Collection essentials #557: Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance (GC)

After Mortal Kombat 4, it would be a few years before we would get another mainline entry in the series. The only games we would see for a while would be ports, spinoffs and remakes. The arcade era of Mortal Kombat was over, as arcades in general started their decline. Near the end of 2002 is when the next major entry in the series came with Deadly Alliance, with a completely new style of gameplay, and now made exclusively for home consoles.

Mortal Kombat 4 had technically been in 3D, but still mostly played out on a 2D axis and played like the games that had come before it. MK:DA is now a true full-on 3D fighter, with free movement towards any direction. The basic attacks are completely different as well. Characters of course still have “special moves” which involve cool, usually-supernatural feats like shooting a ball of fire or ice. Characters now have three different fighting styles that can be switched between with the press of a button, and these are often based on real-life martial arts. Two styles are with the character’s fists, while the third always involves some kind of weapon depending on the character you picked. The basic attacks and combos available to use depends on which fighting style is selected at the present time. 

The game does a nice job with presentation. It opens with an impressive cutscene explaining the story of the game. One of Mortal Kombat’s strengths has always been its interesting characters and world, and MK:DA does a great job building on that and reimagining all of it with the improved graphics of the new generation. Furthermore, one of the best additions is a large series of unlockables called “The Krypt”, in which players can navigate a graveyard to spend coins earned in-game. You can’t see whatever item it is you’re buying for better or worse, but there are all kinds of things available such as new playable characters, concept art, bonus videos, and more. There are a whopping 676 things to buy, so it will take a while to unlock everything.

One might criticize the lack of quality modes available. You have your basic arcade-style single-player mode where you pick a character, win a series of fights and then take on a final boss, seeing your character’s ending if successful. The only other single-player mode is “Konquest”, but that’s basically an extended tutorial with things to teach about each character in the game. You’ll need to do Konquest with every character in order to unlock everything, so that can get a little tedious. 

The audio presentation could have perhaps been better, too. Characters generally don’t speak to each other before or during battle (an exception being Scorpion’s famous “COME HERE!” and “GET OVER HERE!” for his spear throw). Most characters sound the same, too, simply borrowing the same generic male or female shouts and grunts. 

Another criticism is the lack of finishing moves to stylishly end a fight. Mortal Kombat 3 had a whole lot of them, with most characters having six, including two “fatalities” which were the original Mortal Kombat finishers. The fourth game had removed most of these and only gave characters two “fatalities.” MK:DA brings that down even further, and now each character only has one. This is somewhat understandable since making them took a whole lot more work than it did for a 2D game, but I think fans really would have at least liked the same amount of options as MK4 had.

Another strange thing I have to point out is that the game forces you to use the d-pad. The analog stick does absolutely nothing. This is pretty annoying on the GameCube in particular, as the standard controller’s d-pad is known for being a little too small.

I was a fan of Mortal Kombat as a kid, so when Deadly Alliance came out I was pretty excited. I think it may have flown under my radar during development, but I had a couple friends who got it when it was new, and I was excited to try it out. I was impressed by seeing the characters I loved now fighting with a cool new 3D coat of paint. After I finally got my GameCube in July of 2003, I made sure to seek it out and get my own copy later that year. And I played it to death! I completed the game 100%, buying every item in the Krypt and unlocking everything.

MK:DA was critically and commercially successful. And I sure loved it back then. However, I have not often gone back to it over the years. It’s nice for what it is, but I don’t find it as much fun to play as some other 3D fighters such as SoulCalibur. Back in the day due to Mortal Kombat fanboyism I convinced myself it was as good as any other 3D fighter, but the combat does not feel as fluid or rewarding as some other games. The concept of high attacks and low attacks exists in this game, but it’s not as central to the gameplay as in something like SoulCalibur, and I feel like the game could have been more fun if they leaned into that a little more.

I’ve said some critical things about MK:DA, but that’s not to say it isn’t a good game, just that I think there are better 3D fighters and better Mortal Kombat games. Is it worth trying out today if you’ve never played it? Perhaps. If you try and enjoy other Mortal Kombat games and are interested in the series’ lore and characters, you’re likely to enjoy it. It hasn’t been rereleased, but it’s pretty cheap to buy secondhand nowadays. It’s a very nostalgic title for me, and for that it deserves a spot in my collection as an essential.