombat Modes. Fans of Capcom's Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo will be pleased to know that Puzzle Kombat is virtually a Mortal Kombat clone of Capcom's classic title. There are some minor differences, but for the most part it's almost identical to Puzzle Fighter. For those who haven't played Puzzle Fighter, that's good news as it's still considered by many to be one of the top puzzle games in the genre.

Chess Kombat doesn't quite offer the escape that Puzzle Kombat does, but it's still a great mini-game. As a combination of Archon and Chess, with a Mortal Kombat twist, Chess Kombat offers the strategic elements of moving your characters around the game board, while utilizing spells and other various traps to take your opponent's Leader piece (their King). The only possible downfall here is that when two opposing pieces meet, they'll battle it out in standard MK fashion. Fans of the fighting engine will have no qualms with this, but those looking for something different may be somewhat turned off. No matter how much strategy you put into the game, if there's a significant difference in fighting skill it will be extremely difficult to win a game of Chess Kombat.

While Puzzle and Chess Kombat add a great deal to the Deception package, Konquest Mode is likely where most players will spend their first few weeks with the game. For all practical purposes, Konquest Mode is like an MK RPG. You'll take on the role of Shujinko as you go through six huge realms of the MK universe unlocking a plethora of hidden secrets, and learning more about the MK storyline. Old school MK fans will be happy to know that many of the classic characters make a return appearance here to send you on various fetching missions. The only downfall of Konquest Mode is that once you unlock everything (which will take a good amount of time), there's absolutely no reason to ever play through it again. It's extremely repetitive and offers nothing more than a nice side option to the main game.

This leads us to the absolute best aspect of Mortal Kombat: Deception. The game is 100% online enabled for both the PlayStation 2 and Xbox consoles. While the variety of options can't touch the virtual arcade featured in Dead or Alive Ultimate, the fact that you can play the standard Kombat Mode, Puzzle Kombat, or Chess Kombat online is a blessing. While we haven't been able to test the online aspects under heavy network usage (since the game isn't out yet), what we've played of the online aspects was virtually seamless. Dead or Alive Ultimate will have a run for its money in terms of the most fluid online fighter. There was virtually no lag at all, but even if it gets slightly worse when thousands of people hit the servers, as one of the few fighting games with online play, this is a welcome feature.

After everything is said and done, there are two clear cut choices in regards to Mortal Kombat: Deception. If you're a fan of MK: Deadly Alliance, there is absolutely no reason to pass this one up. It's everything Deadly Alliance offered and a ton more. However, if you weren't a fan of Deadly Alliance, the only thing really new here are the Puzzle, Chess, Konquest, and online modes. None of these really stand on their own as a $50 value, but coupled with the Kombat Mode, it's hard not to recommend at least trying out MK: Deception. Midway has packaged Mortal Kombat, Capcom's Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo, and Battle Chess, all with online play, and a nice mini-RPG that will keep you occupied for some time. Deception may not be the best MK title to date, but it's certainly the best total package on the market.

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