Hello Americans, my name is Brian Peterson and I am running for lead reviewer on the Gaming-Age council. Today I would like to talk about a game that is quite possibly the most obligatory violent game in fighting game history, yet may also be the best in its series. It is a game that will finally finish off the current generation of the franchise in an effort to rebuild its efforts for next generation platforms in future installments. A game that comes from a franchise nearly fifteen years old and is still kicking today... pardon the pun. The game on today's discussion panel is Mortal Kombat: Armageddon. Is this a game that needs to be pulled from shelves or immortalized for years to come?

From the game's visually brutal, yet beautiful palette, we see a game that is remarkably gory with nearly as many gallons of blood on screen as Peter Jackson's Dead Alive film, which of course is a true masterpiece of cinematic brilliance. From the first punch thrown, we are drawn into a series of brilliant animations, moves, and techniques, which result in a bevy of carnage and endless blood flow. In an attempt to give gamers as much bang for their buck, these developers have devised a series of finishing moves called fatalities that result in your opponents arms, legs, heads, and other body parts being literally ripped from their body and discarded, or heaven forbid, getting beaten with. While this is accompanied by a new fatality system that is not geared toward one particular individual, it does give you the freedom to customize your combinations with the end result being an ooey gooey pile of flesh. Are our gamers ready for such advancements and change in today's fighting games?

This is all brought to you in worlds that are just as disturbing and full of hellish and ghoulish visuals. You will fight in rooms filled with bleeding skulls, fires from hell, rivers of blood, and even parallel universes. What's more, you interact with such inhumane backgrounds by smashing them into stone structures, spiked walls, or interacting with death dealing devices set to trigger in the backdrops of each level. Do we really want our young ones vulnerable to such lewd and repulsive, even at the point of being incredibly cool, visuals? Moreover, do not deluge me with facts such as this game is intended for gamers over seventeen, or that a Mature label is smacked on the front of the box, and enforced by retailers to abide by such a rating system. We all know the parents of America are not watching, as long as little Johnny does not cause irreparable harm to himself or others and keeps out of mommy and daddy's way.

While much of the game play remains faithful to previous Mortal Kombat titles, the developers how gone to painstaking measures to bring new modes and interesting features to their franchise to keep it fresh like deli meat. You now have the ability to play with more than 50 characters from the Mortal Kombat universe, and some of you may use current or past designs depending on which version of the character you like most. If that were not enough, you can even create your own fighter and design a character that has totally unique abilities, look, and personality; such as a fan-created Jack Thompson. Who better to fight the good fight against the MK Universe than good old Jack. Are choices what we want for America, or is it best to just keep spoon-feeding them the same old tripe. Of course we all know gamers are mindless lemmings who have no will of their own to make choices.

Ah, but the evil genius hasn't stopped there. You have a new and improved Konquest or Story Mode and a new revamped online mode where gamers can display their primitive and brutal nature online for the world to see. For the gamer who just doesn't have enough to do in this game, a Motor Kombat game has been brought to the masses as well. This is similar to a mustachioed plumber racing game seen on a system that knows how to treat families and children.

I ask you, the gaming nation, is Mortal Kombat: Armageddon the greatest version of this long lasting franchise, or have the developers went to the well once to often? Since the series will see a revision for next generation audiences, have they left us with a swan song fit for the immortality the series has created for itself? Does the world need great graphics, buckets of blood, limb ripping fatalities, impeccable game play, tons of moves, modes and characters, and a wealth of depth worthy of any RPG to provide hundreds of hours of interest? I can sum this up with just two words... Mortal Kombat!

I'm Brian Peterson and I approve of this review.