Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks

Jubee · 09-26-2005, 01:37 PM

Has anybody tested this out? It's gotten great reviews and I hear the co-op is a blast, but I can't bring myself to buy a beat-em-up after that awful Sub Zero game.

Hatorade · 09-26-2005, 03:19 PM

It is on par with god of war. combos are sick and you work up a fatality meter and can be used at your choosing for extra XP. I was also hesitate but the game is damm good. Love how you can use the enviroment spikes..walls..fire..lava..so on. Good choice of attacks moves special moves and combos. You have light medium strong and throw attacks. Then the special buttom you hold and hit a direction and the coordinating button to do some cool moves like lao's hat throw and teleport. more if you want it.

Murr · 09-26-2005, 03:46 PM

It's interesting but some poorly done parts. Fatalities pause the game entirely (even in coop) and cut to a lame looking black screen where you get to watch the same animation over and over and over and over. Just bad design. Otherwise, it's a pretty fun side scroller, besides problems with the camera in coop.

Yukiri · 09-27-2005, 05:38 AM

I picked it up last weekend to play with a friend, and like said above, co-op is a blast, but solo, Im gettin fairly bored (40ish % through and it mostly all feels the same so far). My biggests gripe is that the game is made up of little "zones". You load into an area, it has 5-8 enemies, sometimes less, sometimes a few more, and you beat em up, exit, do it again until you get to a boss. It doesnt feel like a true side scroller beatem up that I expected because you are staring at a load screen every 3-5 minutes. There's interactive things in the background you have to do to pass sometimes but nothing groundbreaking. You can kill enemies by throwing them into background stuff (spikes, etc) or off the edge of whatever youre fighting on, but you get no exp for it, so do it too often and you lack the points to buy new abilities. It's a fun game, but I kinda regret shelling out fifty bucks for it.

I dont agree that it's on par with God of War, in my opinion GoW is far superior to this game graphically, it's play mechanics and story, so if you dont have it, I'd definately make that a priority choice over this unless you're just a hardcore Mortal Kombat fanatic. It's fun, but there's alot they could have tweaked to make the game better.

Hatorade · 09-27-2005, 06:43 AM

ON par with God of War as far as attacks and game mechanics. As far as the loading screens go...all side scrollers had them but they would just fade to black for few secs then start again..MK makes it apparent.

Nakilos · 09-27-2005, 05:39 PM

I watched a friend play it for a bit the other day. It looked like Ninja Gaiden without the fun.

On another note, is it possible for the MK assholes to come up with a SLIGHTLY original storyline? After watching for about an hour and a half its the MK 1 and 2 storylines mixed in. Not like games of that genre are known for their storytelling, but come on.

Yukiri · 09-28-2005, 04:53 AM

Well, the game is intended to take place between the Mk1 and Mk2 games, it's kinda the how's/why's of the second game (the Mk2 arcade version is also included with Shaolin Monks as an unlockable), so the mixed story was intended from the start. I was a huge MK nerd back in the day so the story is kinda nostalgic for me, so it's cool. Im not big on the fact that boss fights have to be completed with a Fatality, so they are dead, in pieces, little smelly chunks of flesh all over a room and the story itself reflects that you "killed" these opponents, yet they show up in later MK games. How/why stories are cool so long as you dont fubar the continuity of the whole thing.

Jubee · 09-28-2005, 08:37 AM

If the fatalities meant anything, Lui Kang would have never been around. I clearly remember uppercutting his head off in MK1, and eventually uppercutting all 3 of his heads off in MK2.

That move was sweet!

agris · 09-28-2005, 12:47 PM

i wish there was an international old school mk tournament. at least for mk2 and 3 ultimate.

Jubee · 09-28-2005, 01:21 PM

That would be pointless as I'd surely win.

I'd even pick Jax in MK2 just to humiliate everyone. He sucked (and still does) fierce.

Jubee · 09-29-2005, 09:02 AM

Well I picked this game up the other day and so far it is pretty badass. Combat is fun and the opening video is worth a rental alone.

Here's a big hint though... Only play with a gamer that is "on your level." I played ko-op with a roomate who constantly did Lui Kang's flying kick. Thats all he did. You get points to raise skills and those points come from long ass combos. It is really fuckin hard to string together anything over a 20 hit combo when you have a retard spamming flying kicks and knocking people into environmental deaths as soon as they can. That and you share a health bar, so when Johnny Casual takes 15 tries to jump over a small gap, it really takes a toll on your patience.

The game may be fun with 2 hardcores or 2 casual gamers, but 1 hardcore and 1 casual just leads to the hardcore getting frusterated and yelling at the casual gamer until they are both pissed.

09-26-2005, 01:37 PM	#1 (permalink)
Jubee This is how I look when I post. Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: St. Louis, MO Posts: 2,626 +7 Internets	Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks Has anybody tested this out? It's gotten great reviews and I hear the co-op is a blast, but I can't bring myself to buy a beat-em-up after that awful Sub Zero game.

