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Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks Q&A Feature
Derek dela Fuente
24/08/2005
TVG risks getting our heads chopped off in search of more information...
Experience the Mortal Kombat franchise from an entirely new action/adventure perspective with the first ever Multi-Directional Kombat System and explore the Mortal Kombat II universe as two of the series' favourite Shaolin Monks: Liu Kang and Kung Lao. These are just a few of the enticements that Midway suggest but our man Derek dela Fuente spoke with Shaun Himmerick, the Producer, and found out a lot more to get excited about!
Itās fair to say that the last attempt to deviate away from the traditional MK methodology was less then successful; are you confident that Shaolin Monks can rectify this and what does it bring thatās not possible in the fighting series?
Mortal Kombat Shaolin Monks is not based on any of the previous iterations of MK. When we started Mortal Kombat Shaolin Monks we started with a 6 month prototype period so we could really focus on the fighting engine and the gameplay.
We did not want to move forward until we had the gameplay fun and smooth as well as the fighting engine.
Being an adventure game instead of a one on one fighter opens some new things up for us like being able to fight many enemies at one time, as well as fighting in the air, and using the environment a lot more.
"ā¦ the living trees had a rumor that you could throw your enemy into them and they would eat them. In Mortal Kombat Shaolin Monks you can do that."
The game is set in the MKII universe; perhaps you could elaborate on the storyline and what fans of the franchise can expect from the game?
The Mortal Kombat Shaolin Monks opening movie is a huge blow out battle that is the finally of MK1, so you see Liu Kang defeat Shang Tsung but he escapes and then the player takes over the game as we continue through the world of Mortal Kombat 2. All of the Characters from MK2 are in Mortal Kombat Shaolin Monks somewhere.
There were also a ton of secrets and rumors surrounding MK2 and we wanted to bring a lot of those to life and explain the details behind the story of MK2. For example the living trees had a rumor that you could throw your enemy into them and they would eat them. In Mortal Kombat Shaolin Monks you can do that. People wanted to know how Sonya got chained up in one of the backgrounds, we explain that. We went through a lot of effort to touch on as many of the questions as we could and stay completely true to the original MK story past and present.
Also for the world of Mortal Kombat Shaolin Monks we used all the backgrounds of MK2 as inspiration for our levels, it has been fun to watch 2D rooms become full 3D environments that are much more expansive, like the Living Forest.
Away from combat what type of challenges does Shaolin Monks offer to the player; perhaps you could give a breakdown of the gameplay?
We played a lot of different adventure games when we were working on the gameplay of Mortal Kombat Shaolin Monks and one things a lot of games did, that we didnāt want to do, was have the puzzles be completely separated from the basic mechanics. It seemed that a lot of the puzzles were pushing or pulling things around and arranging them. We didnāt like the āPullā this statue over and block this hole then move this thing puzzles. We built most of our puzzles around our Multi-Directional Kombat System, we have built this fighting engine that we really are happy with and wanted to your it to work out puzzles as well. Since the player has so much control over the kombat we had many options. We have a lot of āBody Puzzlesā that work within the fight engine. For example, you will see a partially broken wall that you need to break to progress, we send some enemies at you and you need to throw an enemy through the wall to break it. Because the player can choose what they want to do within the Kombat the player has the ability to solve a lot of puzzles with the kombat they have learned. They do the puzzle; they do the events to make it happen.
Can you tell our readers about the fighting system; will it be fundamentally based around previous titles or does the multi-directional kombat system introduce a whole new way to play the game and perhaps a little on the weapon system/fighting styles within the game?
The fighting system is Mortal Kombat Shaolin Monks is called our Multi-Directional Kombat System. The player can fight in any direction at any time and able to handle many enemies at once. The player can link any move with any other move seamlessly. However, that is not all. Weāve added a full set of moves for when the player is fighting in the air for Air Kombat. The player can choose to toss an enemy up and then jump up in the air to follow them and continue their combo.
The fighting engine was built to let you do your own combos. Because it is so free form we often see people playing the game who have linked different moves together into a huge combo, and we try to duplicate them on our own. I like aerial Kombat and others like to toss enemies up and juggling them, the engine let you build your own strings of moves to make combos that fight the way you want to fight. The player is always the one in control of the Kombat.
