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Midway Announces New Mortal Kombat, Romero-Helmed Gauntlet

Posted by simoniker on from the clawing-back-from-the-edge dept.

Thanks to GameSpot for its first look at Midway's new PS2/Xbox title, Mortal Kombat: Deception, as "the recently announced sixth installment" in this long-running franchise officially debuts with a teaser trailer, heavily analyzed at Mortal Kombat Online. Elsewhere, Midway, who is trying to rebound from poor financial results, has announced a new addition to the Gauntlet series, and it's noted that "John Romero, the famous (and infamous) creator of Doom and Daikatana, will be developing the title", confirming earlier rumors to that effect.

6 of 62 comments (clear)

  1. Gauntlet by PktLoss · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I really enjoyed the Gauntlet series, played it a bunch in the arcade, and even picked it up for the X-Box.

    I do however beleive that it could do well with some fresh blood in a high up place. While the game can be challenging in the arcade with the slowly diminishing life, it got overly easy and repetitive on the home console. Rather like Diablo without the story line or the challenge.

    I know Doom wasn't really known for it's story line, but I think it is quite possible that he could pull the game in a new direction, or add some spin to the mix.

    --
    paul reinheimer
  2. I Can See It Now... by Umgawa71 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Granted, there are a lot of worse people to give Gauntlet over to than John Romero, but -after the whole Ion Storm thing- giving him control of a game as a means of stemming Midway's veritable flood of red ink is simply a bad financial idea all around. Actually, he's probably matured since Daikatana, and hopefully has learned a little something about marketing. If not, at least we can all look forward to this print advertisement:

    "The Gauntlet Barbarian Is Going To Make You His Bitch!"

  3. Re:Why go public with that by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful
    I hear Romero got a serious haircut (read: working for dirt), pending his proving himself with Gauntlet. There's no artist better than a hungry one, and that works for game designers too.

    Romero has good game sense, but no ability to manage a project. With someone putting the screws to him on deadline as was the case when he worked with Carmack, maybe he won't muddle around with trying to develop half-baked longshot ideas. He'll look at his ideas, take the gems, sweep the rest, and that's what you'll see. It's his second game that I'd worry about, if he makes the cut and gets credibility and leeway back.

  4. Re:Midway needs a new franchise by Acidic_Diarrhea · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Funny, I judge games based on their individual merit. You seem to be proposing judging games based solely on past precedence. So that once a series has a single bad game, the series must be abandoned. I think this is a rather silly stance to take, especially with high turnaround rates at development houses and the fact that different games in the same series are often done by different development studios.

    If a new Mortal Kombat came out and every review you read of it said it was a great game, on caliber with Soul Caliber, etc., you still would say, "Well, MK4 was bad so I won't buy this"??

    Here's something to chew on. I didn't enjoy Quake I but Quake II is one of my favorite games of all time. If I had followed your logic, I never would have played Quake II.

    No, we should judge games not based on previous games in the series but rather on the actual game and how satisfying it is. That's why I would consider buying a Mortal Kombat game and that's also why when a Mario game is released, I don't automatically say, "I'll take it!"

    --
    I hate liberals. If you are a liberal, do not reply.
  5. Midway got it all wrong by nobodyman · · Score: 2, Insightful

    A simple mistake, they thought they were getting John Carmack. Seriously, though... you have to wonder about a company that pins their hopes of a financial turnaround on a guy who blew $30 million on a Quake1 total conversion that arrived 2 years late.

    And it doesn't seem like Romero is any less flakey, he just got married to some 18 year old Romanian chick that he met on the internet. So, erm... I guess Stevie is available.

  6. Re:That GamePro link forgets to note GDL for GameC by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    I am the original poster.

    It's true, some copies of both the GameCube and the Xbox versions were found to be buggy. Some Xbox copies were even found that caused freezes, such as when using some attacks for specific unlocked characters. I would assume (hope) that current Xbox versions have fixed this code. I know for a fact, however, that not every copy of the GameCube version contains the GameCube-specific bugs. My current copy does not, but the first copy I owned did.

    Unfortunately, there is no way of knowing that the GameCube version you are buying is buggy, so if you are going to search an auction for a used copy, know what to ask. If you're looking for a sealed copy, good luck. It's hit $75-$80 before.

    BTW, what makes the GameCube version better than the PS2 version is the instant four-player, the stereo sound (PS2 version - a straight unenhanced arcade port - is mono), and it has all the power-ups from the arcade plus some GameCube exclusives. The PS2 version is rendered in a slightly lower resolution, but its framerate is actually slightly better than the GameCube and Xbox versions. Finally, there is no killer reason to buy any version over the other, other than the collectibility of the GameCube version and the small improvements mentioned.