Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance

"It has begun!"

Fighting games have always been pretty bad on portable systems. Most notably, the MK series with the exception of the Game Gear games. In the newest installment of Mortal Kombat, they decided to try their luck once more. The verdict? Success!

Graphics:
The graphics in this game are simply amazing. It's not that they made any advancements in technology as this game mostly copies Tekken Advance's style but, it's HOW they did it. With Blood staying on the ground while you advance and retreat in and out of the backgrounds, the game tricks you into beliving that your characters are in a 3D world. It uses shaped arenas in the style of Mode-7 Mario Kart with sprite-based characters. This style works quite well with the GBA's screen. It's quite impressive how detailed the characters are. There's no mistaking the characters for who they portray themselves as...except Sonya's ''Lara Croft'' pallete swap. Very impressive! You have got to see this game in action to appreciate everything that's going on.

Sound:
Ugh! Argah! Oooh! Excelent! There is a full aray of speach in this game but the limited screams become aggrivating after a while. The music is unmistakenly Mortal Kombat. The announcer's voice is a ''Flawless Victory''. I belive they used the same voice actor as in all the previous MK games. It really adds to the feel of Mortal Kombat. In addition, he says other things depending on how well you do at combos, minigames, and in Survival. The speach is crisp and very clear.

Control:
If there is any bad aspect to this game, it's found here. Sometimes, moves come out with backwards input. For instance, at times, you can throw Kung Lao's hat by hitting forward, back, B Button. Since the command is back, forward, B Button, this makes no sense. It's even more noticable with the weapon attacks. Also, at times the controls are just a tad sluggish.

Gameplay:
Fight your opponent, beat him, FINISH HIM! Overall, it's the same game but in a psudo-3D world. The biggest change is the universal moves. Long gone are the High Punch/Kick and Low Punch/Kick. Instead, there are various attacks depending on which button you use. There's really no rhyme or reason to which button is punch or kick but, as a default, B seems to be more about punching while A is more geared towards kicking. What got me hooked on the game was the inclusion of Test Your Might! They also added Test Your Sight but, I'm not big on that one. I'm so happy to see Test Your Might back in as a mini game. You have to unlock it in the Krypt to play it outside of Arcade mode but, it's well worth the 12500 Koins it costs.

Replay Value:
There are 3 save slots for you and friends to create personas. There's no real point in the 3 slots on a GBA game but it lets you test out things. The Krypt is the real place for the replay value. There are 120 secrets to unlock in the Krypt. Only 3 of which are obtained without Koins. To get them, you need to beat the game on various difficulties. Depending on how you go about it, there's an RPG's ammount of game time packed in this game. It took me about 8 hours to unlock everything but, went for the more expensive items first and I opened up the mini games which churn out a lot of coins for playing them.

Rent/Buy?
If you're a fighting game fan, buy this. You shan't be sorry. Even if you're not a big fighting game fan, if you're looking to have a fighting game to add to your collection, for now, this is the game to get.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 11/24/02, Updated 11/24/02