Game review: Mortal Kombat: Deception

Knowing how to execute killer combos remains the key to victory in Mortal Kombat.

The phenomenon of Mortal Kombat is back with a kick to the cranium and a loving shove into flesh-eating devilfish-infested waters.

Hardcore, bloody hand-to-hand fighting is still the name of the game in this latest installment of Kombat, and knowing how to execute killer combos remains the key to victory.

The highly interactive battle arenas are a great addition in both visuals and gameplay. They really bring the brawls to life with players crashing through multiple levels and allowing some extra battle tactics that weren't possible before. Fatalities are still a big draw, and in Deception there are 48 grisly varieties to choose from with the proper button combination.

Kombat remains one of the top fighters on the market and the huge addition of online play allows you to take on the globe. A great new game to add to your fighting collection.

Beginning Oct. 31 at retail stores nationwide, consumers can purchase the Xbox video game console, two full premium sports games, and a two-month trial subscription to Xbox Live for $149.99.

The specially priced holiday package will give buyers a full Xbox game experience out of the box with full versions of NCAA Football 2005 from EA Sports brand and Top Spin featuring tennis star Anna Kournikova by Microsoft Game Studios, both playable on Xbox Live, and the two-month trial subscription to the Xbox Live service. The fully loaded console comes equipped with a built-in Ethernet port, enabling online gameplay. More than 450 games will be available on Xbox this holiday season.

A week after Bungie declares it gold, hackers leak Halo 2 on the Web.

Last week the full version of Bungie's sci-fi first-person shooter Halo 2 was leaked and is available on various peer-to-peer (bittorrent) networks, Usenet groups, or ftp sites.

The download weighs in at a whopping 3 gigs, but the size doesn't seem to be a deterrent, as a brief check of one known bittorrent stream showed that it was already being downloaded by 25,000 people.

"Microsoft takes the integrity of its intellectual property extremely seriously, and we are aggressively pursuing the source of this illegal act," said company officials.

Gamespy.com