09-26-2005, 03:19 PM	#2 (permalink)
Hatorade Cause its better then water. Join Date: Oct 2003 Posts: 6,632 +21 Internets	It is on par with god of war. combos are sick and you work up a fatality meter and can be used at your choosing for extra XP. I was also hesitate but the game is damm good. Love how you can use the enviroment spikes..walls..fire..lava..so on. Good choice of attacks moves special moves and combos. You have light medium strong and throw attacks. Then the special buttom you hold and hit a direction and the coordinating button to do some cool moves like lao's hat throw and teleport. more if you want it. __________________ www.houseforsaken.com reopened recruitment.

09-27-2005, 06:43 AM	#5 (permalink)
Hatorade Cause its better then water. Join Date: Oct 2003 Posts: 6,632 +21 Internets	ON par with God of War as far as attacks and game mechanics. As far as the loading screens go...all side scrollers had them but they would just fade to black for few secs then start again..MK makes it apparent. __________________ www.houseforsaken.com reopened recruitment.

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09-26-2005, 03:46 PM	#3 (permalink)
Murr Token Gnome Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Chapel Hill, NC Posts: 1,787 +8 Internets	It's interesting but some poorly done parts. Fatalities pause the game entirely (even in coop) and cut to a lame looking black screen where you get to watch the same animation over and over and over and over. Just bad design. Otherwise, it's a pretty fun side scroller, besides problems with the camera in coop.

09-27-2005, 05:38 AM	#4 (permalink)
Yukiri Registered User Join Date: Oct 2004 Posts: 145 +1 Internets	I picked it up last weekend to play with a friend, and like said above, co-op is a blast, but solo, Im gettin fairly bored (40ish % through and it mostly all feels the same so far). My biggests gripe is that the game is made up of little "zones". You load into an area, it has 5-8 enemies, sometimes less, sometimes a few more, and you beat em up, exit, do it again until you get to a boss. It doesnt feel like a true side scroller beatem up that I expected because you are staring at a load screen every 3-5 minutes. There's interactive things in the background you have to do to pass sometimes but nothing groundbreaking. You can kill enemies by throwing them into background stuff (spikes, etc) or off the edge of whatever youre fighting on, but you get no exp for it, so do it too often and you lack the points to buy new abilities. It's a fun game, but I kinda regret shelling out fifty bucks for it. I dont agree that it's on par with God of War, in my opinion GoW is far superior to this game graphically, it's play mechanics and story, so if you dont have it, I'd definately make that a priority choice over this unless you're just a hardcore Mortal Kombat fanatic. It's fun, but there's alot they could have tweaked to make the game better.

09-27-2005, 05:39 PM	#6 (permalink)
Nakilos Registered User Join Date: Jan 2003 Posts: 1,591 +0 Internets	I watched a friend play it for a bit the other day. It looked like Ninja Gaiden without the fun. On another note, is it possible for the MK assholes to come up with a SLIGHTLY original storyline? After watching for about an hour and a half its the MK 1 and 2 storylines mixed in. Not like games of that genre are known for their storytelling, but come on.

09-28-2005, 04:53 AM	#7 (permalink)
Yukiri Registered User Join Date: Oct 2004 Posts: 145 +1 Internets	Well, the game is intended to take place between the Mk1 and Mk2 games, it's kinda the how's/why's of the second game (the Mk2 arcade version is also included with Shaolin Monks as an unlockable), so the mixed story was intended from the start. I was a huge MK nerd back in the day so the story is kinda nostalgic for me, so it's cool. Im not big on the fact that boss fights have to be completed with a Fatality, so they are dead, in pieces, little smelly chunks of flesh all over a room and the story itself reflects that you "killed" these opponents, yet they show up in later MK games. How/why stories are cool so long as you dont fubar the continuity of the whole thing.

09-28-2005, 08:37 AM	#8 (permalink)
Jubee This is how I look when I post. Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: St. Louis, MO Posts: 2,626 +7 Internets	If the fatalities meant anything, Lui Kang would have never been around. I clearly remember uppercutting his head off in MK1, and eventually uppercutting all 3 of his heads off in MK2. That move was sweet!

09-28-2005, 12:47 PM	#9 (permalink)
agris tigUle + fOror = Tigole + Furor Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: st. simons Posts: 148 +0 Internets	i wish there was an international old school mk tournament. at least for mk2 and 3 ultimate.

09-28-2005, 01:21 PM	#10 (permalink)
Jubee This is how I look when I post. Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: St. Louis, MO Posts: 2,626 +7 Internets	That would be pointless as I'd surely win. I'd even pick Jax in MK2 just to humiliate everyone. He sucked (and still does) fierce.

09-29-2005, 09:02 AM	#11 (permalink)
Jubee This is how I look when I post. Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: St. Louis, MO Posts: 2,626 +7 Internets	Well I picked this game up the other day and so far it is pretty badass. Combat is fun and the opening video is worth a rental alone. Here's a big hint though... Only play with a gamer that is "on your level." I played ko-op with a roomate who constantly did Lui Kang's flying kick. Thats all he did. You get points to raise skills and those points come from long ass combos. It is really fuckin hard to string together anything over a 20 hit combo when you have a retard spamming flying kicks and knocking people into environmental deaths as soon as they can. That and you share a health bar, so when Johnny Casual takes 15 tries to jump over a small gap, it really takes a toll on your patience. The game may be fun with 2 hardcores or 2 casual gamers, but 1 hardcore and 1 casual just leads to the hardcore getting frusterated and yelling at the casual gamer until they are both pissed.