To accompany the release of Armageddon on the home console, Midway have released Mortal Kombat: Unchained to satisfy PSP gamers' bloodlust on the go. Sadly you won't find a handheld port of Armageddon here, but instead a port of the series' previous incarnation, Deception.

Sub Zero post-op.

Whilst Deception may not come packed with the sixty-two playable characters of Armageddon, it fleshed out other areas of the game, with a lengthy RPG-inspired Konquest mode, the ability to perform Hara-Kiri upon defeat and a Krypt filled to the brim with goodies.

Unchained tells the story of the Dragon King, Onaga, who has returned to destroy the realms of the MK Universe through the use of the Kamidogu. Learning to look beyond their differences, fighters from both sides of good and evil come together to stop this ultimate destruction. This storyline is explored through both the traditional arcade mode as well as through Konquest mode, where we follow the events through the eye of newcomer Shujinko in an RPG type approach, interweaving with the other kombatants. All the features from the home console are available, including Chess Kombat, which mixes the traditional game of chess with one on one battles and elements of sorcery, and Puzzle Kombat, a competitive puzzle game reminiscent of Capcom's Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo. The highly interactive stages are present in their entirety, with destructible boundaries and instant-death traps (the modern equivalent of stage fatalities), usable at any moment of the match, which add both fun and strategic elements to the gameplay. A new Endurance mode has also been included for the PSP for veterans to truly test their skills.

On the surface, the control scheme of Mortal Kombat is far better suited to the PSP than some of the other fighting series to grace the handheld, solely utilising button presses as apposed to the quarter circle stick rotations of Street Fighter. Unfortunately it still lacks some precision in comparison to the home console counterpart. This can perhaps be blamed on the PSP controls, but can be worked through easy enough after a few rounds.

Jax demonstrates the power of breakdance fighting.

All the traditional favourite characters return, including fan favourites Scorpion and a now undead Liu Kang. The character roster has been slightly boosted this time around, with six new characters on top of the original twenty-four found in the Playstation 2 release. These include Jax, Frost and Kitana, as well as boss characters Shao Kahn and Goro (only available in the Gamecube release that didn't hit Australia) and surprisingly Blaze, Armageddon's ultimate boss. Whilst it's no match for the overwhelming line up found in Armageddon, not everyone needs eight different ninjas to choose from. The entire character line up is unlocked from the start, making it a bit easier to enjoy the game on the go, but in long-term appeal, it certainly detracts from the desire to play through the entire game.

As well as preserving the gaming options in their entirety, graphics and sound are all up to scratch in making this almost a perfect port, but sadly not all has survived the transition to the handheld. Load times are now three to four times longer than its console counterpart, at around ten to fifteen seconds between each match. This is never a good thing in a handheld title, intended for use on the go, especially not a fighter, where matches take three minutes at most. The lack of a quick continue option, without having to return to the character select screen after losing a match, is a huge disappointment and could have easily rectified the load time issues.

Feel my wrath!.. Now in hammer form.

The camera and control system for Konquest mode, while perfectly competent on the Playstation 2, is just horrible in Unchained. It floats all over the place at will when near any structure, leaving you disorientated and with an instant bout of motion sickness as you struggle to make your way fighting the camera more often than your opponents.

Midway have managed to cram all the features from the console version in this admirable port, including the entirety of the Krypt, which will ensure its lifespan as you strive to unlock all the images, video clips and media contained within. It admittedly even feels a little more at home on the handheld. It's typical Mortal Kombat fare through and through, filled with sinister characters and bloody fatalities, and it's a hell of lot of fun. Beyond a few technical issues, Unchained brings us an almost perfect port for gamers on the go, but sadly, these technical issues highlight the limitations of the PSP rather than work around them. With the release of Armageddon, unless you never played Deception the first time round, it's hard to go back, let alone to justify purchasing what is essentially the same game again. If you skipped it the first time round though, it's the perfect accompaniment to Armageddon to take with you on the go.