Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance
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| Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance | |
| Missing image MortalKombatDeadlyAlliance_box.jpg Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance U.S. Xbox game cover | |
| Developer(s) | Midway |
| Publisher(s) | Midway |
| Release date(s) | November 20, 2002 |
| Genre | Fighting |
| Mode(s) | Single player, multiplayer |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: Mature (M) |
| Platform(s) | GameCube, PS2, Xbox, Game Boy Advance |
Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance is a video game developed and produced by Midway Games. It is chronologically the fifth in the gory, controversial fighting game series Mortal Kombat. Deadly Alliance was released for the Xbox, PlayStation 2, GameCube, and Game Boy Advance systems on November 20, 2002.
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New characters
- Bo' Rai Cho — martial arts master from Outworld. Instructed both Liu Kang and Kung Lao
- Drahmin — Netherealm demon (Oni (Japanese folklore)|Oni) - maintains self-control with a mask
- Frost — student of Sub-Zero, she shares his skill with ice
- Hsu Hao — Mavado's flunky
- Kenshi — blind warrior, renowned for his swordfighting skills
- Li Mei — Outworld fighter, attempting to rebel against the Deadly Alliance
- Mavado — leader of the Red Dragon
- Moloch — Netherealm demon (Oni), sub-boss
- Nitara — Outworld vampire - primary interest is to restore her original realm
- Blaze — an elemental warrior bound to guard the last Great Dragon egg (secret character)
MK:DA has a hidden joke character: Mokap, a stunt man who provides martial arts action to Johnny Cage's movies. MK:DA also has a hidden serious character, the aforementioned Blaze, the primary difference being a serious (if fantastical) background story.
Returning characters
- Cyrax- Sub Zero's former assassin who works for the Outworld Investigation Agency and is stranded in Outworld. Also agrees to help Nitara gain an Orb in exchange for his return to Earth.
- Jax- An agry member of the Outworld Investigation Agency who seeks to kill Hsu Hao
- Johnny Cage- Hollywood Actor who returns to aid his friends and Raiden in the struggle to save Earthrealm from The Deadly Alliance
- Kano- A Mercenary who pledges his loyalty to Shang Tsung and Quan Chi
- Kitana- The Princess of Edenia who looks to destroy Shao Khan and his forces
- Kung Lao- An enraged member of the White Lotus Society who seeks the destrction of Shang Tsung for murdering Liu Kang
- Quan Chi- The powerul sorceror who looks to gain military power once the Dragon Kings'undefeatable army is ressurrected
- Rayden- The thunder god who has relinquished his status as an Elder God to help his champions in the war against the Deadly Alliance
- Reptile- The horrid reptilian creature that looks for a new master (mostly in Nitara)
- Scorpion- The Hell spawned spectre who seeks the destruction of Quan Chi for murdering his family
- Shang Tsung- The powerful sorceror who seeks eternal life. Through his alliance with Quan Chi is he able to accomoplish this
- Sonya Blade- The leader of The Outworld Investigation who enters Outworld in search for missing agents Kenshi and Cyrax.
- Sub-Zero- The legendary ice warrior who has not only reformed the Lin Kuei clan as a clan of good, but also is the Grandmaster of the Lin Kuei and the wearer of the legendary Dragon Medallion
New to the series
- MK:DA's character models are vastly improved over those of Mortal Kombat 4.
- MK:DA's characters have two unarmed martial arts styles and one weapon-based style, which they can switch between with the push of a button.
- MK:DA has a "Krypt," where the player can purchase things like outfits, hidden characters, and neat extras with Koins earned in regular play and in Konquest Mode.
- MK:DA introduces a "Konquest Mode," which expands on the storyline and acts as a tutorial for each character.
- MK:DA was never released in arcades, and instead went straight to consoles.
Gameplay
- This game drops running entirely, as well as the associated "run meter".
- Characters now each have multiple fighting styles - with the exception of Blaze and Mokap, all are different. In previous games, aside from "dial-a-combos" all the characters fought virutally identically, with only special moves to differentiate them.
- Overall, the number of special moves per character (usable in any fighting style) has been drastically reduced, varying only from two to four for most.
- While still limited to only moving into the background and foreground, movement in the third dimension is much easier and can be used continuously (in Mortal Kombat 4, one sidestep could be performed at a rate of about one a second).
- Like Mortal Kombat 4, invisible boundaries restrict fighting to the current arena. However, in MK:DA, they appear as temporary walls that fighters can be slammed up against for extra damage.
- Environmental interaction is present, but infrequent. Several levels include obstacles - such as pillars or statues - that can be shattered to damage an opponent standing behind one, and one level (the Acid Bath) does damage directly to fighters that stray too close to special acid-vomiting statues.
Storyline
While fleeing from Scorpion in the pits of the Netherealm, Quan Chi discovers an ancient tomb which contains the remains of the mummified bodies of the army of the Dragon King, the first emperor of Outworld (and the inspiration for the MK Dragon symbol). Learning that the army is invincible and undefeated while ressurected, he realises that he must find a way to implant warrior souls to fully ressurect the army. Therefore, he proposes a deadly alliance with the evil Shang Tsung where his part of the deal will be immortality if he agrees to help him in his quest. Shang Tsung accepts the deal and the Deadly Alliance is born. However before they could begin a total domination of the realms, the two sorcerors decide to destroy the only two beings that could prevent their total domination of the relams. The first was the Emperor of Outworld- Shao Khan, in which he was murdered by the two after when the two sorcerors showed a false show of alleigence. They then travelled to Earthrealm by means of a powerful mystic portal known only to socerors and deties where they challenged the undisputed and reigning champion of Mortal Kombat- Liu Kang. While Shang Tsung was clearly losing the battle, Quan Chi's interference assisted in Shang Tsung gaining the upper hand. Because of this, Shang Tsung accomplished a goal that he had set out since his defeat at the hands of Liu Kang in Mortal Kombat...
Liu Kang is dead.
After consuming his soul, they returned to outworld where the souls of defeated warriors are used to ressurect the army of the Dragon King. Should they succeed, they will be fully unstoppable. Meanwhile in Eartrealm, another alliance is being formed- Raiden and earthrealm's greatest warriors have reunited to kombat this new evil alliance...or die trying.
Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance follows Mortal Kombat Gold and comes before Mortal Kombat: Deception.
Trivia
Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance was once expected to make it's arcade debut back in 2000, but for a variety of reasons, it never showed up. Midway then decided to make Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance a direct to home game.
Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance is the first Mortal Kombat fighting game to be released in 5 years (Mortal Kombat 4 was released in arcades in 1997). Mortal Kombat Gold did come out in 1999, but it was simply an updated version of Mortal Kombat 4 for Sega's Dreamcast.
External links
- Midway's Web Page for Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance (http://www.midway.com/cgi-bin/gx.cgi/AppLogic+FTContentServer?pagename=FutureTense/Apps/Xcelerate/Midway/RSK_Game&gameid=ZZZT5F8XIYC)