"The Best Yet?"
User Rating: 9.5 | Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance PS2
INTRO: Mortal Kombat been around for many years. One thing they have learned well is that shock value sells very well. The first MK is the game that instigated the need for the ESRB rating system, because of the ridiculous amount of (for the time) blood and gore. MK:DA upholds that namesake as quite possibly the most graphic game on the PS2. But you know what? It is just plain and simple friggin fun to play. What other game after you beat the crap out of your friend can you rip out their spine? Anyway, for the most part MK and MK 2 are widely viewed as very good games. MK 3 and MK 3 Ultimate people believed with all the extra finishing gimmicks that it had, lost it's touch. I thought that MK 3 Ultimate was the best of the series (until this one came out). MK Trilogy and MK Gold went under the radar and the general consensus was that they sucked. MK 4 was dissed because it tried to be a 3D fighting game that wasn't really 3-D. What makes MK:DA so good is that it does all it's good things like; fatalities, crazy characters, darker themes, gore. And improves upon that with new ideas like the sidestep and multiple styles for each character. GRAPHICS: The graphics for this game are incredible. The level of detail put into the game is amazing. When you beat the crap out of someone you can see the cuts and bruises on their face. Another very good touch is when you stab someone with your weapon to slowly bleed them to death, you can see the weapon sticking out of your opponent for the rest of the round! The character models are fantastic. All of the the characters look great both old and new, the only character I don't like is reptile. All of the characters move fluidly which is a major improvement over past games. The arenas are great too. They are very well designed and their some level interaction. You can push opponents into pillars and watch them shatter, their is even a stage with acid fountains that can do significant damage if not noticed. The frame rate is also very good too, I can honestly say I don't think I had one moment of slow down, which is very impressive. Score 10 SOUND: Another strong point of the game is the sound. All the sound effects sound cool. Such as opponents thudding on the ground and all of the special moves. The music is also very fitting for the dark mood of the game. An Adema music video is one of the extras of the game, which is all right. The voice acting is not very well done and their seems to only one male and female voice each. But that is not really a big deal for this game anyway. Score 8 CONTROLS: The controls are very responsive and laid out well. You move with the D-pad and use the face buttons to strike with. The shoulder buttons are used for blocking, throws, and change styles. The only problem I have with the controls is the D-pad is not used well, the game calls for precision movement, but he D-pad does not get the job done here. Score 8 REPLAY: First off, the depth and amount of un lockable bonuses is quite good. You gain kurrency to buy over 600 koffins, which contain un lockables ranging from pictures, videos, characters, and arenas. The game has 4 modes. The konquest mode is especially deep. And with there being a total of 23 characters, each having 3 different styles, it will take some time to master. Score 10 STORY: MK:DA features probably the best story yet in the series. The basic idea is that Quna Chi and Shang Tsung have formed an alliance (hence deadly alliance) to awaken the invincible dragon king army and achieve immortality. In the process they kill Liu Kang and Shao Kahn in the opening cut scene. The opening cut scene does a very good job of setting the tone for the game, all of the extras also give background to the MK universe. Each character also of course has an ending. Score 9 GAMEPLAY: The gameplay is a very tactical 3D fighter. All of the combos and high damage moves require a lot positioning and setting up. Blocking is very much essential in this game. Some combos can be very devastating, and need to be halted before half your life bar is gone. The way the combat system works is each character has 3 fighting styles. What styles a certain character has makes no relations what so ever. The creators just randomly assigned styles to different characters. The styles although based on real world martial arts, are not accurate depictions of their corresponding styles. Anyway each character has 2 unarmed, and one weapon style. This also adds to the strategic flare of the game. Weapons cause more damage but move slower. Each style has a different and wide array of moves. Every character also has 2 to 4 special moves. All this combines to be a fighting game where the sidestep is crucial and accurate button commands make or break you. Despite this style of gameplay the action moves quite fast, which is what makes it so great, a fast paced fighter with a strategic twist. There is also a lot of depth here too. Training, practice, arcade are your typical standard modes. Konquest is where you go through 218 training missions with 21 different characters. You gain kurrency for achieved missions. You also gain kurrency in arcade mode. You then use the kurrency to buy koffins in the krypt. The krypt has over 600 koffins which contain all of the un lockable's. Most of the extras will only have merit to MK aficiondos. But there is something there for everyone. Score 10 BOTTOM LINE: If you are a fan of the Mortal Kombat series then you will love this game, and you should definitely buy it. But if you never liked the genre or are skeptical of the new and different overhaul rent first.
