The final day of the Electronic Entertainment Expo has come to a close and Mortal Kombat Online is proud to present our final impressions of the E3 Build of Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks. Having performed a 121-hit combo, there's not too much left to say about the game that we haven't covered already. We love all the little details like the piles of skulls that can be knocked apart, and spikes in the ceiling that you can actually impale enemies on. If you miss one of the hidden secrets early on in the game, you will actually be able to go back to some of the earlier levels by way of the "Nexus". This will come in handy since some areas will require you to have advanced moves in order to access the secrets, such as a "running on walls" move that won't be accessed until later in the game. As revealed yesterday, whenever you access these secrets, you then unlock a new piece of content - one such piece of content being a new arena in Ko-Op mode.

Other cool tricks include cooperative moves that are pretty hard to pull off because both players have to work in unison, but the results are well worth it. For example, if you are Liu Kang and you do a fireball against Kung Lao while he's spinning, instead of going right through Kung Lao, it will bounce off of him spinning and spin-off a bunch of fireballs in multiple directions. Also, while this didn't work in the X-Box version of the game (which is about a week behind), in the PS2 version we were able to both select the same character in Ko-Op Mode. The second player would wear a different color costume - the same alternate colors as in MKII, so the second Liu Kang would wear blue or the second Kung Lao would wear brown.

In addition to our impressions, today was spent getting direct feed of the MK: Shaolin Monks demo that provides an in-depth look at the game including direct footage of fatalities, as well as exclusive footage of the unlocked Rooftop stage in versus mode. Liu Kang is controlled by Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks producer Shaun Himmerick, with our correspondent ]{0MBAT as Kung Lao. You can download the video at the links provided below:

• Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks E3 Demo Direct Feed

The next part of the day was spent recording our Mortal Kombat Online Fan Interview with Ed Boon and Shaun Himmerick on various different topics. We answered questions from users: Baraka407, SmokeNc-017, Fedegita, SubScorpTile, DECEPTION, and Bodzio, as well as one question that was asked by a ton of our users (try and spot which one!). Download the interview at the link below:

• Mortal Kombat Online E3 2005 Fan Interview

In adition to our interview, we invite you to visit our friends at TRMK who have also been covering the game at this year's E3. They have posted another detailed question and answer video interview with Shaun Himmerick, as well as a few extra fatality videos we were unable to grab. These can be located at their torrent download page. Also, last is our last batch of screenshots taken throughout the final day at the Midway Booth: Also keep in mind, that the demo that was previewed during this event will be available for all to play in a future issue of the Official Xbox Magazine, as well as Official PlayStation Magazine. This will surely be a treat for all fans. This proudly concludes our coverage of the Electronic Entertainment Expo. Special thanks to all the guys at Midway Games for the opportunity once again to cover the Mortal Kombat franchise. We'll see you live next year!

Update – May 22 – We'd like to thank MK Online forum member TonyTheTiger for helping out with a transcript of this interview. You can read the entire transcript here.

In addition to our update from the other day, which included pictures of the MK: Shaolin Monks on the 16 TV's (four rows by four columns), we also grabbed a couple pictures of the same TV's playing a trailer of the PSP port of Mortal Kombat: Deception.


Enjoy the pics, and prepare yourself for the updates to kome with the last day of E3!

Join Mortal Kombat Online as we take you on an all-access tour of Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks! On this exclusive video tour, Mobster4Christ and ]{0MBAT demo the game in its entirety, showcasing the individual levels, characters, and features of the entire build made available to us. Enjoy this exclusive footage! (Note: Ignore the idiot commentary from Mobster4Christ and ]{0MBAT!)

• Complete Walkthrough of the MK:SM E3 build.

Note: We seem to have resolved the download queue issues for SP2 users. Hopefully video downloads will work for all users now. Please still continue to use the mirrors whenever possible, and alert any moderators to conflicts.

Aside from what we said in yesterday's rather lengthy update, there are a couple extra cool details in MK: Shaolin Monks we'd like to go over - such as how the game starts off by showing the 2 heroes falling down into Goro's Lair, but if you look carefully, you can see that they're coming from Shang Tsung's Palace as shown in the intro video. There are also rocks that fall down periodically in Goro's Lair which can hurt you (or the enemies) if you happen to be underneath them.

As is well known by now, every area of the game has some secret. These can range from throwing an enemy to destroy the skeleton to knocking someone into a chandelier on the ceiling. Each time you unlock one of these secrets, a new piece of content is revealed. This can range from a piece of concept art or render to a video clip or even a whole character. (Even more characters can be unlocked by completing the game with some of the unlocked characters.) Although there is no Krypt/Koffin system as in MKDA/MKD, the amount of actual content there is to unlock will be about the same.

Lastly, Midway has hired a continuity expert who was several years of experience in the comics industry to go over the story of MK: Shaolin Monks and make sure there are no errors in the storyline. (This may explain why, for instance, that it refers to certain events well known to long-time MK fans, such as Shang Tsung's island crumbling or Baraka's attack on the Shaolin Temple.) While we can't reveal who this person is yet, this should put a lot of fans' minds at ease who are story purists. Enjoy the pics! And also, check out the video of Kung Lao's arm slice: Kung Lao Arms Fatality Stay tuned, there's even more updates on the way as our E3 koverage kontinues!

In a trifecta of perfect bloodiness, Mortal Kombat Online is proud to showcase video of three fatalities from Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks!

Fatality Videos:

• MKSM Fatality Triple Shot - Baraka
• MKSM Fatality Triple Shot - Kung Lao (Must See!)
• MKSM Fatality Triple Shot - Liu Kang

Note: For Internet Explorer SP2 users, we are aware that you may not be able to use the download queue. We are working on this problem and will have it fixed ASAP. For now, please use the mirrors of the files if and when they become avaliable.