Cheap PS2 Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks (Video Games) (PlayStation2) Price

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Customer Reviews of PS2 Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks

SHAOLIN DISCIPLES
Mortal Kombat, next to Street Fighter, is my all time favorite fighting series and has been since Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis. Already with a slew of games in a decade long catalog, it's about time they focus on two of the most important fighters in the entire series. In the spirit of "Mythologies", "Shaolin Monks" offers background stories on Liu Kang and Kung Lao after the first Mortal Kombat. The graphics are a little dusty but the brand-new fighting system more than makes up for it. You don't even need to pick up the manual to drop all sorts of ass-kicking on Oni-demons, dark wizards, and Shang Tsung's guards. On top of that, the fatalities are more raw than ever, with each person getting 5 to choose from. Don't worry though, if you get sick of the shaolin disciples, you can choose between Scorpion, Subzero, and Baraka as well. Instead of adding new characters and making ish complicated, "Shaolin Monks" chooses to pay tribute to the classic characters that made us love MK from the jump.For the dedicated MK fan, it's a brand new system of fighting, but with a nostalgic touch.

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Mortal Kombat 1 1/2
This is an excellent game. I like how they were able to go back and create a purpose for each character and kombat zone, i.e. the Shadow Priests that guard the portals, the eyes in Goro's Lair were Oni, Sub Zero's younger brother got his scar from Kung Lao's hat. I loved throwing opponents into the trees in the Living Forest. The bonus features are also great. For the next MK spinoff, might I suggest MK: Elder Gods, starring Raiden, Shinnok, and Fujin?

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The best MK spin off game to date
Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks is hands down the best "Mythologies" title in the MK Universe. After having two rather poor spin offs (Sub-Zero and MK: Special Forces), it seemed as if MK could only do well in it's core series... until now. <
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>MK: Shaolin Monks is a re-telling of Mortal Kombat 2, through the eyes of Kung Lao and Liu Kang. The game starts at the end of MK 1 and runs all the way up to the climatic finish where you battle the great Shao Kahn. Along the way you will utilize the game's somewhat unique combat engine, which is basically a hybrid of a platformer like Devil May Cry and the MK "Kombat" engine. What is so great about it though is that it is not stiff like the "Kombat" engine, and allows pretty much free movement. You still have "kombos" and special moves, but they are all easy to execute and chain together, giving even a novice player an easy chance to get in the game and start kicking butt. You also have the ability to pull off fatalities on just about every enemy (even bosses, when you beat them!) <
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>The game also features an "RPG" like experience point system, which you can manipulate heavily depending on how good you get at killing enemies and keeping your combos going without getting knocked down. As long as you keep hitting enemies and killing them, your combo will increase. With each kill or 10 hits, you receive a multiplier point. After your combo ends, the points you earned depending on a number of factors, including your combo and kills, are multiplied. You then receive experience points based on that multiplication. The experience points then can be used to purchase new moves and combos in the status screen. The only downside to this though is the fact that the game has only so many combos and moves to purchase. You will easily have purchased every move available well before the game is over (for me, it was half way before the game was complete!) <
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>The graphics for MK: Shaolin Monks are kind of bad in places (especially in the cinematic cut scenes - everyone pretty much has the same face!) The in-game graphics are good though for the most part, although they seem gritty and un-finished in places. The dynamic lighting and the blood makes up for it though... if you like your violence red. <
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>Sound-wise, MK: Shaolin Monks is like any other MK game. The soundtrack is not at all that impressive, but it fits the atmosphere of the game, especially in the areas that are straight out of MK 2. The only qualms with the game's sound are probably with it's voice acting... but we'll get into that further in a bit. <
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>The story telling of MK:Shaolin Monks is another hamper on the game. While the game features some great MK action and appearances from just about everyone's favorite characters, the way they appear (or die) is somewhat non-sensual at times. Also, with the way certain things happen in the game, you will be left with your head scratching, wondering if you recall things being that way in MKII's story. To top it off, the game has some really BAD voice acting (best example is Shao Kahn... instead of using the MK announcer voice, they used some other random voice.) <
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>Despite the shoddy voice acting and rather butchered storyline, MK:Shaolin Monks is still the best MK spin-off game to date. It features a combat engine that is arguably better than the regular MK fighting engine, and it gives the gamer more things to do (tons of stage kills and environmental manipulations.) You also have a couple secret characters to unlock, as well as plenty of extra "kontent" to find along the way (including a hidden port of the arcade version of Mortal Kombat II!) MK: Shoalin Monks is highly recommended for any MK fan or just about any action/platformer fan.