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)

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

Very extensive

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.

PlayStation 2 · by Peter Thomas II (2) · 2003

Deadly Alliance, how do i hate you? Let me count the ways.

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.

GameCube · by Faith Schmitt (2) · 2004

[ 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.