Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks

"Better than Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero? Yes. Good? No. *Some spoilers maybe.*"

The game may be better than the horrendous Sub-Zero, but it still isn't very good. I rented this game thinking that it would be a great game, like the first couple Mortal Kombat games were. I was wrong. I mean the game started out great, a lot of fun. But as I went along it felt like the farther a went, a stake was being driven farther and farther into my heart.

Graphics 7/10
The graphics aren't bad, but they could be better. The beginning cut-scene looks excellent, but after that it doesn't look very good, and could've been better. It makes me feel like I'm playing a very old game, maybe a playstation game, even. The blood looks realistic though, and the cutscenes for the fatalities and multalities look great in their own sense, if you don't have a weak stomach that is.

Sound 7/10
The sound is really nice, but yet again like the graphics it could be better. I would like more realistic sounds for monsters, and better sounds on impact. Also the thing that really got me was when Liu Kang would go around yelling WAAAH or HYAAA at the top of his lungs.. It really annoyed me to death.

Gameplay 2/10
This is where they really screwed up. It is better than Sub-Zero's gameplay, but I think it is pretty stupid in its own special sense. The combos are nice, but the enemies are way to hard, and you are always ending up without full health. Some of the bosses took a while how to figure out to even fight, while some seemed way overpowered in their own sense. I did like the addition of weapons, along with fatalities, multalities, and brutalities. Also loved the use of the environment in so many creative ways. Though test your might was the stupidest thing I had seen yet, besides button mashing everything In God of War. When I got to one part, I almost tore my hair out, because it took me about a million tries to get it to work, and then I had to do it again, because I didn't time it correctly!

Storyline 5/10
The storyline reminded me of Mortal Kombat: Annihalation, so it seemed like they were doing the same basic thing over again, but with some differences. Though I did like some of the things that happened, like Sonya getting taken away in the beggining, and see Kitana.

Overall 3/10
This game had a lot to live up to with Mortal Kombat 1 and 2. But it didn't, at least in my opinion. I did like the aspect of all the cameos, but I hated the battles, and I thought when you fought Kitana, Mileena, and Jade at the same time was a bit too much for one person. The "Ko-Op" was pretty good, but one thing that got me really mad was the fact that if one person lost health, the other did too. If you are a diehard fan of the series, buy it I would say. But if you have never played it or only played a few, rent it like I did.

Reviewer's Score: 3/10, Originally Posted: 11/07/05