fun but ultimately repetitive
October 28, 2008
this is a different spin on mortal kombat!instead of fighting[which you can still do] you get to go out adventuring as kung low and lou kang.i know i mispelled them but if you dont like it bite it!mortal kombat mispells every word with a c in it.anyhow,these 2 get xps made popular by d and d.if you are any kind of player you dont need this explained to you.but ill bet someones out there going "huh?" and scratching his or her head as the case may be.xps are points you get for defeating evil.these points may be spent on cooler and more complicated manuvers.this game is extremely fast paced!its really cool and quite chaotic at first.but once the chaos and balance harmonize it gets repetitive.like "look!i hit that evil wraith with a spine sucking bone marrow manifold uterus squeeze!" gets old the 23456789th time it happens.oh yeah!i forgot about the easy fatalities.you can just hit them any old time,instantly killing your opponent.another cool idea is the instant death environmental through.[i know scratch scratch].this means you can snatch a dude up and toss his a....... into a spiked wall or off a cliff or into acid or......well you get the idea!out of the 3 new mk games for the x-box this one takes the cake!so eat your cake.wash your hands so you dont grease up and or slime your controller and get them knuckles pumping,dude!
Get your monk on!!
April 28, 2008
The Mortal Kombat team wanted to try something new, and I sure am glad they did. I have not beaten the game yet or even come close to unlocking all it's secrets, but I feel I have played enough to write a review as I am halfway through the Soul Tomb.
My favorite part of the game so far has been fighting the three leading ladies of MK, Mileena, Jade, and Kitana, all at once! They look beautiful and they are hard to get through if you are playing the game without a partner.
As other reviewers have said, the opening video is amazing and you got to love the way Reptile goes after Johny Cage.
I play as Liu Kang and I am having a blast whipping my hat around and doing slice fatalities, and the mutality is great when you have a room full of Barakas to fight.
The graphics are awesome, the sound effects are top notch, and it has a great 'Mortal Kombat' feel. There is no other way to describe it but for that way. MK enthusiests will know exactly what I speak of. I look forward to playing this game for weeks to come and will probably play it again and again. The versus mode is great and I can't wait to unlock Kitana.
An MK fanboy's dream game
March 30, 2008
Can Mortal Kombat still be relevant after all these years? With "Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks," Midway did a fine job proving that it still Kan (um, sorry about that).
The fighting system is smooth and responsive, similar to games like "Devil May Cry," "Ninja Gaiden," "Legacy of Kain: Deception" and "Zone of Enders." It's fast paced, combo-oriented and very, very violent. You dispatch wave after wave of bad guys, but there's enough variety to keep it from going stale, especially when you learn how to string together 100-hit custom combos. Throughout the 6-10 hour quest, you can use weapons scattered around, interact with the environments and find secrets and unlockables in every single area of the game. Yes, you read that right.
"Shaolin Monks: takes place from the end of the original game to the end of "Mortal Kombat II." You play as Kung Lao or Liu Kang, who each play completely differently. As you fight your way through various locations from those games, you learn new abilities and fatalities (you know, finishers), buy moves, solve puzzles, and fight boss battles with popular characters such as Scorpion, Reptile, Baraka, Goro, Shang tsung and the final two bosses from "MK 2."
The boss battles are particularly impressive. Each one is completely different and you dispatch these bad guys in some imaginative ways, similar to games like "Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy" or the "Metal Gear Solid" series. Of course, each battle also has its fair share of straight up flying fists and boots to the face. As a nice bonus, you finish each fight with a unique situational fatality. Beware, since your enemies could do the same to you. It's worth losing at least once to see how your opponents can dismember you.
The single player mode is great, even though the story may seem stupid to "Mortal Kombat" newcomers. For fans, this game deserves another half star or more toward its rating. Expanding the series' storyline and freely exploring memorable environments from the old games in 3-D is nostalgic and awe-inspiring at times.
Of course, not every game is perfect. There are brief periods of tedium coupled with a lot of back-tracking and instances of the "revisiting-an-old-area-with-a-new-ability" formula that so many games seem to use. You may also get tired of seeing the same fatality over and over again at first, but that should be in incentive to discover some more (each fighter has quite a few if you take the time to find hidden icons or look them up on the internet). There are also some glitches, occasional slowdown, and voice acting that is so laughably bad that you somehow grow to love it.
The next section is for "Mortal Kombat" fans, meant to recall memories and spark some interest (But let's face it. Nearly any long-time gamer has a soft spot for Mortal Kombat). Characters you interact with or fight include Raiden, Sub-Zero, Sonja blade, Jax, Kano, Kitana, Mileena, Jade, Smoke, Ermac, Johnny Cage and Noob Saibot. Places you get to visit include Goro's Lair, the Living Forest, the Dead Pool, the Pit (1 and 2), the Soul Tomb, the Portal, Shao Kahn's arena and the Wasteland. If any of these characters or places brings a tear to your eye, you should go play this game.
The quirky humor, over-the-top gore and general weirdness are still intact. Johnny Cage starts asking if Kitana, the princess of Outworld who tried killing his allies, is hot. Then Kung Lao starts teasing Liu Kang about her being his girlfriend. There's even an homage to the "thumbs up" scene of "Terminator 2!" It may seem out of place in a game where you throw mutants onto spikes and jump off their carcasses to reach a ledge (expect plent of puzzles similar to this), but the MK universe is so screwy that nothing seems impractical.
If you have a friend who likes games, your enjoyment of "Shaolin Monks" will dramatically increase. In the Ko-op mode (lot's of stuff is still spelled with K's), you can find more secrets, use team-specific moves and have the most addicting co-op experience this side of "Halo." In the Vs. mode, you duke it out using the main game's engine. Weapons, environments and trash talk will give you the edge in fights that are basically what "Mortal Kombat II" would be like in 3-D.
Speaking of "MK II," a full version of it is unlockable by beating side quests known as "Smoke Missions." There's all sorts of other "Kontent" available, including concept art, hidden fatality button combos and secret characters. There are two unlockable fighters for the main game and six combatants and levels available for VS. mode (and each fighter does indeed play differently). In a nutshell, there is a lot more to do than just beat the game quickly and shelve it away. The main quest is also worth beating several times because of the hidden characters and different difficulty levels. The replay value is insanely high.
The graphics aren't jaw-dropping, but they do the job and are never bad to the point of distraction. Music and sounds are classic MK, with world music and electronic rock playing behind exaggerated grunts, screams and "Toasty" yells. The sinister-sounding announcer is also prevalent. The load times are quick and welcome, considering the fact that you'll want a break from the intensity one in awhile.
"Shaolin Monks" completely redeems the series. It proves that Midway can finally make an impressive "Mortal Kombat" game outside of the fighting genre. There is still room for improvement, so an inevitable sequel should be even better, but "Shaolin Monks" is a successful experiment that should entertain for hours and hours.
fun game
December 12, 2007
the numerous combos and ways of attacking the enemies are fantastic. playing co-op with a buddy or son is also a big plus. the fighting action is highly exaggerated which can be a good thing. It does fall under the Mortal Kombat historic style. there are numerous amounts of hidden items in the game that keep you coming back for more. I highly recommend
FUN FOR COUPLES OR PAIRS
May 14, 2007
THIS GAME IS GREAT FOR TWO PEOPLE WHO WANT TO PLAY TOGETHER. MY HUSBAND AND I PLAY IT ALL THE TIME!
