Mortal Kombat : Deadly Alliance  (for PS2)

Mortal Kombat the curse of spelling pedants and easily offended parents everywhere has returned (again)--and this time its making a proper effort to reclaim its crown as king of the beat-em-ups. Just like movies and music there are some games that just seem to be a product of their time appearing ridiculous when dragged kicking and screaming into the present day. Mortal Kombat suffered just such a fate when it was given one sequel too many and people realised that badly digitised 2-D characters in a dumbed-down version of Street Fighter II wasnt quite in keeping with the zeitgeist.

Sensibly instead of trying to do just the same old thing with better graphics Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance brings that most unexpected of presents to the beat-em-up party: a new idea. Specifically it gives you the ability to switch at the press of a shoulder button between one of three different fighting styles for each character. This works tremendously well allowing you to change from ranged to close-up to weapons attacks for example with ease. The ability to see physical damage appear on your opponent during the course of a match is also a nice touch but thankfully they havent thrown the baby out with the bathwater and all the old Mortal Kombat extras are still here: theres a ton of spilt claret if you so much as touch the other player and a range of spine-ripping fatalities and brutalities to show off with at the end of a bout. Admittedly the graphics still arent all that great but they do the job and quite frankly anything that manages to make Mortal Kombat fresh and exciting again is doing very well indeed.

Product Features< b>

Returning and new characters with full 3D movement< li>Completely redesigned multiple-move-set fighting system< li>Selectively change move-sets during a match< li>Each character has several special attacks to utilise during battles< li>Brutal Fatalities with gruesome and bloody detail< li>Over 20 interactive environments< li>Multiple play modes< li>Bonus DVD including making-of and history features and Adema video< li>For 1-2 players< li>< ul>