| Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer(s) | Midway |
| Publisher(s) | Midway |
| Designer(s) | Ed Boon |
| Series | |
| Platform(s) | GameCube, PS2, Xbox |
| Release | September 16, 2005 GameCube (TBD) |
| Genre(s) | Beat 'em up |
| Mode(s) | Single player, multiplayer |
Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks is the ninth game in the controversial and bloody Mortal Kombat series. Shaolin Monks is being developed and published by Midway for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox and was realesed September 16, 2005. A GameCube version is also being made, but its release date is not known at this time.
Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks follows Mortal Kombat: Deception, although the timeline of the game has it take place at the end of Mortal Kombat and before Mortal Kombat II.
In a statement given following the release of Deception in October 2004, Midway president David F. Zucker said a new game in the series would arrive each year. "Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks is also our first step toward delivering something that Mortal Kombat fans have been calling for: a new game set in the Mortal Kombat universe every year. We are planning our Mortal Kombat release schedule with the expectation that we will deliver a new Mortal Kombat title annually." [1]
Game Play
Shaolin Monks takes place during the Mortal Kombat II timeline. The opening scene shows Shang Tsung, Goro, and the other evil enemies escaping to Outworld in pursuit are those warriors from The Order of Light, allies Liu Kang and Kung Lao. After a nearly fatal disaster, the duo make their way to Outworld where the action begins.
The most fascinating aspect of Shaolin Monks appears to be its fighting system. The game makes interesting use of analog stick in a control scheme with infinite combos. The analog stick lets you control the direction of the attack, the face buttons select the type of attack, and the shoulder buttons modify the attack selection. Attacks can be linked together, allowing you to nail single enemies with a barrage of blows or bash multiple opponents in one chain. The Shaolin Monks' system is quite different from those games of the past, in that it uses the analog sticks to select direction rather than executing just the attack.
Liu Kang and Kung Lao will be the protagonists of the game. The storyline fills in a lot of the gaps and addresses some of the rumors circulating about the Mortal Kombat series. In addition to Liu Kang and Kung Lao, there are characters for you to unlock. Several characters appear in cameo and/or helper roles, including Johnny Cage and Raiden. Numerous villains appear in boss fights, including Goro, Reptile, Ermac, Mileena, Kitana, Jade, and Baraka. There is a lot of interactivity within the game. Instead of mere fighting, enemies serve other purposes as well. You can use them as a human shield, run off them to propel yourself to another enemy, and throw them through walls to unlock secret passages.
Details
As mentioned, the storyline of Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks follows the basic story line of Mortal Kombat II from 1993 (regarded as one of the best Mortal Kombat games of all time). However, being only the second Mortal Kombat game at the time it came out, there was not a huge ability to tell a deep story. In Shaolin Monks, they got into a lot more details of the story than they could originally. The game opens with a big opening movie that is the final battle of the first Mortal Kombat tournament. The levels and areas of the game are based around the original backgrounds of Mortal Kombat II. For example, the Living Forest was a small 2D stage, but in Shaolin Monks it is a fully interactive 3D level with many areas.
Liu Kang and Kung Lao are the two characters the story centers around in this game. The player will go though the realms and interact with a lot of different Mortal Kombat characters. In the Wu Shi Academy, the player works alongside Johnny Cage to defeat the enemies. Later the player faces Baraka in a boss battle. As the player progresses, they can unlock two other playable characters for the adventure game. One of the characters is Sub-Zero, and the other character will be Scorpion . Alongside those two, four known characters in the versus mode will be Reptile, Kitana, Baraka, and Johnny Cage.
Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks has a gameplay device called the Multi-Direction Fighting Engine. This engine allows the player to deal with many enemies at one time, fight in any direction at any time, and link combos in any direction the player chooses. Also, the engine allows the player to launch an enemy into the air and follow them into the air and continue their combos. The player decides when to toss an enemy into the air or attempt to throw them, and then once the enemy is in the air the player can choose to follow them up into the air and continue to fight them or choose to turn their attention to another enemy while continuing their combo. Also included is a co-op mode wherein the player and a friend can team up and work together to get through the game. There will be areas and items that will only be accessible via co-op gameplay. Also, there are specific team moves and combos the players can only do while playing in co-op mode.
No Mortal Kombat game would be complete without Fatalities. Included are some old school Fatalities that get some updates with new technology in the 3D world. There are also some more new Fatalities for the characters to give the players variety in regards to the disappointing one-Fatality per character in Deadly Alliance. The player can unlock the ability to do Multalities, which is a fatality performed on multiple enemies at one time. Brutalities from Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 have also been brought back and upgraded to the 3D world.
Screenshots
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External Links
Official Websites:
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