Intriguingly the game focuses on Lui Kang and Kung Lao; what was the reason behind this decision, and can we expect further details on these two characters ā“ are there any links to Kangās execution in Deadly Alliance?
Mortal Kombat Shaolin Monks centers around Liu Kang and Kung Lao. When we started the game and we looking at doing the MK2 feel for everything we just looked at who would fit for the heroes and it just naturally seemed like Liu Kang and Kung Lao should be the ones. We also wanted to stay true to the MK storylines of the past so we had to have certain characters involved from that time.
The player will find out a lot more about Liu Kang and Kung Lao through this game. We get into more detail with the story and reveal a lot of about the back story of what was happening.
There are things that foreshadow future events to happen in Mortal Kombat, and the MKDA story line is hinted at a little bit.
Naturally a Mortal Kombat game is expected to have plenty of fatalities; could you describe the system behind this to us and whether weāll see secret Animalities, Babalities, etcā¦
It wouldnāt be a Mortal Kombat game without Fatalities and Mortal Kombat Shaolin Monks is no different. We have integrated the fatality system directly into the Multi-Directional Kombat System. Also I donāt think a lot of people knew how to pull off a fatality or were able to pull off a fatality in many Mortal Kombat games so in this game we actually teach you the system in a tutorial so everyone can experience the fatalities. There will be plenty of hidden fatalities in the game for the people to discover for both characters and the other hidden playables. There are fatalities from the 2D days that we brought up to date, and some new fatalities as well, and some fatalities that have references to other things in MK.
Then after that we didnāt want to just include Fatalities, we wanted to upgrade them. So the player later gains the ability to upgrade their fatalities to Multalities, which is the ability to do a fatality on multiple enemies at one time. Then we also have the ability to upgrade to the top level of Fatalities which is Brutality mode.
"I think the Mortal Kombat franchise was rejuvenated with Mortal Kombat Deadly Alliance."
Mortal Kombat titles are noted for its secret goodies, perhaps you could tell us a little without spoiling surprises of those in store for Shaolin Monks?
Mortal Kombat has always been known for having a lot of secrets and with Mortal Kombat Shaolin Monks we keep that alive. In EVERY area of the game there is at least one secret to be found. Some areas have 2 or even 3, youāll never know. We have unlockable characters, hidden fatalities and plenty of other things to be found within the game if you look.
The two-player mode is an intriguing proposition; how difficult was this to implement in terms of camera systems, etc... and is there any scope to team up on combo moves for example?
Implementing the ko-op mode into Mortal Kombat Shaolin Monks was a huge challenge, we didnāt want to limit the single player game because of the ko-op mode but we still wanted to take advantage of all the extra things two players could do.
One of the first things ko-op players will discover is that we have specific Team Attacks and Team Combos that the players can do working together. There are elements of competition in the game but mostly it is about working together.
There are also some ko-op exclusive things in the game, for example there are areas of the game that can only be accessed by working together in ko-op mode. We wanted to give the players more incentive to play the ko-op mode.
Some see Mortal Kombat as a faded brand, the days of Streetfighter vs. Mortal Kombat seem all but a distant memory to those who played endlessly in the arcades; what would you say to the cynics and do you believe that Mortal Kombat can still enjoy the same popularity it once held circa MKII?
I think the Mortal Kombat franchise was rejuvenated with Mortal Kombat Deadly Alliance. The team went back and redesigned the fighting game and spent a lot of time getting MKDA right. That game certainly brought us back to the popularity of the past. We know that if we focus on quality gameplay and a fun experience for the players the franchise will be solid and maintain its place in the gaming world.
Finally where next for Mortal Kombat; presumably it wonāt take too long before we see the franchise moving onto the next-generation of consoles and handhelds, while previous comments have suggested Shaolin Monks setting the way for an annual MK release?
We are looking at many options for what is next in the Mortal Kombat franchise. There are projects in the works, but nothing is official yet. There are some really big things coming for Mortal Kombat, Tell Your Friends.
