Mortal Kombat is back baby!
I hope everyone is excited as I am about the new movie. It came out last week but at the time of this writing, I still haven't had time to watch it. As to why, well, we'll get to that later. But I've heard good things. The original MK film was great, it had some really great fight scenes and memorable moments, but as a PG-13 rated movie it had to scale back some of the blood and guts that the franchise was known for. Not this time though, the new version is R-rated and apparently features more of the copious amounts of viscera we've come to know and love from the franchise, including some fatalities that are true to the ones you see in the games. In a way, it's something of a reboot of the franchise.
Honestly, I can't think of any franchise that reboots itself more frequently than MK. It's like a cycle at Netherealm Studios, they make an MK game, add whatever insane or ridiculous ideas they can come up with to its sequels, realize they've gone too far and reboot the series. The thing is, it seems like every time they do it ends up working and working well. Deadly Alliance was probably the first of those reboots, or at least the first I remember. At the time, the series, while still fun, felt like it had lost its soul (possibly stolen by Shang Tsung?).
Then came Deadly Alliance, released in 2002 for the PS2, XBox and GameCube. The MK team went back to basics, stripping away all the junk and distilling Mortal Kombat to what it was at its core. The dial-a-combos were still there, but they were far simpler to execute and each character only had a few. You could experiment more with combos, as most of your moves went together in a variety of ways. Special moves were a bit more limited, but the ones that were included were all effective. No more weird finishers, just fatalities, and each character only has one. And they aren't ridiculous and stupid like most of the ones in the MK3 games, if anything they are almost too simplistic. They sure as hell are violent and gory though. Blood flows like water in deadly alliance and each round is a gruesome affair. This, to me at least, is the way Mortal Kombat should be. I do wish they had stage fatalities, but that's a nitpick. They managed to streamline and simplify the combat while keeping the craziness that we've come to know and love from MK's lore.
Speaking of which, MKDA took some serious risks when it came to the plot, risks I think paid off. After the events of MK 4, Quan Chi finds his way out of the netherrealm and stumbles upon something interesting: a lost army of Terra Cotta soldiers. After revealing this discovery, he enlists the help of Shang Tsung, creating the titular deadly alliance. Tired of both doing Shao Kahn's dirty work and getting their tails kicked by the earthrealm warriors, the duo devises a nefarious plan. Their powers combined, they manage to kill both Shao Kahn and Liu Kang, eliminating outworld and earthrealm's most powerful warriors. Worse, they begin using the souls Shang has devoured over a millennia to revive the Terra Cotta army, hellbent on complete domination of both planes. It's up to both the warriors of earth and the emperor's former underlings to stop them.
MK is probably the only fighting game I've ever played where I care about the story, and I think this was a badly needed shift. The developers took a huge risk killing off two of the series' most recognizable characters, something that had gottent them in trouble in the past. To this day, this is the only MK game where Liu Kang is not playable in any way, shape or form. There were still plenty of fan favorites here though. Johnny Cage, Sonya, Raiden, Jax and Kung Lao make up the returning earthrealm contingent. All three of the original ninjas are here, with Sub-Zero looking older and wiser, Scorpion looking like his bad ass self and Reptile looking more like, well, a reptile than he ever has. Kitana is back, along with the villainous Kano and robotic warrior Cyrax. New this time are Liu Kang's trainer Bo Rai Cho, blind warrior Kenshi, vampire Nitara, Sub-Zero's protege Frost, criminal operatives Mavado and Hsu Hao and outworlder Li Mei. The game also introduces two new creatures called Oni, Drahmin, who's a playable character, and Moloch, who serves the Goro/Kintaro/Motaro sub boss role. I should also note that the game gives reference to the death of several characters, including Kabal, Sheeva, Goro and Motaro, though this would be retconned out of the story later.
As for the actual fighting, it's about as good as you could ask from a 3D Mortal Kombat. As I mentioned, each character has their own set of unique moves and combo strings, all of which are very manageable. Each fighter can switch between three styles, two hand-to-hand and one weapon based. You can transition with the press of a button or by successfully completing combos. Each of these fighting styles are legitimate martial arts and they did a really good job of trying to give the characters actually appropriate techniques from their respective arts. Having studied Tae Kwon Do, I will say I think Sonya's move set in that art is pretty true to what that art actually is. But as wrestler, I think Hsu Hao's move set misses the mark. Dude needs to get in a better stance, and what the hell kind of takedowns are those? Anyway, having the arts and including both hand-to-hand and weapon based fighting really adds some variety. Every character feels different and even the same character can feel unique depending on how you approach each battle. Some characters are better off sitting in one stance, using there others simply as transitions through combos. Others are keen to switch things up, throwing off opponents with their wide range of techniques. Some weapons are stronger than others, but the characters with weaker weapons tend to have either more complete arts or better special moves. I did find a few of the characters to outshine the others, but overall I think they did a good job of balancing everything. There's enough to learn that a skilled player is going to win most of their fights, but its simple enough that any two people could just pick up a controller and have a good time.
