Mortal Kombat: Armageddon First Look

via IGN

The innovative control system of the Wii has certainly provided developers with the means to offers gamers a whole new gaming experience, but it also allows us to play some old favorites the way we always imagined they should have played in the first place. There may be no better example of a genre where the unique play style of the Wii-mote plus nunchuk combo fits more perfectly more than fighting games, and no discussion of fighting games would be complete without a nod to the classic Mortal Kombat franchise.

At a recent Midway event in Las Vegas, we got a chance to see a pre-taped demonstration of Creative Director Ed Boon in control of the game on Nintendo's Wii console. We also got a chance to talk to Ed a bit about the changes in the Wii version, which you can check out in the most recent edition of IGN Weekly.

"We wanted to make the game so easy your grandmother could play it." -- Ed Boon, Creative Director

While you might think playing a fighting game designed with specific button and thumbstick sequences used to perform complicated fighting combos would be difficult to translate to another type of controller device, from watching the tape, it looked like most of the moves in the game were very intuitive, and were executed exactly how you would expect them to work. For example, to perform Scorpion's famous spear thrust, you pull back the Wii-mote and lash out at your enemies to send your deadly spike plunging into their chest cavities. Likewise, Scorpion's spin kick is performed by twirling the Wii-mote in a circular fashion. As Ed explains, "We wanted to make the game so easy your grandmother could play it."

Of course, dramatic fatality moves have always been a big part of the Mortal Kombat franchise, and the Wii adaptation is no exception. Fatalities will also be performed with the special movement-detection features of the Wii-mote, although they tend to be a bit more complex than the other basic fighting moves. For example, to pull off Scorpion's neck-cracking, sword-slashing fatality ender, you move the Wii-more down twice, left semi-circle, right semi-circle, and end with a slash gesture.

Although you can use the Wii-mote and nunchuk to play the game, purists and fans of standard fighting controls will also be happy to hear that MK: Armageddon also supports the classic controller as well as the GameCube controller on Wii. You can also play using only the Wii-mote.

For the most part, Mortal Kombat: Armageddon will be comparable to its PS2 and Xbox counterparts. However, the Wii version will include a new gameplay type: Endurance. Endurance mode pits you against a continuous series of enemies with no rest between rounds. You won't get any extra health or resets between bouts, so it's up to you to battle as many opponents in a row as possible.

Midway has been onboard with the Wii for a while now as development of the Wii version started shortly after the PS2 and Xbox versions were released last year. The game is nearly complete, and should be released on the Wii this April. Although the game wasn't actually playable at the Midway event, Ed did say they would be bringing a build of the game by for us to play in a few weeks, so we'll have more on Armageddon for you then.