Check out the Dell Store on CNET
GameSpot editors' review
-
CNET editors' rating:
stars
Very good
Detailed editors' rating
- Reviewed on: 09/19/2005
- Updated on: 09/22/2005
- Released on: 09/16/2005
- Originally published on GameSpot: Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks (PlayStation 2) Review
When you think about the efforts Midway has made to turn the Mortal Kombat franchise into something other than that of a pure fighter, try not to lump Shaolin Monks in with the publisher's previous attempts. It would be simply unfair to compare it to the likes of the rather flawed Mythologies: Sub-Zero, and it would be an out-and-out travesty to lump it in with something like the completely awful Mortal Kombat Special Forces. Shaolin Monks does something that no other non-fighting-based MK game has managed to pull off: It provides quality fan service to dedicated Kombat aficionados everywhere. Apart from actually putting together a completely decent gameplay engine, Shaolin Monks is so ridiculously chock-full of hidden goodies and subtle wink-and-nod-style in-jokes that anybody who professes to have a degree in MK will be hard-pressed not to come away entertained. With that said, Shaolin Monks will be almost exclusively interesting to MK fans, because if you were to take away the license you'd be left with a fairly unassuming and short brawler with a few serious flaws. But if you do profess to be a lover of all things classic Kombat, then Shaolin Monks is worth checking out.
Shaolin Monks takes place during what some would call the ideal period of Mortal Kombat's mythology. The game picks up right at the end of the original Mortal Kombat tournament, with Shang Tsung recently defeated and trying to make his escape. All the main characters from the first game are present during this opening sequence (including the elusive Reptile), and things start shifting into MKII territory when Kung Lao, Liu Kang's fellow Shaolin brother, arrives on the scene. Things start getting hairy after Shang Tsung's escape, when the island on which the original tournament took place begins falling apart. The "kombatants" start to flee the island, but Liu Kang and Kung Lao fall into Goro's underground lair during a tremor. This is where the gameplay initially picks up.
There are two basic ways to play Shaolin Monks: in single-player or cooperatively. Either option presents you with two initially unlocked characters in Liu Kang and Kung Lao (and a couple of not-so-subtly placed, shadowy "ninjalike" characters that hover in the background--unlockables, anybody?) Pick your poison here, because you'll never get to switch characters once you start playing, and you'll never have the option of turning a single-player game into a cooperative one, or vice versa. The two modes are entirely exclusive from each other, which is extremely unfortunate, since a good bit of the game's unlockables (and playability, for that matter) comes from the cooperative mode. Unless you've got someone handcuffed to you that you can play with for extended periods of time, you might find yourself a bit distressed at how much of the secret content is given to the cooperative mode. But if you do have someone else to play with, you'll have the ideal experience the game has to offer.
Functionally, Shaolin Monks is a fairly simple beat-'em-up that turns the many classic MK moves into one-to-two-button presses. Most of the basic attacks and combos can be strung together via simple button mashing, but there are several moves and maneuvers that require specific timing and button combinations to succeed. Most of these aren't the typical Liu Kang and Kung Lao special moves, as you need only hold down the right trigger button and press one of the main attack buttons to do any of these, like Kang's fireballs or Lao's tornado hat slice. Fatalities are simplified too. One need only build up a meter to its peak point and then hit a single button to pull off a fatality stun move. Once that's done, a series of button presses will appear onscreen. And if you hit the right combo quickly enough, you'll pull off one of those ever-famous fatal blows. If you continue building up the meter, you can pull off two higher tiers of fatalities (called multalities--for killing multiple foes--and brutalities, respectively). Some of the kills you can pull off on the boss enemies are pretty awesome, but many of the simple fatalities you do to grunt enemies are kind of dumb.
Liu Kang and Kung Lao both have their own unique maneuvers and combos, and both can be upgraded via experience points. You earn experience for offing foes during the course of the game, but only if you do so yourself. If you use any of the numerous environmental hazards, you get exactly squat. Anyway, experience points can be used to purchase new special moves and combos, and there are a pretty good number of them available throughout the course of the game. There are even a few team moves you can pull off when playing cooperatively. Still, even with the upgrades and combos, the basic combat is a pretty simplistic affair. Apart from the tougher boss fights, all you really need to do is just button-mash your way through enemies, periodically stopping to block or uppercut a bad guy into a puzzle-based trap from time to time. That doesn't make the fighting portion of the game not fun, mind you, it's just not exactly an overly deep fighting system. But then, for what the game is trying to accomplish, it probably doesn't really need to be, either.
What is Shaolin Monks trying to accomplish, anyway? Its sole purpose in this world seems to be to cull together every crazy gimmick, secret, and rumor ever concocted about the first couple of Mortal Kombat games so it can cram all of them into a beat-'em-up. In that regard, mission accomplished. Every aspect of this game oozes Mortal Kombat nostalgia. There's a fantastic array of characters featured in the game, for one. Every character from MKs one and two are on hand, as well as a few choice characters from three and four. Though some of these characters, like Johnny Cage and Sub-Zero, periodically act as artificial-intelligence-controlled allies, many of these characters serve as boss fights and secrets. Even outside of characters, there are so many insanely obscure references to MK lore all over this game that any serious fan will probably go nuts trying to find them all. Some of these references are pretty blunt. Remember how everybody thought you could uppercut opponents onto those hooks in the dead pool stage in MKII? Or how everybody thought you could knock them into the living trees in the living forest stage? Well, not only can you do those things in this game, but also they're required puzzles! Most references are more opaque than this, however, so it'll take you quite a bit of painstaking effort to find them all.
Continue reading
Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks (PlayStation 2):
%20PlayStation%202%20Game%20reviews%20-%20CNET%20Reviews&srcUrl=http://reviews.cnet.com/playstation-2-games/mortal-kombat-shaolin-monks/4505-9581_7-31447851.html){kind=small}