https://jackred1989.blogspot.com/2019/11/a-short-period-midway-attempted-to.html
1. War Gods
2. Mace: The Dark Age
3. Bio F.R.E.A.K.S.
Round 1: Characters
To clarify the amount of characters doesn't matter here. What does matter is how close majority of the roster comes to a real Mortal Kombat game. Keep in mind, I'm only using MK 1-4 for this comparison. In terms of god characters, War Gods nails it. Not all of them are good characters though.
In terms of using technology, Bio F.R.E.A.K.S. wins. In Mortal Kombat series, there are Cyborg ninjas. There's also Kano & Hsu Hao do have mechanic parts. In terms of the mystic nature, Mace: The Dark Age wins. Funny enough, both Shao Kahn & Asmodeus are sorcerers. But all three of them do have a variety of beings.
To me, after reading every character's stories in all three games. Yes it took some time to do this. I felt the stories for Mace: The Dark Age comes the most off like Mortal Kombat series. I will be honest, Mace: The Dark Age does have the best selection of characters. Even if I were to exclude the hidden characters.
Last I checked, Bio F.R.E.A.K.S. lacks hidden characters. I felt all of these games in their own right are dark. At times, Mortal Kombat series can be dark. This was around when 3D fighting games were getting popular. Stuff like Virtua Fighter, Tekken & Dead or Alive series were blowing people away. Honestly, some characters in War Gods like Warhead.
I already talked about the character endings. I do need to say in War Gods' case. By wielding a piece of the orb to become beings we would call gods still bags a lot of questions. Such as how powerful or what exactly do they bring to the table? My point is we don't even know how much weaker they were to Exor.
Truthfully, considering everything I must give the round to Mace: The Dark Age. War Gods is rather silly concept for a fighting game. Honestly, I did respect Primal Rage more since parts of it worked more. Bio F.R.E.A.K.S. is very unusual for a fighting game to not even feel like one at times. Also Mace: The Dark Age had the better written characters.
Winner: Mace: The Dark Age
Round 2: Finishers
All three of these games has their own takes on Mortal Kombat's fatalities. Actually War Gods calls these finishers fatalities. In Mace: The Dark Age, their finishers are called executions that makes more sense for it's theme. In Bio F.R.E.A.K.S. has Mutilations but there are other ways to killing your opponents.
Like knocking into or tricking them to go into a death trap or keep firing until they head comes off. Sure it comes off being cheap but that's the most variety among the finishers. It is no secret most versions of MK3 got very ridiculous with it's finishers. I would say War Gods gets the most ridiculous out of the three games.
I would also say Mace: The Dark Age doesn't hold much back from it's killing animations. In fact, they come off as the most brutal. Bio F.R.E.A.KS. sorta took the fun out of trying to master these finishers. Mace: The Dark Age does even them out enough to winning this round. I would say even with War Gods going over the top with some of it's finishers, it did come close here.
Winner: Mace: The Dark Age
Round 3: Sub Bosses
Thankfully all three games has one sub boss right before their respective final bosses. Honestly, this would be closer than our next round a little spoiler. Grox is the biggest character in War Gods. He does remind me of Goro & Kintaro to some degree. Grendal is similar in some ways to the Executioner since both wield an axe.
Clonus is a mimic character that will have every move to whoever it's facing. Sadly, it can't recreate the final boss. I will be honest, Shang Tsung, Chameleon, Khameleon & Shinnok in MK4's case are all mimic characters. So Clonus does have a chance to winning this round. Grendal however isn't close enough to MK series to stay in this round.
There isn't any stone or similar characters. If I were to allow Tremor into this comparison, I still would've said he won't be winning this round. So it is between Grox & Clonus for the round. Grox is actually notably taller than both Goro & Kintaro. Just like them, he can easily pick up his opponents. Sure you could reuse the famous cheap jump kicking strategy to beat him.
Clonus is a different beast since you have to know your character well enough to know Clonus. I liked the concept of Clonus despite it coming off as a mirror match. Well you technically have a mirror match in War Gods as well. But it is more of who you are playing as. So the chances of going against the same character isn't as likely to happen.
