Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance

aka: MK5, MK:DA, Mortal Kombat V: Vengeance
Moby ID: 7787
PlayStation 2 Specs
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Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance is the first Mortal Kombat outing on the next-gen systems.

Returning from past games are all your favorite fighters, and a host of new ones. Johnny Cage, Scorpion, Sub-Zero, Raiden, joined by such newcomers as Molloch and Quan Chi. Each character has their own specific fatalities.

New to DA is a completely revamped fight engine. The graphics are in full 3D and feature somewhat interactive environments. Each character now has different fighting stances, allowing them to be in an offensive stance or a fatality stance.

DA has over 600 unlockable extras, that are opened by earning "koins" that unlock "koffins". The game also comes packaged with bonus material, such as the "making of Deadly Alliance" and "the history of Mortal Kombat".

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Credits (PlayStation 2 version)

154 People (142 developers, 12 thanks) · View all

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 79% (based on 35 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.6 out of 5 (based on 79 ratings with 6 reviews)

A new addition to the world of excellent games

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

Xbox · by ThE oNe (180) · 2002

Blood. Gore. Brains. Hearts. People Blowing up. Utterly idiotic.

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

Xbox · by Jim Fun (207) · 2003

Blood and guts aside, this is actually very good ...

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).

Xbox · by Kartanym (12418) · 2006

[ View all 6 player reviews ]

Trivia

Advertisement

Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance was released in the UK on Valentine's Day 2003. There was loads of advertising on TV, magazines, radio, the tube etc. for the game. Most of the ads had blood in them, though not extensively. For example, one ad had a girlfriend hugging her boyfriend and as she pulled away, there were bloody hand-prints where her hands had been on his back.

Bo' Rai Cho

The new character featured in the game, Bo' Rai Cho, is notable for being drunk all the time and farting often. His name is a play on his character: the Spanish word "borracho" translates to "drunk".

Development

The first game in the series done without John Tobias (MK co-creator).

References

  • The name of the fighter Noob Saibot is the name of the franchise masterminds backwards; Ed Boon and John Tobias.
  • Johnny Cage in this game is an obvious tribute to the actor/martial artist Bruce Lee. Like Lee, Cage is also both film star and martial artist. Moreover, one of Cage's fighting styles in this game is Jeet Kune Do, and his weapon is the Nunchaku. These are respectively the martial art created by Bruce Lee and his signature weapon.
  • The secret character Mokap is based on Carlos Pesina, who was the motion capture expert for the game.
  • Although the character Blaze was basically introduced in this game, he actually appeared as a background character for the Pit II stage in Mortal Kombat II. Also, his original name was Torch.
  • When browsing through some of the extras found in the game (biographies, videos, official comics), the player is able to have a view on the names of fictional films where the character Johnny Cage has starred in, several of which are references to real life movies. For instance, "Citizen Cage" is a spoof of Citizen Kane, "Tommy Scissorfists" is a reference to Edward Scissorhands, "World's Most Wanted" is a spoof of Wanted, and many more.

Awards

  • GameSpy
    • 2002 – "Return to Form" Award (PS2)

Information also contributed by Karthik KANE, Macintrash and Steve .

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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by JPaterson.

GameCube, PlayStation 2 added by Kartanym.

Additional contributors: Luchsen, DreinIX, Cantillon, Medicine Man, Patrick Bregger.

Game added November 21, 2002. Last modified January 11, 2024.