Collection essentials #586: Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks

Mortal Kombat had previously tried a couple times to deliver action spinoff games capitalizing on the series’ colorful characters and lore. The results were, unfortunately, not so great. While Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero did make my essentials list, it’s not an especially good game, just one that I have some fondness for as a fan of the series.


After that came Mortal Kombat: Special Forces, which was even worse, and you’d be hard-pressed to find even a series die-hard who really likes it. The premise of an action Mortal Kombat spinoff was just too good to put to rest though, and they decided to give it a third attempt in the following console generation. Enter Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks.


This game places you in the shoes of either Liu Kang, Kung Lao, or both if you’re bringing a friend along for cooperative play. The story of the game follows the events of Mortal Kombat II. This is a neat idea, because stories in fighting games are not told like a typical story with a linear series of events. You often have to piece together what happened with things like that game’s intro cutscene, character bio screens and character endings. So this game takes the tidbits that we were fed in Mortal Kombat II and builds an actual proper start-to-finish story with them, filling in the necessary gaps.


Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero tried to maintain as much of the gameplay of regular 2D-fighter Mortal Kombat intact as possible while shoehorning it into a platformer, and it generally didn’t work too well. Shaolin Monks doesn’t do that, and builds a gameplay engine from scratch as a 3D action game. There are still elements from the Mortal Kombat games thrown in, most notable special moves, such as Liu Kang’s ability to shoot fireballs or perform a flying kick. Players gain experience points in story mode that they can use to gradually power up their characters. Characters can perform “fatalities” as well, but they work differently than in the mainline fighting games. Rather than being a flashy finish, they actually have a practical purpose, as a meter builds up that will eventually allow players to use one to automatically kill an enemy.


A strength of the game are the graphics and level design. The various locales from the first couple Mortal Kombat games are effectively reimagined here in a new and cool way, and it’s great to see. There are also a variety of hazards laying around that the player can use to their advantage because enemies are susceptible to them.


As you’d expected, various other characters from the series appear in this game, sometimes as enemies. But it turns out that there are more playable characters than just the two on the game’s front cover. It’s possible to unlock series icons Scorpion and Sub-Zero for use in story mode, adding to the game’s replay value. The game also has a multiplayer “versus mode”, and a few additional characters can be unlocked for play in that mode.


I’ve already talked plenty in this blog about how I was a fan of Mortal Kombat back in the day, and went through a period where I was especially into it in 2004. This game arrived just a little after that, though. I was still interested in it, and I remember renting it once, but I didn’t finish it back then. I acquired it later down the road, and then it was New Year’s Day of 2021 that I finally sat down and played through the entire thing (yes, in one day, it’s a fairly short game). Unfortunately I did so by myself, and I think the game would have been a lot more fun with a friend. As a single-player experience, it’s okay but the gameplay is not exceptional.


It’s a little unfortunate that MK:SM wasn’t out yet during the time when I would have enjoyed it the most, and that I’ve never gotten to play it cooperatively with a fellow fan of the series. If you’re a fan of the series, it’s definitely worth a look, particularly if you have someone to play with. Unfortunately it hasn’t been rereleased as of now, so you’ll have to find a way to play the original PS2 or Xbox versions. As an old school Mortal Kombat fan, it’s obvious that an actually competently-made spinoff game belongs in my kollection.

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