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Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks Review

Jon Wilcox

06/10/2005

TVG heads to Outworld to check out Midway's latest attempt to take Mortal Kombat out of the battle arenas...

The devastating fatalities of Scorpion, Sonia Blade, Liu Kang, and Johnny Cage (amongst others) have been entertaining fans of the Mortal Kombat franchise since 1992, and in that time that series has gone on from enjoying the pinnacle of digitised fighting in Mortal Kombat 3 to the woeful MK Mythologies Sub Zero and Mortal Kombat Special Forces - both of which tried to bring the franchise out of its beat-em-up roots an into action-adventure titles. After the success of Deadly Alliance and Deception, Midway have once again braved the action-adventure genre with Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks but is this another nose-dive for the MK franchise?

Set at the end of the first Mortal Kombat tournament, Shaloin Monks follows the story of the franchise's two Shaolin Monks: Liu Kang and Kung Lao, as they try to defeat Shang Tsung in Outworld. All of the traditionally successful elements of a Mortal Kombat game including fatalities, the gore, and the fiendish environmental hazards are all present in the game, and the developers have structured the title to be about as satisfying to fans of the thirteen year old franchise as possible with innumerable details (both visual and audio) that pay homage to Shaolin Monks' heritage. From locations that take in some of the most memorable arenas of the first two titles including the spike-floor pit, the portal entrance and Goro's lair, all integrated into the final level design. Nods to anomalies such as the infamous "Toasty!" and the silhouettes drifting across the moon are peppered throughout the game, which we can rest assure you brought many a nostalgic smile in TVG Towers. Further variety in the gameplay is added by the inclusion of several âTest Your Mightâ instances that force the player into rapidly tapping buttons before a timer runs out â“ something that was the cause of many hand cramps in the MK playing community since the very first title in 1992.

As progress is made through the game players can unlock new abilities and upgrade current ones by using the bank of experience point built up through the course of the game, and whilst it may not be of the same level of depth RPGs, it is quite substantial and does act to encourage players to continue with the action. Using combos to defeat a number of enemies significantly boosts the number of points, and thanks to the solid control system, itâs not uncommon to reach 60 or even 70 hit combos. As well as the obvious reason to upgrade the characters (itâs always nice to see the number of ways that you can kill someone) the fact is that some of the locked abilities do have important parts to play in solving puzzles strewn throughout the game. Building up combos also allows Kung Lao and Liu Kang to unleash the more devastating moves in the Mortal Kombat franchise, that of Fatalities, Brutalities, and Multalities, which are progressively unlocked throughout the course of the game. Initiated by stunning an enemy, gamers proceed to button-press their way through a combination of button-presses, quickly followed by a gory sequence typified by the titleâs controversial heritage.

With a game like Shaolin Monks, the ability to rapidly attack enemies from a number of directions is of vital importance, and thankfully this is one area where the developers have come into their own. Early into the game (the first level in fact), players are introduced to multi-directional combat by using the various attack buttons and directing the left analogue button. Whereas previous attempts to produce fast, fluid, and responsive controls in such as game has pretty much always been found lacking, the combat system is one of the key strengths of Shaolin Monks; changing the direction of attacks when surrounded by opponents is satisfying and solid and rarely seemed to fail â“ especially when it came to aerial attacks on some of the brutes to be found in the darkest depth of the Outworld. Trademark moves such as Kung Laoâs Hat Toss or Liu Kangâs Bicycle Kick all make it into the game, and thereâs a host of Fatalties, Brutalities, and Multalities to satisfy some of the more bloody-thirsty MK fans out there (arenât they all?)

As youâd expect, boss characters in the game are made up of key MK figures including Sub-Zero, Scorpion, Mileena, Jade, Baraka, and Goro, each one with their own weaknesses and routines that players have to observe in order to defeat them. As with the general gameplay of Shaolin Monks, these boss fights help to give the game an old school scrolling beat-em-up feel with titles such as Streets of Rage and Double Dragon coming to mind. Most of the boss battles take place over a number of sequences as their health is depleted by the player, with bonuses and fatalties forming the rewarding climaxes.

Whilst the game does more than a good job of integrating recognisable MK arenas into a larger gameworld, Shaolin Monks does suffer from a lot of backtracking and travel between locations. Whilst they might not be on the league of backtracking reserved by later levels of Halo, they do slow down the flow of the game. Environmental hazards as you'd expect also feature in Shaolin Monks, and there are plenty of combat based puzzles integrated into the game that utilise them. Some of the puzzles do become quite frustrating however thanks not to what is an exceptionally robust and solid control system, but because of a camera system that jumps from being fluid and helpful in a way not seen outside of the Prince of Persia titles, to a rigid single view that proves problematic when players try to accurately judge certain actions. For instance, trying to throw an enemy onto a suspended and decidedly nasty looking hook whilst struggling to judge the position of the character and the hook from a misplaced camera view does somewhat taint the experience.

One of the oddest game design decisions by the developer was the duality of emphasis placed on working through the game with another gamer co-operatively (or, Ko-operatively as MK insists), yet a second player cannot just jump into a single-player game in progress. At the same time, the player's guide through the game, Thunder-God Raiden, insists on teasing the gamer with numerous taunts that 'certain secrets can only be uncovered with the help of an ally." It's all the more strange given that in the beat-em-up MK titles, a second player can jump into the game just by pressing 'Start' on the control pad.

Away from the Story Mode, gamers can also indulge in a little Versus Mode, which is more of a cut down version of the traditional beat-em-up Mortal Kombat titles. Although limited to the two Shaolin Monks in the beginning, other characters can be unlocked by collecting token in the main Story Mode, and whilst this addition to the game will extend the longevity of the game, fans of the franchise will probably just boot up Deception or Deadly Alliance instead.