Mortal Kombat has always been chasing Street Fighter, it always managed to stumble and fall before ever catching upto Street Fighter. This game puts even more distance between the venerable Street Fighter franchise and this broken down franchise. MK 5 or Deadly Alliance has been in development for many months and the result came out to be this, a very crappy game. Ed Boon, albeit never had the touch, lost even more credibility on this game. In the shocking intro, Liu Kang and Shao Khan are both killed by the dual of Quan Chi and Shang Tsung. Raiden gathered the rest of the earth realm warriors to discuss the plan to stop the deadly alliance from resurrecting the Dragon King's army. This is where the game starts. Kitana, Raiden, Scorpion and a few old MK casts join the new characters like Bo Rai Cho, Kenshi and Frost. The characters are really cartoonish and I hate the design, why can't you make them more realistic like other fighting games. What's worse is that the character moves like puppet on a stick. The good thing about the characters is that they drop tons and tons of blood onto the arena and makes it more realistic. Arena designs are very drab and requires almost no thought, it really lacks the flair that games like SC II provides. Together with the lack of good music, it really puts a damper on the game. More mediocrities comes from the gameplay itself, which is almost devoid of variety or techniques. The movelists are short and quick, the listed combos are guaranteed once you hit your opponent. Basically mash a few button and it will come out as a combo. Although the longer combos requires you switching styles, that's a nice touch to the otherwise drab combo system. The style switch however are a nice addition to the MK gameplay, but needs more thought put in it. Even the normally excellent MK fatalities are limited to 1 per each character, leaving us wanting more. The good thing about MK: DA is the Konquest mode and the Krypt, which is a much needed relief from the otherwise drab game. In Konquest mode, you get to learn a little more about each character's story as you practice the command lists, combos and defensive maneuvers. As you complete each task, you get coins to spend in the Krypt. There's tons of secret characters you can buy in the crypt, like Kitana, Drahim and a few others. If it wasn't for the Konquest mode or the Krypt, MK DA would score even lower. Ed Boon desperately needs to implement a better fighting system ASAP. Here's hoping that a future MK game can stop stumbling and actually try to catch upto Street Fighter. And that game isn't MK Deception by the way.
Other Helpful Reviews for Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance
Mortal Kombat brings the most beloved fighting series to the PS2, and packs more than just your standard fighter. The graphics are crisp and very nicely done. Scorpion, Shang Sung, Sub Zero, and all other characters look... Read Full Review
I was glad to see that Midway didn't give up on my favorite franchise. The story is good as always which was always the series strong point, as Shang Tsung and Quan Chi take out their master Shao Kaun and their infamous ... Read Full Review
