Mortal Kombat Armageddon- Wii Review

Had the chance play Mortal Kombat Armageddon on the Wii last night with friend Dave. My jaw dropped as the character select screen revealed up to 60+ fighters to chose from. With a resounding: "Holy Sh..." Dave and I picked our combatants.....after kicking the crap out of each other and not knowing what each fighter could do, we both smiled and continued to play late into the night.

Controls:
It's a fighter for the Wii that actually delivers. The control set-up is the saving grace of this game. Don't like the wiimote/nunchuk combo?* Don't use it. Try the classic controller or the gamecube controller instead. Genius! (this really needs to be standard on all Wii games)

*If you do use the wiimote/nunchuk combo, special moves like fireballs are executed by holding the B button and moving the wiimote left to right (think scanning an item at the grocery store) or making a half-circle rotation (like drawing a rainbow). It works most of the time- you just have to do it smoothly, which is rather difficult to do since I'm so use to button mashing to pull off moves faster the other guy can. Standard punches and kicks are done by pressing on the directional pad on the wiimote, while using the A Button to throw.
Character movement is done by pressing the analog stick on the nunchuk. Each fighter also has a weapon they can pluck out of nowhere to use against their opponent by pressing the C button. This also changes their fighting styles accordingly.


Extra bells and whistles:
Each stage features breakaway scenery. Dave found this out when he kicked my character down a flight of stairs. OUCH! I got back at him the next round by throwing his character off a ledge, impaling him on some spikes of a nearby statue. TAKE THAT!

MKA features a one player story mode in which your fighter progresses through several side-scrolling beat 'em up levels to gain coins used to purchase bonus items like costumes, characters, and stages. There's also a create a fighter (we didn't try this though) along with MOTOR KOMBAT- a unique take on Mario Kart using the MK universe characters. The control is pretty simple and the races are fast- you can side swipe opponents off the track in addition to using special moves. Cool idea, but needs more polishing. Dave hated it.

Overall:
8/10. Very, very fun for a Wii fighting game. Would definitely want to play this more to get a better grip on each fighters specials and moves. If you enjoy the Mortal Kombat games and have been lacking a fighter for the Wii- this is your game. Yee-haw!