PS2 Game Review - Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks

Mortal Kombat:

Shaolin Monks

A PS2 Game Review
By Le Chupacabra

'Liu Kang! We must stop the evil emperor Shang Tsung!'
'Yes, we must… for he is… evil!'

Now imagine saying that in the most pathetic of pseudo-Oriental accents whilst pausing after. Every. Single. Word. Like. This. In the meantime, you should be making hand-gestures like the rappers in music videos; with each hand raising and falling with the pauses. Makes for a pretty entertaining dance, eh?

Anyway, back on topic. This game has the funniest (although, unintentionally) cutscenes I've seen in quite some time. The voice acting is ridiculously camp and the body language even more so. The dialogue makes no sense whatsoever and the attempts at genuine humour? Well let's say they're hilarious, but not in the way the developers intended.

Now, if you can get past all that, some very basic graphics and other flaws, you'll have found that the core of this game - the gameplay is absolutely brilliant and rather addictive.

Shaolin Monks is a far kry (sorry, couldn't help it) from all the MKs in that it's a 3rd person action-brawler as opposed to a 2D (or 3D) fighting game. At the most basic level, you maul your way through the stages, solve some simple puzzles (usually involving decapitation, disembowelment, or a kombination of both) and face a boss or two. Then you rinse and repeat. With such a tedious formula in tow, one might suspect that the game would lose its appeal within a few hours. Not so in Shaolin Monks. The game may fail in terms of presentation, but it makes up for it in bucket-loads when it comes to that extremely elusive facet that makes a title truly memorable: the fun factor. MK: SM is undeniably, unabashedly and utterly fun.

Enemy AI is just right; they're obviously kind of stupid, but still smart enough to provide a challenge. But in essence they are simply cannon fodder for you to go wild with! The fighting mechanics are very refined allowing you to combine a plethora of punches, kicks, uppercuts and classic MK moves to create your own eye candy. Once you start racking up the EXP points, you can unlock more viscerally satisfying attacks and specials. From the very beginning you have access to moves like Liu Kang's fireballs and Kung Lao's teleportation attacks. Being able to mix these moves into the kombat (last time, I promise) is what makes it so fun! You start off with an initial attack, punching the enemy twice, but then you follow up with an uppercut and send him flying. Just before he falls down, you loft him again but this time you teleport, appear above him and then send him back down with a flurry of kicks to the face. All this is standard in most action games, but it's the MK pedigree that sets this one apart. Ergo, given the nature of MK and its love for showcasing extreme violence, the game becomes even more enticing. The hits are accentuated with unnecessarily loud sound effects and the enemies keep spewing oversized gobs of claret. For some reason, it just feels satisfying hitting away at these hapless idiots! Of course, what's a MK without violent finishers aka Fatalities? Thankfully, you'll have learned the first of many Fatalities within ten minutes of playing. When initiated, everyone freezes and a cutscene plays of your avatar slicing, dicing, mutilating or performing some unspeakably evil act of sadism on the poor buffoon. Guilty pleasure? Hell yeah. Since the game lists the Fatalities you've learnt, there's no second-guessing. In fact the game comprehensively lists all your available movesets so if you're having trouble remembering, just pause and check them out. After a few skims, the moves become second nature so you can keep doling out the pain. You can also pick up and use weapons; these parts are particularly cruel since, much like the Fatalities, the right combinations of attacks will see you chop your adversaries in half (and into more pieces on some occasions!) with their guts spilling out all over the place. Later on, far more carnage is offered in the form of vicious Brutalities and crazier Multalities. MK is definitely not for the weak of heart!

While the Single Player mode is undeniably enjoyable, the “Ko-op” mode is just a blast. Plug in a second controller and play the whole game with a friend or a sibling. The rewards are far more satisfying! Not only can you unlock Ko-op-only secrets but the teamwork element during combat is utterly gratifying. You'll be thrilled when your brother's Liu Kang pops up a grunt with his trademark uppercut only to have the guy's head chopped right off when you use Kung Lao's razor-hat toss. Bosses are no longer unreasonably tough when you get to double-team on them with far more wicked combination attacks that mix-and-match the abilities of Earthrealm's two champions. Need I mention visually arresting Ko-Op attacks that are initiated when your energy bars are full or the fact that there's always a healthy bit of competition when going for the EXP and life orbs?

All of this constitutes into an experience that's far more fulfilling than the sum of its parts and if you have a second kontroller (okay, this is the last one ^_^) and someone willing to play, you owe it to yourself to go through the entire game in Ko-Op mode - it'll be a time worth remembering!