Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance

"Your weakness your strength."

So Ed Boon decided to drive his fancy sports car into Midway and this time make a decent game (for once). But what he thought would be an outstanding achievement (and in some ways it is), it fails in the one aspect it needed to succeed in for it to receive my praise: heritage to its predecessors. Where is it? OK, so Mortal Kombat was never known for a strong fighting engine, more for gore, however late it was in dishing it out (it was by no means the first game with blood, just the most). Two was much the same, on a higher scale. Three and four? Well, let's forget about them. It used to be a series where anyone who played any game from the collection could pick it up, choose Scorpion, tap back twice and press high punch and send that rope flying to the sound of Scorpion's James Hetfield-like voice of ''Get over here!'' Anyone could hold down and press high punch. Anyone. But now, after playing Deadly Alliance, I clearly discovered the man who freely referred to himself as ''Noob'' decided against it all.

It is ironic that many people (including myself) have scolded Mortal Kombat's past fighting system for its basic engine, lack of chainable combos and weak gimmicks. However true that may be though, its fighting system may have been its weakness but simultaenously its strength. Non-serious fighters purposely chose Mortal Kombat. If you wanted depth, you played Tekken; you sought life elsewhere. Deadly Alliance spoils it for everyone who knew how to throw Scorpion's rope. What was a fast-paced, enjoyable-in-bursts fighting series has now become an utter bore. The ridiculous depth to each fighter offers nothing but hassles. Combatants have a variety of fighting styles ranging from Hapkido to Taek Won Do to Tai Chi. Aside from it being totally unbelievable that past characters like Johnny Cage and Scorpion have magically picked up these styles from the Netherworld, anyone without a photographic memory would have to spend hours upon hours memorising the moves for a SINGLE character. So assuming you learn the techniques, the combos, you master the special moves and so forth. You suddenly realise something. An epiphany! What if there's someone better? What if I've mastered this warrior for naught? Back to square one to do it all again. That, is not something I would call ''enjoyable gaming''. Nearly everything has changed. You don't press down and high punch to execute the uppercut (ol' faithful). There is no uppercut. Then there are those issues that should have been changed, but were not. Like pressing a button to block. Have they not heard the many voices talking about such hassles since the very beginning?

Some might say the fans wanted this. They wanted a change, and have been wanting it since the mid-nineties. So then, I ask what kind of a fan wants the game to change? And don't get change mixed up with improvements and enhancements. Those are two completely different elements. Those who wished a change could easily have played a different game. Afterall, that is exactly what Deadly Alliance is when compared with the first four Mortal Kombat titles. I would never have called myself a fan of this series should I never have played this game. It is this title, Deadly Alliance, that made me appreciate the effortless simplicity that was apparent with the so-called ''inferior'' titles. And that, can only hinder my respect for Midway's latest. Should a fan actually enjoy this title, there are many secrets, bonuses and mystery prizes awarded to those who clearly have nothing better to do than waste their lives learning moves and playing this game. Unfortunately, they are mostly inconsequential aside from the ''Making of'' clip, which is available initially in any case, of Eddie parking his pretentious silver convertible outside Midway. He comes off as even more pretentious with his glum facial expressions and ''Don't mess with me, I make violent video games'' persona.

Fighting games used to be about who had the most skill, the best speed and the fastest reflexes. Now it seems (or at least Midway think so) that they're all about who has the best memory, the most patience and the longest amount of time on their hands to use every centimetre of that patience. Unoriginal characters coupled with unoriginal backgrounds combine with a forgettable soundtrack and tasteless sound effects. Scorpion and Sub Zero are still haunted by the fact that real ''actors'' (B-grade out-of-work martial artist-wannabes more apt?) portrayed them and their laughable circus outfits mock them. Somehow, fatalities still made it into here, with the instruction manual having the nerve to tell me to go onto the internet and look for the button combinations to pull off the outrageously-stupid moves. What for? Because you're too lazy to put it in the booklet? What kind of schmuck do you take me for? I can't even be bothered putting in the combinations to execute the regular moves. Moves, which, once again require the multiple tapping of the directional pad instead of the clearly superior ''smooth motions'' that almost every other fighting game developer have had the intelligence to figure out (you would need an IQ over 15 to do so).

I must give credit where credit is due. They listened to the so-called ''fans'', and I assume they included many things that were asked of them. But are you really a fan if you want a complete overhaul? That's something I have no trouble answering. To be honest, I'm not sure if I'm a fan of the series. The first four were by no means perfect, in fact far from it. But the entire point of Mortal Kombat was that it was a cheap fighter you could pick up and immediately know how to freeze the fool with the other controller. Everyone knew the answer to a somersaulting enemy. But not any more. Who knows how to get them out of the air? Not me. It's not worth my time. Bring back the uppercut.

Reviewer's Score: 3/10, Originally Posted: 02/27/04, Updated 04/29/04