Mortal Kombat Evolves

By Martin Kingsley

Kung Lao: "Ahayayayayaah!" Baraka's Cousin: "Mother Mary!"

Like a human finger in the chilli con-carne, the original Mortal Kombat was always going to cause consternation amongst the politically correct.

That was, in fact, the point. It was to the gaming crowds of the early nineties what GTA3 and Manhunt are to us today.

Laughably ugly by modern standards but representing an important hallmark in the history of video-gaming, Mortal Kombat spawned several direct sequels, more than a few exceedingly bad films, and has since sunk into relative obscurity, every once in a while rising again like a shambling zombie to dry-heave an, at best, mediocre spin-off upon the console community.

Last year it was the unevenly reasonable Deception, and before that it was Deadly Alliance, both of which were not terrible but fell short of capturing the feel of the original trilogy.

Today, we’ll be looking at the latest attempt to revive the flagging franchise, the refreshingly different if not truly innovative Shaolin Monks, which goes back to the original canon storyline and puts you in the bicycle-kicking boots of Liu Kang or his hat-loving accomplice Kung Lao during the events directly following the end of the first tournament and the escape of everyone’s favourite baddie Shang Tsung.

From there on, story really isn’t important, but then, what do you expect from a game with the words “Mortal Kombat” in the title? I speak solemnly when I say that the opening CGI depicting the above mentioned in gory detail is damnably impressive, even to one as jaded as I.

What is important, as opposed to the storyline, is that Shaolin Monks represents the biggest split from the original games thus far attempted, moving from the tried, tired and tested one-on-one fighting game formula to that of a surprisingly competent 3D brawler sprinkled liberally with secret content and almost literally millions of references to previous games in the series.

Here, you play either alone or in co-op mode, and run through levels based on original MK arenas and bashing everything that moves with whatever comes to hand, including weapon pickups, environmental kill zones and unlockable fatalities that manage to reproduce in full three-dimensional splendour the colourful and ludicrous gore that the name Mortal Kombat has become synonymous with.

It is with the levels, however, that players may find the greatest fault, as there is more than a small amount of backtracking required to complete the game, and this becomes seriously tedious by the time you’re within sight of the finish line.

Kung Lao's trendy crotch drape allows for stealthy defaecation - mid fight if needs be

Which, might I add, does not take all that long, and were it not for the appeal of finding and unlocking secrets one would be hard-pressed to find a reason to play the game over again.

Thankfully, there are more than enough hidden goodies of an enticing nature to keep even the most demanding of treasure hounds busy.

Speaking of which, you’ll definitely be wanting to rope in a friend to play with, is my advice, both for the extra unlockable content available in co-op mode and simply because it’s just not as much fun on your own.

Via the simplification of the entire control scheme, many and various simplified button presses are all you need to pull off the hardest of secret moves, though for those high-tier combos you’re going to need ninja timing still (no change there).

Still, fatalities are much simpler to complete, requiring only for you to build up a meter to the point where you can enter fatality mode and throw down any one of your unlocked fatality moves (further into the game you get access to multalities [multi-kill] and brutalities [no points for guessing that these are definitely the most impressive of the lot]).

It’s not as complex as the canon system but by the same token it’s not quite as rewarding, a feeling made up for, at least in part, by the sheer amounts of action happening onscreen.

There are lots of enemies to kill and lots of ways to kill them; there are combo multipliers and multi-directional brawls to attend to, though, as one might expect from a game such as Shaolin Monks, your opponents are not the sharpest knives in the drawer. No matter, however, as there is more than enough variety in the enemy ranks to make up for their decided lack of intelligence.

Similarly, however, on the technical side of the equation, Shaolin Monks isn’t quite the looker that Deception was, which isn’t so strange when you consider that there are many more characters on screen at the one time compared to Deception’s two.

Still, it’s reliably pretty when it needs to be and the animation is smooth enough for you not to mind the occasional jagged poly. The same cannot be said for the amusingly hammed-up audio; one has the suspicion that this might have been a deliberate effort on the part of the developers, as they have also resurrected from the archives the original Liu Kang scream and a whole raft of punches and kicks. Ahhh, nostalgia.

A refreshingly different take on the Mortal Kombat franchise that returns to the golden age of the mythology and does a lot of things right in ways that recent incarnations of the series have not, but at the same time it is unlikely to revive this once-proud licence.

Good, but unimaginative and occasionally workman-like, Shaolin Monks is a step in the right direction and an excellent buy for those with fond memories of the good old days.

Game: Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks
System: PS2
Players: 1-2
Online: No
Developer: Midway
Distributor: Red Ant

Rating: 75%

(Ratings Key/Explanation)