The 3D era of Mortal Kombat can be seen in two different lights. For one, they introduced many great and horrible new characters. For another, the storylines became longer and more convoluted while killing off characters and going off into strange directions with others. Having Liu Kang die and then come back at a zombi for this title was one of those strange choices and he is far from the the only one.
Like many titles around this time period, this MK had many different characters, both new and old. The most prominent of these characters was Shujinko. He was essentially supposed to replace Liu Kang, which he very much didn't. This character was the main focus of a very different adventure mode than your normal affair. At first, it seemed to be heading in a very good direction. The best thing about it was exploring the different factions and learning techniques from Sub Zero, Scorpion and Bo Raicho along with many others. One of the most fond memories of playing this game for the first time was punching your teacher in the face and covering the practice ring in their blood!
The problem was that they screwed over their new main character by telling too much of his story. While the storyline with Onaga is fun, the story with Shujinko sees him getting arrested and going to jail until he's old. Our main character runs the gauntlet of learning student to old hermit mentor in the literal blink of an eye. Who signed off on this and who thought of it in the first place? They're fired.
This was one of the games that followed the game mechanic of giving each character different fighting techniques. They would get two normal fighting styles along with a weapon style. This was a good mechanic because it was well implimented through the shoulder buttons, but like in Mortal Kombat X, it wasn't especially essential. This is a subjective view, as many call it a genius touch, and we're not here to disagree with this.
While it doesn't have the roster of Armegeddon, Deception is no slouch. These are not the greatest character designs, but they are very telling of the time. Mortal Kombat in the 3D era had a very unique look and that turned it into something of a time capsule. It was a product of its time in a good way and it was the best of the four in this transitional period, as far as Planet Virtua is concerned. Add this to your MK collection and punch it into the pit!
