Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance

"The best since MK1"

I'm sure you've already read a ton os MK histories, nearly every review includes one as do most the FAQs, so instead od starting this off with a history of the Mortal Kombat series, I'll just tell you about my history with the game, as I feel it's important to know that to understand how I got to my review score.

I first remember hearign about this new ''super violent'' (friend's words) video game.. this is when I was completely engrossed in the Street Fighter series.. my one friend just kept telling me about how much blood there was. So, I went to the local arcade with him and played it. I was stunned. I loved the original Mortal Kombat, but never got very good at it. A bit later, MK2 came out.. I thought it was all right, but still preferred MK1. I remember leaving early for college so I could stop by the local arcade at the mall so I could practice with Kitana (my MK2 favorite character) when no one was around, so I could actually survive more than 2 rounds... I'd literally be waiting outside the arcade for them to open the doors. MK3 (and its variations) came next... I thought it was the worst of the series so far, and played it very little. (I did end up buying MK Trilogy for PSX, which is basically just MK3 with extra characters.) I wasn't interested much in the Mortal Kombat series by the time MK4 came out, and played it maybe 6 times total, and wasn't real impressed. The 3D felt glitchy and I preferred the Tekken series at this point.

So, then along comes Deadly Alliance .. okay, whatever... another Mortal Kombat game.. whoopee. My friend rented it and said it was good but, in his words, ''Not $50 good.'' So, I promptly forgot about it until last weekend, when I was at a game store in the mall and noticed it had price dropped to $19 for PS2. (Oddly, the store I was in used to be the arcade I waited outside of to play MK2.) That same friend happened to be with me and said it was definitely worth $19.
So, since the game I actually wanted was out of stock, I picked this up instead. WOW! Blew away my expectations. Here's the review:

GRAPHICS: 8/10

Not quite up to par with VF4 (still my overall favorite PS2 fighter), but they're excellent overall. Some of the characters (particularly Raiden) look awesome. All the arenas are excellent, too. And I love that opening FMV.

SOUND: 9.5/10

It's great. The music is classic MK style and great. Sound Effects (punches, kicks, special attacks) are spot on, too.

GAMEPLAY: 8/10

This is the do or die area. IF a reviewer hates the gameplay and likes the rest of the game, he's gonna give the game a low score. If the opposite is true, it'll get a high score anyway. I like the system. It is true that the combo system isn't very deep.. but, honestly.. deep combo systems annoy the hell out of me. I can't stand them, because I'm not good enough to pull anything like that off. (I've been practicing with them for years.. if I can't use them by now, I'll never be able to.) So, what detracts from the game for most reviewers is actually a bonus for me. Easy combos. YAY! As for the Dial-a-Combos.. I alway thought the point was that combos should be unbreakable once they've started and, again, games that have combo breakers annoyed me. If you can hit the button sequence correctly, you should get the combo ALWAYS. So, once again, that comes off as a bonus to me when it wouldn't for others. (It's weird since VF4 has combo breakers and a deep combo system... I know it's illogical that I like VF4.) I have no problem with response time, so I'm not sure why others complain.. it seems as fast as Tekken 4 or VF4 to me. I'm glad the Friendships, Babalities, Animaliaties and Brutalities are gone... they made the series feel like it was now being directed at 13 year old males in a PC way. I must say, though, I'd have liked it if there were 2 Fatalities per character instead of 1. I like them, though.. not insanely gory but not toned down either.

Of course, no discussion of the game would be complete without the mention of the style system. I, personally, like it. Some complain it splits your moveset.. see, there's a reason why they do this. You need to be in a certain stance to correctly execute a move in nearly every martial arts system.. (excepting Jeet Kune Do, since one of the basic principles is that by the time you get in one stance, the situations probably will have changed and you'll need to be in a different stance.. so Jeet Kune Do has no stances.. you flow with what is going on.) .. anyway .. the point is, you ened to switch stances to get your arms and legs in the proper postion for the moves. It seems more realistic to me this way, plus allows you to have 3 different moves assigned to one button. I just find the style changing combos excessively hard.. this is one place where the controls don't seem responsive.. you have to hit the style change button at the exact right moment or you don't change stances and will screw the combo up. (Combos that go through all 3 stances drive me insane.)

EXTRAS: 10/10

Koffins, Kurrency and Konquest .. 676 hidden extras unlocked with Kurrency and a Quest mode that gives you background for each character. I love it. IT also has a nice practice mode that helps you get your combos down and figure out your own. The game also comes with two nice (but a little short) DVD presentations.. History of MK and a Day in the Creation of Deadly Alliance. I would've preferred a more indepth (maybe 30-45 minutes) look at the creation of the game.. but maybe they didn't have enough room for it. (But I'm also a game design geek and that kind of thing intrests me.) It also has a totally worthless music video that I really don't care about.

Replayability: 10/10

The Koffins and Konquest alone (even if you never play arcade mode) would keep you playing this game for at least 2 or 3 months. When my friend originally rented this game, he told me spent 90% of the time in Konquest mode.

Final: (not an average) 8/10

Nearly perfect... very few flaws. Fix up a few of the responsiveness issues I mentioned above, kick the graphics up another notch or two... and this'd be a 10/10 game. I can't wait until the new Mortal Kombat is available!

Rent or Buy?

That depends. If you like the previous MK games, I'd recommend a buy since the game is at $19 now. If you're iffy on the MK games, or like the deep combo systems, you may want to rent first, despite the low price. I recommend BUY for the majority of people, though.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 10/21/03