Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance

"The long awaited... The CD that stays lodged in PS2..."

Mortal Kombat has always had a nice shine in the media. With all of the fuss leading to the date about violence outside of video games, the long awaited Mortal Kombat sequel arrives. Will you have jaw surgery from all the jaw dropping fun you'll have? Or will you run to the bathroom, look in the toilet, and have more fun than playing the piece of poo?

First Look: 10/10
When you start, all of the flashy backgrounds and fluid character animations grab you, and make you instantly think about how cool the fatalities must look. Well, those are obviously no let down. Blood effects are at a maximum, you can change the level of the blood, but the max is a bit much. You'll definitely want to start with the Profile/Koins system, as on the character select screen, only half of the selection is selectable!

Story: 9/10
Mortal Kombat has been known for more than just violent play, with a storyline thats basically ''He killed him, and he wants revenge on him'' but much more complicated if you want to get into it. In Deadly Alliance, there are new characters, so that leads to a new story. The ''Deadly Alliance'' is between the great Shang Tsung and Quan Chi, who team up to take out the great threats that they would have to face. It's simple to follow, and fun to re-enact.

Gameplay: 8/10
In all of the Mortal Kombat's before Deadly Alliance, gameplay was fast paced and relied a lot on special moves. Well, be ready to adapt. Deadly Alliance is much more slowly paced, and doesn't have pre-set combos. It doesn't make the game bad or anything, just a lot different. The main difference is the fighting styles, which is a big plus. In game, you can instantly change style by pressing a button, between 2 fighting styles, and one weapon. Everyone has their individual weapon, even though some are basically the same, like a whole bunch of swords. And changing styles can lead to big combos. Combo's are limitless, but take perfect timing and speed to perform. And of course, pints or gallons of blood spills, sprays and splatters with almost every hit. Also, ''Test your Might'' has been revived, along with the new ''Test your sight'' where you have to follow the cups and pick the right one. There's a lot to do in this game,

Graphics: 10/10
Amazing effects make your eyes open. The darker colors and backgrounds fit the game. I think these graphics are the best part of the game. The blood and gore is exaggerated, but its a game of course! Blood stains the screen for a second if hit towards it, and the most part of the blood goes right to the floor, where it stays for every round. Character animations are fluid, and I don't think there's a problem with collision detection. Character movements and stances are pretty, and in windy levels all your clothes flap around, and, if a woman character runs around then things get a bit... bouncy.

Sound: 9/10
I think sound would be a perfect score if I could hear the music a little better, I can't really hear it past all the other sounds. Anyway, I love the voices for the announcements, such as ''Fatality!'' and ''Test your Might!''. It's a deep, and quick voice that'll never get old. Character screams and smacks are great, but a bit repetitive at times, such as the male jump ''alley-oop''. But other than that, it’s just amazing.

Extras/Replayability: 10/10
Simply great. You'll always come back for more. I bought about 5 games around the time I bought this, and I play this more than any of them. There's the Koin system, where different types of Koins are awarded for winning a match or passing a mission in Konquest mode. The amount of Koins given is determined by the Game Options, if the round time is lower or the difficulty is higher, you'll recieve more koins. What do you do with all the Koins you receive? Well, there is a massive krypt to explore, and in each coffin inside, you'll find something secret or hidden, whether it's a playable character, an extra costume, a hidden level, art, pictures and more, each one is different. Some coffins contain nothing, and waste your money! When that happens, it just makes you want to get all those lost koins back. It's always fun to go back to the krypt with a nice pocket full of koins. Guess how many coffins there are? Well, there's every letter combination of the 26 letters, so that adds up to 676 coffins!

Buy or Rent?
Well, the game can be fully completed in about 2 weeks or more, but that doesn't mean you can't keep going! Buy it!

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 12/27/02, Updated 12/27/02