|
Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks is the first title in
Midway’s recently proposed schedule of releasing a new Mortal
Kombat game every year. The title has already injected a vein of
fear into many Mortal Kombat fans, with the game being a
scrolling-fighter akin to the frankly awful Mortal Kombat
Mythologies: Sub-Zero and Mortal Kombat: Special Forces.
However, having played the title at this years Electronic
Entertainment Expo (E3) I can spare a few gamers hearts by stating
that Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks, if nothing else, is
currently a very promising piece of work. Graphically the title is
very well constructed with minimal bugging. The playable arena was
the entire of the first level, Goro’s Lair, which had been
recreated with a nice amount of detail and very accurately from the
first title in Mortal Kombat’s now extensive history.
Also drawn from the series’ heritage a currently
undisclosed amount of characters will be available, with play in the
preview build limited to Kung Lao and Liu Kang. Each character
features a varie ty of special moves limited by a meter below the
health. The moves are easily executed; holding R followed by
pressing the correct attack button will launch flames and furious
kicking feats through the arena. Each character also had fatalities
available, however, when playing with the executive from Midway,
upon trying to show me how to perform such moves the system which we
were playing on decided not only to prevent us from performing any
finishing moves, but also any moves at all, three time
consecutively.
As well as out-and-out combat, the title finds itself varying
things a little with a touch of well-constructed platform-based
arenas and hidden extras in practically every area; adding a
nicely deft amount of replay value. The package currently is almost
certain to pull fans back into the fray and abolish any previous
conceptions of the Mortal Kombat franchise expansions, so
long as the few bugs are fixed and the clever design continues
throughout.
|
