It did a great job of weaving together familiar elements from those past games, repurposing notable characters and stages while digging deeper into MK’s bizarre yet extensive lore.
#Mortal kombat shaolin monks remastered series#
Choosing either Liu Kang or Kung Lao, the game had you playing through an alternate series timeline, picking up immediately after the original Mortal Kombat tournament. Shaolin Monks featured proper multi-directional combat, giving characters the kind of actions and movability you might expect to see in your typical brawler of the PS2/Xbox/GameCube era. Midway finally got it right the third time.
Both Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero and Mortal Kombat: Special Forces were blasted by critics for their lazy attempts at transplanting 2D fighting game mechanics into a bareboned action platformer. However, let’s not forget that Midway had attempted something very similar before and failed. It sounds like a novel concept though one that worked surprisingly well in Shaolin Monks. Namco did something very similar with Tekken 3’s “Tekken Force” back in 1998, creating an experimental game mode that echoed arcade favorites such as Golden Axe and Streets Of Rage. What set it apart was a shift away from the traditional 2D-style of its fighting game forebears – an action brawler that would pit you against multiple opponents, these combat encounters sandwiched between platforming sections and even the occasional puzzle. With NetherRealm’s 2011 reboot of the franchise being such a huge success, followed by Mortal Kombat X, Shaolin Monks is still looked back on fondly today, though it is remembered by relatively few. Back in 2005 – when Mortal Kombat had admittedly fallen on harder times – Shaolin Monks surfaced as a surprisingly good spin-off for the ultra-violent fighting game series.
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