Deadly Alliance offers the standard MK tournament ladder and versus modes, but also includes something called Konquest Mode. Each character has 10 missions they must complete, each of which will take you through the basics of how to use them. It's kind of like a glorified training mode, but it really is very helpful and it doesn't beat you over the head with unnecessary stupid tasks. It also allows you to earn koins, which can be spent on hidden items in the Krypt. Another way in which I think MKDA changed the course of the series is that it was the first mainline title that was designed more for home consoles than arcades. As such, it needed to have more to do than just fight. That's where the Krypt comes in. You can spend your hard earned Koins to unlock one of the hundreds of coffins, each of which contains a secret. Hidden items range from still images to interviews with the developers to hidden characters and levels. It's fun and satisfying to unlock all of this stuff and it gives you a reason to keep playing after beating the game one or two times. You want to earn more Koins because you just want to keep finding more secrets, even if some of them are far less interesting than others. MKDA also saw the return of the Test your Might mini game and also added something called Test your Sight. Doesn't add a whole lot, but its nice that its there.
It may not be the best looking game of its generation, but I think the graphics overall are exceptional. The character models look great and they are very expressive, although some of the faces look a little strange. The stages are detailed and colorful and I always feel like I notice new details when I stop to look around. The blood isn't in any way realistic, but its Mortal Kombat, its not supposed to be. The sound is really good as well, the on-hit sound effects are perfect and the character voices are well done. Let's not forget the overly dramatic MK announcer, he's back and more baritone than ever. The stage music isn't great, but it gets the job done and its very fitting for each unique arena. Overall, the presentation is top notch. So much thought was put into simple things like the menu, where you see different animations based on which mode you pick. They could have simply given you a menu for unlockables, that they included something like the crypt was above and beyond. I don't know where else to put this, but the Netherealm team (they weren't technically Netherealm studios at this point, but whatever) also comissioned semi-popular butt-rock band Adema to do a song for MKDA, and you can check out the music video in the menu if you so choose. It's not a great song, but it really fits for a Mortal Kombat game and it shows that the series had some crossover appeal. Not going to lie, it was a little weird and kind of nice to hear a hard rock song from the early aughts that didn't include record scratching, so good on Adema for that.
I can't say the game is without its flaws. For one, they almost went too far back to the basics in some areas. I know a lot of more competitive players find the overall combat a bit too simple. All of the arenas feel the same, kind of just like big open areas. I like the idea of whittling down the fatalities and making them quick, brutal and simple, but I think they scaled it back too much here. A lot of the finishers feel the same and they did away with some really iconic stuff. Scorpion doesn't even have his toasty fatality, that's been his finisher since the first game and now it's gone? Not a fan. As I mentioned before, I also think they should have included stage fatalities. I always loved knocking my opponent into the pit or deadpool after a win. I was glad to see the other stuff gone, but I think they scaled it back a bit too much in that regard. I like being able to move in 3D, but it kind of makes jumping difficult. You don't realize how much 8-way running impedes your jumping in a game like Soul Caliber, because jumping attacks have never been a major part of that series. But it feels kind of weird in Mortal Kombat. Once I eventually figured out how to jump kick consistently I was fine, but it took longer than it should have.
Finally, I did take an issue with some of the new characters and fatalities. Bo Rai Cho feels really out of place here, he kind of has a silly schtick based around puking and farting that would have fit better in the previous games. Normally it wouldn't bother me too much, but he really sticks out in this stripped down, more brutal environment. The same can be said of Quan Chi's fatality, it just looks really goofy compared to the other finishing moves. As a whole, the bosses were a bit disappointing, Shang Tsung and Quan Chi are no more difficult than normal foes and Moloch is a pushover once you know what you are doing. I'm not asking for a Kintaro-level fight, but a little more challenge would have been nice.
But the complaints are relatively minor and my issues with MKDA were few and far between. Honestly, my biggest issue with it right now is it's causing me to get behind on games to review because I can't stop playing it. It's addictive nature, strong roster and treasure trove of collectibles make it hard to put down. Looking back now, its clear this was the shot in the arm MK needed at the time. Heck, it was pretty clear even then. The series would eventually go off the rails again before undergoing another reboot in 2010, a game I called one of the best games of the 7th console generation. I don't think MKDA was quite that good, but it was pretty damn close. I's an outstanding game for fans of 3D fighters, stupid amounts of gore and Mortal Kombat in general.
9.5/10
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