Wrapping up our coverage of
Midway's Winter Gamers Day, we are pleased to bring to you our initial impressions of
Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks, and our final impressions of the new characters in the
GameCube port of
Mortal Kombat: Deception.
For now, let us start with MK: Shaolin Monks. The intro is just amazing. Every single character from the first Mortal Kombat game can be seen battling each other in just utter chaos. They also cut to a shot of the
Tarkatan hordes charging into the throne room of
Shang Tsung, only to have one dispatched fairly quickly by
Kung Lao's razor-sharp hat. Shang Tsung's guards from MK1 are also seen, and they are given a beating by Shang himself after being knocked into him by
Liu Kang! Kung Lao's presence seems to indicate a major retcon to MK continuity, as the Mortal Kombat II comic by
John Tobias establishes that Kung Lao was not present at the Mortal Kombat tournament.
As always, old school fans will have every incentive to play this game, as you can now see what's around stages that will be very familiar, such as
The Pit,
The Tower,
Goro's Lair,
The Portal, and
The Living Forest. MKSM will also continue the MK tradition of turning rumors into reality - you can now knock your enemies into the mouths of the trees in the Living Forest. In fact,
Shaun Himmerick assured that not only would every stage from MKII be included in MKSM, he also assured that each of these stages would have at least one secret unlockable within them.
The gameplay starts out very simply - in a one player game, you can choose to play as either Liu Kang or Kung Lao. You can also choose a 2-player cooperative mode. You begin with your classic moves from the MK fighting game. As you progress in the game, you can get your moves "upgraded" - eg, Kung Lao's Hat can strike multiple opponents, or whizz around the entire room. He never loses the ability to do the plain old Hat Throw, however; it's just that more options become available to the player as the game moves on.
The graphics seem much improved since the early screenshots we saw when the game was first announced. This could be a combination of the fact that the in-game models have been worked on some more, and that since we are now seeing the game in motion we can appreciate its fluidity.
One of the more interesting factions we noticed is the ability of characters to work "in tandem" to create huge damage combos. As you press the indicated buttons when prompted, you can do more and more damage as part of the combined combo. In addition, the air combos are simply amazing. Some of Liu Kang's advanced moves include doing a fireball in mid-air, but they can be directed downwards towards the opponent if you wish. Kung Lao can also be seen doing his famous Diving Kick multiple times in one jump.
Even at this early stage, it is obvious that MK: Shaolin Monks will be a worthy addition to the Mortal Kombat lineup, and we look forward to seeing more of this game in the days and months to come leading up to its Fall 2005 release.
Aside from MK Shaolin Monks, we also got a hands-on experience with the GameCube version of MK: Deception. Goro and Shao Kahn don't feel like bosses, they actually play like normal characters instead. This is great, as you have access to all the basic moves like ducking, uppercutting, jumping, and they play at the same speed as the rest of the characters as well. Congratulations to the MK:D team for their fine implementation of these fan favorites.
We also have some more pictures of the games and the show floor.
Of course,
Mortal Kombat Online wasn't the only gaming site to attend
Gamer's Day. In addition, check out the coverage from these other fine websites:
This closes our coverage of
Midway Winter Gamer's Day 2005. On behalf of everyone here at
Mortal Kombat Online, we thank you for joining us as we reported on
Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks and the GameCube version of
Mortal Kombat: Deception! This is
]{0MBAT and
D'Arque Bishop signing off from Las Vegas.
