Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance

"Not the best Mortal Kombat in the series but definitely not the worst"

Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance is the fifth installment in the Mortal Kombat franchise. The premise for this game is pretty much the same as previous Mortal Kombat games. The forces of evil, the Deadly Alliance composed of Shang Tsung and Quan Chi, have reared their ugly heads and threaten the peace of the realms. Eliminating all those who would prove to be a threat to the alliance and preparing to conquer other realms, namely the Earth realm. To combat the new evil of the Deadly Alliance the Mortal Kombat tournament is established once again to determine the fate of the realms.

Graphics: 8 out of 10

The graphics in this game are relatively good but not something that goes on the level of excellence. There is some excellent attention to detail such the bruises characters receive as they battle each other. How a few costumes interact with the environment and move freely i.e. the scarf around Frost’s leg, the mist raising from Sub Zero’s arms, Mavado's coat moving along with the breeze of the wind. How some of the environments react to the actions of the fighters. The character animation is very fluid and you can hardly notice, if any, jerky motions. Unfortunately the only thing I didn’t like were some of the character designs. A few, such as Moloch, the default costumes of Kung Lao and Shang Tsung, look too plain to me. It’s as if the designers put a lot of effort in a few character designs and the others were hastily put together for the sake of the game.

Sound: 9 out of 10

The background music is okay but unfortunately it seems to be the only track that plays through out the game from the first round of the game to the final battle. So if you don’t happen to enjoy the tune playing maybe it would be best to play with the mute option on. But you would happen to miss out on the excellent sound effects that are playing in this game. For example the air swishing as your character swings his/her weapon, the rattling of Moloch’s chains as he slams you into the floor, sounds of bones breaking as you pummel your foe into the ground. I believe that Midway did a top-notch job with the sound effects but should have put the same effort with the music. It would have been nice if each arena had a distinctive individual track to accompany it.

Controls: 6 out of 10

The game controls are another problem I had with the game. It seems that the controls are very unresponsive at times and you would have to do a button combination over and over just to pull off a few of the characters simple attacks. This especially becomes a problem when trying to pull one of the long button combos, fatalities, and in the game’s Konquest mode, were precision control is a must.

Game play: 5 out of 10

This is where I have the most problems with this game. Unfortunately this game suffers from a couple of issues that prevent it some becoming one of the greatest games out there. Here are the issues that I had with the game.

Unbalanced AI is the first one it seems that at certain times in the game the AI can get so dumb you can either defeat a few opponents by constantly hitting one of the attack buttons over and over or the AI can get so vicious that they can land just about a hundred blows whittling down your life bar next to nothing. It doesn’t matter what difficulty level you set on this game. From novice to hard this can happen anytime in the game whether it’s the first round of the first fight or the game winning fight against the your final foe. Depending on when this occurs it can be a great benefit or a massive source of frustration. It would be better if the developers balanced the AI out a bit.

Game replay is another issue I have with this game. Although there are tons of extras such as alternate costumes, hidden characters, arenas, videos and misc. items that can be obtained by buying the 676 koffins in the game’s Krypt mode. It is the means necessary to obtain the koffins that I have a problem with. Basically to obtain koffins you need koins and to get koins you can either play the Arcade or Konquest modes over and over. There is little or no variation in either mode that can actually keep your interest. I can understand the lack of variation in arcade mode but the lack in Konquest is almost inexcusable. In Konquest mode you first have 8 preliminary training missions to get you familiar with the controls and attacks of the game. After that you have the character select option were each character has 10 missions to complete. All 10 missions for each character are basically the same; you learn the basic attacks of each characters attack styles, then combos of each style, then you learn about branch style combos and so on. With the final mission being a mirror match. For me if you really wanted to get familiar with a character’s attacks and specialties the game’s practice mode should be more than sufficient. Eventually you begin to question whether it is worth doing all the Konquest missions after completing a few. All together you begin to reconsider if it’s worth buying the remaining koffins after you unlock the hidden characters, alternate costumes, and arenas. The developers should have thrown in some variety in the Konquest missions in order to keep interest in it.

Overall Score: 7 out of 10

Although Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance has some good graphics, fluid character animations, excellent sound effects it doesn’t make up for the games poor controls, unbalanced AI, and dull replay value. Despite its shortcomings it is still a good game. It will probably satisfy those who are looking for either a quick fix for their fighting game needs or some 2-player fighter mayhem. Overall I suggest that you rent this title before you make any decisions to buy it.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 11/24/02, Updated 11/24/02