Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks

"An average beat'em with some adventuring thrown in...."

remember playing the original Mortal Kombat on my neighbors SNES when it first came out. I also remember every other MK title coming out except the last title which I don't even remember the name of. Shaolin Monks is the third adventure title to come from the Mortal Kombat series and it's a lot better then the other titles. Sadly, it still isn't all that great...

Lui Kang has won the Mortal Kombat tournament. But the Wui Shu school is under attack, Evil wizard dude is gathering power, a new ruler has forced a new tournament ect. Sound like a rehash of something? Well, Shaolin monks is a retelling of the story from the second Mortal Kombat game. This alone makes this game interesting plot wise and it adds a tiny bit more to the characters but a lot is kind of stupid. It's a decent story though...

The graphics in the game are a mix. Cut scenes have the ugliest character models I have seen in a long time. Raiden looks really really bad. In game character models are decent. Not overly detailed but enough details. Sadly, enemy variety is almost non-existent but what can you expect from a beat'em up? Background look decent, slightly generic. Oh but about a third of the way into the game everything starts to look the same red, blood, fire ect. Boring to be honest.

The sound in the game is also a mixed bag. Sound effects are decent, screams and all that. Splatter sounds and a few little one liners are shouted to bring back memories to those who like the series. The voice acting is rather bad, as is some of the writing. Sonya has the worst voice I've heard in a long while. Music is decent, I don't remember it much but that's fine with me because it means it wasn't horrid.

The control in the game is rather good. Moving around is easy enough but I found some of the jumping sections to be tough to control as jumping feels wrong. Wall running also comes off as feeling wrong. Fighting is easy as pie, combos are easy to pull off and moves are easy to learn. I had no problems there. Heck, it was even easy to aim a thrown enemy into the background.

I had played a demo of Shaolin Monks and thought it was fun and bought it for $20 by using a coupon during a sale. Sadly, I feel kind of ripped off and I think it's because of the game play. If you've ever played a beat'em up then you know what to expect but toss in adventure moments and it feels bad...

Okay, the game starts off easy enough. You're in Goro's cell or something and need to get your way out. I figured the game ran along a rather straight forward path. This differs later on but it is still really linear. The adventure moments has some jumping, wall running, swinging ect. Actually, it sounds like Prince of Persia but imagine Persia with a very rough use of the abilities and it just isn't all that smooth. Maybe that is the game's biggest fault. Outside of fighting, everything else doesn't feel smooth.

Fighting is all 3d and done like the newer MK fighting games. You can jump, you ca kick, you can punch, and you can upper cut. You also have special moves that are bought with EXP. EXP is gained from killing enemies, get huge combos and get even more exp. The game really doesn't offer a lot of stuff to buy with your EXP and to be honest after buying the fireballs and the better uppercuts I didn't need the other moves.

Oh and Lui Kang and one other guy is playable in adventure mode. You can also unlock two others but why limit the game play so much. Different characters with different moves doing the adventure would have been great. The game does feature co-op play which is a nice feature but again, I don't know anyone who plays games so.... The cut scenes in the game will most likely make almost no sense when playing co-op.

Now, during your adventure you will run into some puzzles. Some are "test your strength" which have you button mashing the X button and then hitting L1 once it rises above the bar. Sadly, this just gets frustrating when you have to start it and time it all to go with an enemy so you can kill him. Enemies play a huge part in the puzzles also. You need to uppercut them onto hooks which can cause something to drop. Throw them into a wall of spikes so you can use them as a ladder and get to a ledge. It's really cool at first but feels tedious after a while.

So, the game offers the adventure mode which took me a whole 4 hours.... It also has co-op which may bring some more life into the game. It also has a VS mode but its two players only. Meaning you can't fight the computer which means I was unable to try that out. The original Mortal Kombat 2 is also unlockable. The game also have 60+ coins hidden and each unlocks something new. Art work or something else. Don't get excited about unlocking movies unless you want to see the trailer for that new Gauntlet game... The biggest slap in the face for single player gamers is the fact that you can't get all coins by yourself. There are a number of switches to get to coins that requires both players. That isn't fair....

I know it doesn't seem like I went too in depth with the game play but that's how deep the game play is. You run around and kill some guys. Toss in some killer boss fights which require some thinking at different points and you get the game. It's short and not all that entertaining after the first hour or so. The game is very bloody and to be rather honest, I didn't find any of the fatalities to be entertaining except the one used on Kintaro. It's a really good rental and if you can find it for $20 or less and have friends to play it then go ahead and get it but it isn't too good of a game. Actually, Shaolin Monks feels more like a clone of Prince of Persia, with weaker puzzles, shoddy skills but more fun and violent fighting...

Story - 6/10
Graphics - 5/10
Sound - 6/10
Control - 8/10
Game Play - 6/10
Replay value - 6/10

Final Score - 6/10

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 01/27/06