Desperately trying to break free of the shadow that is Mortal Kombat: Special Forces, Midway Games has made every effort to pump brand new life into Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks. While it still may be be three days until  all gamers are able to get their twitchy hands on the latest installment into the Mortal Kombat series (Shaolin Monks is already available as of yesterday at some retailers), the folks over at IGN.com have played through the game and come through with the first official review. From IGN:

Midway has done a great job of taking a very popular, well-entrenched franchise and moving it over to another genre with success. Shaolin Monks isn't without its faults, but the game's tenets are good, the moves, the fighting, the unlockables, and its surprising level of depth all count for so much. And all of this is topped off with the superb co-op mode. Grab a friend and play this, you'll have a blast.

That being said, both the XBOX and PS2 versions of the game were given an 8.0 rating, which means even though the game could still a few bits of work, it is still excellent and highly recommended. Congratulations to Midway Games and the entire Shaolin Monks team for bringing in yet another solid title!

If you wish to read the rest of IGN's review, click here. As always, keep Mortal Kombat: Online tabbed for all of the latest news.

IGN has posted a whopping ten new videos of in-game footage from Midway's soon-to-be-released Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks! The videos are mostly short videos showing miscellaneous gameplay, including Kung Lao dealing with some giant snakes by feeding them enemies, Kung Lao being defeated by enemies in the Living Forest and being eaten by a living tree, and Kung Lao (again) gaining the ability to perform a Brutality (which is activated via a code combination like any other finisher) and executing it on a small group of enemies. Also included in the videos are a couple of Legends of Kombat videos, including one that discusses Kitana (who, it is revealed, is an enemy until you can break a spell on her, making her an ally) and the Outworld emperor himself, Shao Kahn (who Ed Boon reveals is in fact the final boss of MK: Shaolin Monks).

The videos are in varying lengths and sizes; they are available to stream and also to download in Windows Media format in 320x240 resolution, but IGN Insider members can download 640x480 versions in both Windows Media and Quicktime format. To watch and/or download the videos, click here.

Our thanks to forum member Subzero2 for the heads-up on these new videos!

Over on the Midway Boards, Cinder has once again come through and posted some more koncept drawings from the soon-to-be-released action/adventure game Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks! This time, Cinder has posted two koncept drawings. The first is a color drawing of one of the two title characters, Kung Lao! The other is a koncept drawing of the Outworld female assassin, Mileena!

In addition, Cinder posted the official TV commercial from MK: Shaolin Monks. This video is the same as was seen back at Midway Summer Gamers Day, with Raiden prompting Kung Lao and Liu Kang to begin their quest. The video is in Windows Media format.

MK: Shaolin Monks TV commercial.

To see the original forum thread where the Kung Lao sketch was posted, click here. To see the original forum thread where the Mileena sketch was posted, click here. To see the original forum thread where the TV spot was posted, click here.

Our thanks to forum member Subzero2 for the heads-up on these new koncept drawings and the new video!

First off in today's updates the folks over at IGN have provided their complete preview of this month's release of Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks. The preview commends the game for it's rich gaming experience. Here's an excerpt:

I really don't like the Mortal Kombat series. I've played the game for years, but it's never been one my favorites. I've never liked the design all that much or the fighting style (always preferring Street Fighter), but this game has attracted me because of its well thought out design, expert execution, and fun, deep gameplay.

Mortal Kombat Shaolin Monks is simple and arcade-style in design. It's deep with extras, upgrades, and items, while giving players the great joy of playing it alone or with some one else. While the graphics are decent, and the sound effects riddled with blood-curdling screams and gushing puncture wounds though the head, the fighting hits that perfect level of polished, honed, combo-heavy madness.

As far as we've played, the levels are diverse, refreshing, and fun, and the unlockable extra MK characters (OMG, which ones will be playable??!!!!) should give gamers another reason to rip through this meaty game at least one more time.

IGN in conjunction with their preview, has released six new videos of direct feed footage that can be found here.

On a related note, Gamespot has also released a new Official Trailer 2 for Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks that you can download at this link.

Thanks goes out to fellow MK Online users Blackcyborg and FatalTragedy for sending in the news leads!

Midway Games released last week eight new screenshots from the upcoming PC release of Midway Arcade Treasures: Deluxe Edition. The compilation will feature games from both Midway Arcade Treasures 2 and Midway Arcade Treasures 3. This is important to Mortal Kombat fans as it means that the arcade ports of Mortal Kombat 2 and Mortal Kombat 3 will be included. Although a screenshot of the original Mortal Kombat is shown below, our best guess is that it was released in error. Check out the screens below:

Midway Arcade Treasures: Deluxe Edition is scheduled for a late September release by the end of the month and will retail at $19.99 USD. Also, our friends at TRMK report that Midway has concluded that no network multiplayer will be available for this exclusive PC release.

UPDATE - 13 September 2005 11 AM EDT - We have checked with our sources at Midway, and they have confirmed that the inclusion of MK1 screenshots was an error on their part. Mortal Kombat II and Mortal Kombat 3 are the only MK games that will be part of Midway Arcade Treasures: Deluxe Edition. We have gone ahead and removed the MK1 screenshot from the article.