This will come down to the smallest details. Luckily for Grox, he has just enough to take this round. First off, you can play as him with a code. How the code works between the different versions do come with different problems. At the same time, he is easier to learn than you would expect. Also I liked his boss level a lot.
Winner: War Gods
Round 4: Final Bosses
Of course, a difficult final boss is waiting at the top of the fight ladder. I got to be honest, this is surprisingly straight forward. I will start with Mutilator, she is a giant robot in a huge scale level. There are vicious fishes in the water that won't attack her. There is no MK bosses at that time around her size.
Exor does sorta remind me of Shao Kahn in a few interesting way. Asmodeus is a giant dragon worm like creature. Thankfully, dragons are popular in MK series. Honestly, by default Mutilator just doesn't come off as a MK boss. She is too unbalanced with her level not helping matters. Also she is incredibly cheap in many ways.
Even if I were to consider keeping her in this round over something like this. I highly doubt she would win this round sorry Bio F.R.E.A.K.S. fans. Obviously, this is between Exor & Asmodeus, in their own right could come off as MK boss characters. Asmodeus has possession of a particular powerful mace.
He doesn't use it during his matches. He can knock his opponents off. Also he has some difficult to counter moves. But the same can be said for Exor. Like most characters, he can trap his opponents to prevent them from escaping. He is easily the more well round final boss out of these two. Yet I actually got great arguments why Exor is the best final boss here.
Just like Shao Kahn in the older MK games, Exor's voice is often heard in this game. Just like Grox, there is a code to play as him. Similar to playing as Grox, Exor has the same issues depending on which version you're playing. Despite this, he has more moves than you would expect from this. Usually around that period, most fighting game bosses didn't have many moves.
Let's be honest, Exor is virtually Shao Kahn in War Gods. But I could also say that about Asmodeus in Mace: The Dark Age. Sadly, since Asmodeus doesn't have those things going for him. I have to give this to Exor. But I do like Asmodeus a lot. I remember trying to picture what he looked like before I got to him in the actual game.
Winner: War Gods
Round 5: Codes & Secrets
Right off the bat is Bio F.R.E.A.K.S. falls incredibly short here. Most of it's codes affects particular small stuff in game play. Sure PS1 version has a code to go directly to Clonus. But compared to what the other two games brings, it won't survive here. War Gods has a cheat menu like some of the older MK games had.
A lot of the same options like infinite continues & finishers are included. But doesn't count Mace: The Dark Age out just yet. I did mention there are hidden characters. Grendal whose the sub boss is a hidden character. There is two hidden characters with a few methods to unlock. One of them is a dwarf using his personal war mech.
Of course, there's joke characters something the other two games are missing. We have Ned the Janitor whose essentially Xiao Long reskinned since they share every move including their execution. Pogo the Chicken is easily the most surprising hidden character to play as. Yes a game this dark has a chicken as a playable character.
Sorry to go a little off topic here. But Eternal Champions: Challenge from the Dark Side also has a chicken as a hidden character. They done it two years prior lol. I also heard the training mode character can be a playable character as well. But only in practice mode. Oh wait I'm not done yet lol. Mace: The Dark Age also has a joke level that's a mini golf theme.
You also could have your character wearing fluffy bunny slippers. There also is a big head mode for a laugh. There's another code to make the characters smaller. Probably the weirdest code is a code to switch the character's heads wtf lol. You also can change the character's colors that's easy to do. I should mention a level select code.
This is just to pick which level to fight on, not to cheap the process of the fight ladder. For an odd reason, there's also a code for screen centering oh ok. You also can cheat defeats in a fight ladder with a second controller to continue as much as you. Although, War Gods having the secret option of infinite continues does have that beat.
Speaking of that, there's a code in War Gods to just giving you infinite continues. So there's two ways to getting infinite continues. Cheat Menu does make finishers easier to pull off. You also can increase your chances at winning by lowering their difficulty through it. Yes it also has a level select built it for more fun.
Just between those two games, you got some rather weird stuff to play with. But by having most of it in one place makes it easy. Sure there isn't as many codes or features than some of them in MK series. At least, it more directly affects the game play. Which is exactly why I chose to doing this particular round.
