Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance

The Good
Mortal Kombat has always been a succesful franchise. What was once a puny competitor to Street Fighter 2, is now a loved and sometimes hated series. After MK's first experiment in 3D fighting(MK4) some were dubious about MK's step into 3d. However, this years outing has proven succesful.

The folks at Midway got it right this time. While MK4 was in 3D, it played like a 2D game. MK:DA is a whole new experience. The entire fighting engine has been recreated. Each character now has 3 fighting styles. 2 unarmed, and 1 weapon-based. This opens new revenues for fighting strategies and combos.

The graphics are downright gorgeous. All characters look excellent, and each of them have tiny details which still flow as they fight(hair, clothing). It looks amazing. Stages all look great, with reflections and effects that are truly awesome.

As for sound, MK still pushes away it's previous faulty gloominess and introduces new and bright sfx and music that keeps the atmosphere going. The grunts and smashes are emitted satisfactorily.

The Bad
Now, while MK:DA holds a great achievement in all other areas, the combo system still seems too reliant on pre-programmed button combinations. Also, the amount of blood seemed a bit ridiculous.

The Bottom Line
Despite few faults, Mortal Kombat: DA brings new prospects into the fighting game genre. Any fan will love this game, and will soon ignore the few faults it has. The game's pros clearly outshine it's cons. MK:DA is worthy of a solid 5 out of 5

The Good
I understand why people don't like the series, what with all the blood and all. But with Deadly Alliance, I got the feeling that the series has finally grown up, replacing a lot of the previous gore and stupid moves with some quality gaming.

For starters, this is the first title to really get the hang of the 3D design. No offense to Mortal Kombat 4, but it was more like Street Fighter EX then Virtua Fighter or Tekken. Deadly Alliance has been thought out well design wise, and thankfully the 3D world works well, equal with many of the other fighters in the genre.

The thing I liked most of all, however, was the introduction of different fighting styles. Each characters has three styles, and swapping between them at will allows for some crazy combos. The weapons also aren't simply there as fillers either.

And for once, a lot of the stupid elements seen in previous games (such as the multiple fatalities, babalities and so forth) have been completely removed. In fact, DA only has one fatality for each characters, which to me means the development team decided to work more on the fighting instead of the gore, and that can only be a good thing.

Graphically, some of the effects are stunning. The detail on the characters is great to watch in motion, with clothes flapping in the breeze, blood falling from wounds, and the clean motion between moves.

Then there's the krypt, arguably the most detailed extra features list of any video game to date. There's a heap of behind the scenes photos, footage, new characters, levels and the history of MK explained. It's nice to play through the game over and over just to collect the right amount of coins (sorry, Koins) to unlock the next bounty.

The Bad
If there is one thing I was annoyed about, it's the lengthy konquest mode, which is simply just a training mode for each character put together into one long game mode. I would have enjoyed this more if there was a proper story, cut scenes or battles to play through, instead of learning all of the moves for each character (which I can do in the practice mode anyway).

Other then that, I was actually surprised at the lack of fatalities. Maybe Midway are growing up after all, but I missed all of the finishing moves (if only for the fun of it all, not because I like watching someone eating another's brains).

The Bottom Line
Deadly Alliance brings with it plenty of hope for the future of Mortal Kombat. With another movie coming out soon, you get the feeling we've not yet seen the last of this, but I for one am looking forward to the future. If they keep the multiple fighting styles and add some extra gameplay modes, the next title could be right up there with Soul Calibur (I kid you not).

The Good
This game is so complete. No longer is the story just about one possible super villian. It's now about Quan Chi and Shang Tsung. If they're stopped there is so much the next game could be about. The mystery is just killing me. I've beat the game with every character and the stories are excellent.

The Bad
This game has Koins you need to get to open koffins for bonuses I love that. What I don't like is how easy it is to cheat the whole entire system. I was able to increase the amount of koffins I had opened by a humongous amount just by knowing a couple of very simple tricks.

The Bottom Line
If you liked the old Mortal Kombat games you will love this one. It is so much better than even Gold was for Dreamcast. The fighting system while new is much better than the old system. Very realistic.

The Good
The weapns were a nice touch to the game and new characters spiced up the game a little more. I can honestly say that the fatalities have gotten better every year.

The Bad
I didn't like that you couldn't wall damage like in the old MK games. And the old sweep and punch action is worthless which was my best chance of winning.

The Bottom Line
Gothic people and people who like gore and violence will jump for joy with this game.

The Good
The best part about this game is that it's amusing because it's so easy to make fun of. Probably the funniest thing is the movie about the making of the game. The programmers really think the corniest things are cool.

The Bad
Where do I start? Well, the most obvious thing is the control. If you spent the money on a gamecube why would you want to use the d-pad rather than the joystick? The d-pad just doesn't work well on a 3D playing field. Another irritating thing is how, after the first round of a fight, the dead person just stands up and is fine. Meanwhile, all the blood he spilled in the past 30 seconds is lying on the ground but he's dancing around as fresh as a spring chicken. I would SO like to see one of the characters slip in his own blood while he dances. The CG movies are also pretty lamely done.

The Bottom Line
Extremely corny. I don't know whether the programmers planned this game to be funny because it was so bad or if they wanted it to be serious and just sucked at it. If you have friends who are into computer graphics this game is totally great to play because you can laugh til you cry. It's really very funny.

The Good
First of all I'd like to make it sure you guys understand i'm not a (person with no life who thinks blood is gross), i simply think it's utterly stupid.

This game is stunning from all areas, the graphics, the detail, the sheer excellency in technology, this game has the perfect visual detail, the areas are great, gameplay is a great improvement that shows why Midway decided to move their idiotic crap into 3D and also amazing sound.

The Bad
Everything, the game has a perfect everything, yes, but the stupid concept of punching your opponent to see buckets of blood fall to the floor remains a little strange to me. What exactly is the fun of seeing fatalities called "Open heart surgery", "Brain Ripper", and "Skeleton rip" which literally mean what they sound like? I saw a T rating on MK 4 and a T on "Escape From Monkey Island", I went crazy, since when do a few obscene words, and kinda gross humor rate T when ripping brains apart, and opening hearts also gets a T, oh please.

The Bottom Line
In the end it's clear that whoever plays MK: DA either is dying to see a graphic-wise fabulous game or they just feel it's nice to watch buckets of blood pouring to the floor. No offense to people like that, but i will never understand you.

The Game: 0/10 The graphics/sound: 9/10