Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance

"Not the best, but certainly not the worst"

When I saw the reviews, which are widly mixed here, I noticed one thing that says alot about the MK franchise these days. You either love it or hate it, with no gray area in between. What's worse, one side tends to bash the other alot, saying that the other side is ''stupid.'' And there is good reason for this debate. the MK franchise has suffered a major slump recently, with dismal games that are behind the time, and while the game certainly try to be a good game, they aren't.

Enter MK: Deadly Alliance. May be Midway's last hope of revitializing their once adored franchise, and they have succeeded at reintroducing us to why we loved MK. While it's not the best fighting game of the year, it is certainly one of the better ones.

Deadly Alliance stems from the story. Shang Tsung and Quan Chi have joined forces to create just what the subtitle means. They killed both Shao Khan (the ruler of the Outworld) and Liu Kang (the infamous MK character). After seeing these events unfold, Raiden reliqushes his role of elder god to gather all the Kombatants for another go in the tournament, as well as defeating the evil forces once again.

MK: DA delivers it's gameplay on a silver platter, whereas other MK games failed, this one does great with the elements that they other MK games failed. Most appauling of the past few games is the ''dial-in'' combos, in which you just had to press a few buttons without much effort to link together moves. They appear here again, but for some reason, MK: DA seems to be a better game to have them in. This gives simplicity to the game, and makes the combos more of memorization than just skill. If you are a master of any of THQ's WWE Smack Down games, you'll be familiar to the controls here, and how the moves are pulled off here. It also works here because of the new fighting styles. Each warrior is given three fighting styles, which you can change on the fly. Two are martial-arts based, and one is weapons-based. What is more, the dial-in combos are efficiant for the ''Style Branch'' combos, where combos go from one fighting style, and continue in another, sometimes spanning all three fighting styles. Each combatant has the same controls, but different moves assigned to each of the controls. All controls are for the most part responsive, and gives you ease to make your fighter do what you want him or her to do. The arcade mode is once again challenging, and whle the AI can still be cheap at times, there is always a way to defeat them at their own game. The Test Your Might mini-game is back, along with a new Test Your Sight mini-game. Nostalgic kombatants will be thrilled to have these things back.

By far the best part of MK:DA, however, is the Konquest mode. This is a series of missions, spanning amongst all fighters. There are 218 missions in all, and 10 for each fighter. These missions are basically learning how to pull off combos, tests or blood (where you must make an opponent bleed a certain amount of blood in pints), etc. As you progress, you earn Kurrency, which in turn leads us to the best part of this game: it's unlockables.

The Krypt is where you redeem this money at. Here, you can buy your unlockables by puchasing Koffins, which can contain anything from artwork, more koins, or, worst of all, an empty koffin.. The best part of this is how much there IS to unlock. The koffins' letter assignments fo from AA to ZZ, and each combination in between is used. In short, about 600 unlockables in all are avaliable here. This helps out ALOT in replay value.

The graphics stand out, although the sketches of some of the fighters could've been smoother instead of jagged muscles. The videos are cool to watch, and the arena are suitable for your Kombat to take place. The sound is the best part of the AV department here. Especially in the Krypt. Every song is suiting for it's placement.

MK:DA works in reviving the MK franchise, and people who get this game won't be disappointed. If you are looking for a perfect game, then you will be. I personally was a (SMART) MK fan until MK4, and this has rekindled my faith in the series. This isn't the best game out there, but it sure isn't the worst one. MK:DA delivers everything it was meant to deliver. It won't totally rekindle everyone's lost faith in the MK series, but it's one hell of a start.

FINAL RATINGS:
Graphics: 9/10 Much improved from previous MK installments, but the fighters could've looked better. The videos and arenas shine in that MK sort of way, though.
Sound: 10/10 By far the best grunts, screams, and music to come out of Boon and Tobias' series. Everything has it's place, and especially in the Krypt, it gets creepy.
Control: 9/10 Any WWE Smack Down series veteran will have no problem completing moves in MK:DA, and the Dial-In combos work better with MK:DA than in previous MK installments. The AI could be more forgiving, however, as it can be cheap at times.
Fun Factor: 8/10 Although many former MK fans won't be totally seeing their faith come back for the MK series with this game, they will see this as a worthwhile start. Casual and hardcore fighter won't be disappointed by what this game brings, and although MK still has alot to go, it has taken that big step forward. Approach this with an open mind, and you'll be amazed.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 12/29/02, Updated 12/29/02