Winner: War Gods
Round 6: Weapons
Some MK characters prior to MK4 had weapons. If it were for a few MK4 weapons like a crossbow. I would've excluded Bio F.R.E.A.K.S. from this round altogether. Most of Bio F.R.E.A.K.S. weapons are guns of several types. Minotek also has missiles & Purge uses his personal flame throwers. Well flame throwers does work similar to Scorpion's hellfire.
Obviously, Mace: The Dark Age is centered on weapon based combat. Every playable character with the possible exception being Pogo has a weapon. In War Gods, some characters has abilities & weapons. I would say in powers wise, War Gods does come the closest to Mortal Kombat series. Bio F.R.E.A.K.S. does have death traps.
In older MK games, there's stage fatalities that usually starts with you uppercutting your opponent. In that regard, Bio F.R.E.A.K.S. does comes the closest in that area to MK series. Honestly, these games are constantly older MK games to MK4. Both War Gods & Bio F.R.E.A.K.S. does feel more like classic MK games.
At the same time, Mace: The Dark Age is like a mixture between MK4 & Soul Blade. Another popular 3D fighting game around that period. Basically it felt like the newest among them. Sure Bio F.R.E.A.K.S. attempted a concept for combat that ultimately got a negative reception. It was so bad, they canceled plans to release it in the arcades.
Personally, Mace: The Dark Age nails using the weapons the best. After all, it is designed with weapons in mind. Most executions uses them too giving them an edge here. With everything considered, this is where Mace: The Dark Age shines. Weapons come off being surprisingly boring in Bio F.R.E.A.KS., you kinda wish a different hazard or weapon would've made it in instead.
To me, it just felt off while the other two games were strong in this category. War Gods does use gods while Mace: The Dark Age is mostly normal beings for the most part. Just between these two games, it could come down to personal taste. For me, Mace: The Dark Age had the balls to giving a dwarf a war mech.
Winner: Mace: The Dark Age
Obviously Bio F.R.E.A.K.S is eliminated. It falls shorts in ways I haven't mention yet. Such as not amount modes or exclusive content. It was the bare bone experience while the other two games felt like complete fighting games. Honestly, this wasn't a surprise that Bio F.R.E.A.K.S. loss badly. Also considering, Mace: The Dark Age originally was going to have thirty characters.
Which led to getting cut down a notable amount. Although in their defense, they kept in the best characters. They were able to work with a problem like this. It is a real shame Bio F.R.E.A.K.S. could've been much more than the final product. Keep in mind, three different teams made these games.
Final Round aka the Tie Breaker!!!
Story
Mace: The Dark Age is similar to a couple fighting games including Soul Blade. A particular powerful weapon that everybody wants. They must defeat a powerful being in order to wield it. Also I liked how they used the book in several ways. Thus giving it more of a mythology vibe. Something widely big for MK series.
War Gods is about gods facing each other to wield the orb. In order to become the most powerful being in existence. Most of this is in text, you have to get use to reading them. Obviously both games has that going for them. War Gods does play more on the mystical side of things. At the same time, sorta reused ideas from MK series.
Like the final boss Exor is the announcer for the game. Like some of Shao Kahn's lines is in your face when you lose. Asmodeus is a powerful sorcerer like Shao Kahn. In different ways, their respective final bosses are similar to Shao Kahn. But the big question is which one's story comes just enough off like an MK game?
I would say just going by the character's stories. Mace: The Dark Age is much closer to MK series. War Gods is more like multiple unstoppable forces will eventually collide. Without an immovable object to prevent the destruction of existence itself. This very concept was brought up in a later MK game.
Keep in mind, I'm only comparing the first four Mortal Kombat games here. Also every character for the most part has an ending following their victories. I swear more effort got put in Mace: The Dark Age here. Most War Gods endings mostly says the same exact thing I'm not kidding. Yes this also implies to the PS1 version.
I know this might come off with me being picky. But War Gods had a golden opportunity to making this final round even closer than it actually is. Sadly, it did drop the ball enough for Mace: The Dark Age to claim victory. Now it is time for War Gods to get fatality, Lord Deimos please do us the honor. Sorry War Gods surprisingly doesn't have that interesting stories behind it's characters either.
Winner: Mace: The Dark Age
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