IGN’s review of MK:DA – do you agree?

I generally trust IGN, but I don’t agree on a couple of points – curious to know what others think. IGN review:

We are a happy office. For the first time in all of IGN's history, we can sit together in unison and say in agreement that we enjoyed the latest Mortal Kombat game. Not without its problems, particularly in terms of the unforgiving CPU aggression, Deadly Alliance is still among the best fighting games of 2002. A late night favorite for the last couple of weeks and for a few months more, Deadly Alliance is a remarkable achievement in the history of a series we wrote off long ago. Congratulations all around, and congratulations to anyone lucky enough to pick this one up! - Jeremy Dunham

Presentation
This is Mortal Kombat and you'll know it from the moment you start. A great secrets menu and superb layout earn extra points where it counts. 9.0

Graphics
We know that the characters look as they were made from plastic, but they're great nonetheless. The blood effects and particles are just as spicy, but the fatalities stink. 8.5

Sound
A great soundtrack mixed with typical fighting game grunts. What's with the whispered narrator? 8.0

Gameplay
Finally, the MK fighting system makes sense. Smooth, fluid, and full of strategy, this is the best-playing game in the series by far.
8.5

Lasting Appeal
With 667 unlockables, including hidden characters, production videos, artwork and more, Deadly Alliance has plenty of single player replay Let alone the two-player versus mode. 9.0

OVERALL SCORE (not an average) 8.6

 

Non VF thread...plz post such topics in general board next time~

 

id give it a 8.2 at most, just for entertainment comical value

 

Re: IGN’s review of MKA – do you agree?

That's a horrible review from ign. Ign has been terrible in reviews lately. They don't play fighting games as long as some of the other games they review. Like Metal Gear Solid or Zelda. So they can't really give a good review imo.

 

Re: IGN’s review of MKA – do you agree?

Do you think they are too hard on MKA or too easy? - What about the review do you find horrible?

 

Re: IGN’s review of MKA – do you agree?

haven't played it, but... I think this is a fighting game that will probably A: force you to pick one or two blatantly better characters because it makes no sense to bother with the rest and B: get boring after a few dozen matches. MK's never been about depth, and midway's never been so hot at balance. You might as well rent it, do all the fatalities etc, and return it.

Also IGN bugs me for their VF video handling, charging for stuff, often stuff with zero-skill game playing. So ign's idea of depth probably led them to give it an inflated review.
You almost gotta feel sorry for them, if your job is to play 913891 different games and churn out reviews and info, you don't have the time needed to commit to any single decent game. So we'll never know if the average ign reviewer is sorta scrubby or simply lacks the time to make a more informed decision.

disclaimer: MKA could be magically special and utterly different from all the previous games, and since my opinion comes from NOT having played it, you can probably safely ignore it.

 

Re: IGN’s review of MKA – do you agree?

Just bought it this past weekend in Orlando. Even though it's lacking in the character balance/depth department, it certainly makes for a good "party" game. I had a blast playing it this weekend with IMF/Blondeone/Jedi-Fei. Scorpion seems a bit more beefed up than most characters. I haven't unlocked all the secret characters however, so I can't comment on overall balance just yet.

<font color="yellow">Combos:</font color>
The combo system is basically a "dial-a-combo" system (float -> square, triangle, X, circle etc). Several ground combos are also guaranteed after the first hit connects. Also, projectiles are less cheesy this time around due to the new 8-way walk system. After evading a projectile you can counter with at least a 6-hit combo (guaranteed?) if your character has it. You can also perform what are called "Style Branch" combos. Every character has three fighting stances, 1 of which is a weapon stance. The "Style Branch" combo incorporates 2, sometimes all three stances into ridiculously long combos. Due to the extensive combos in this game, the damage scaling is very extreme, leading to fairly long matches. We had ours set to 90 second rounds for some marathon sessions.

<font color="yellow">Fatalities:</font color>
Everyone agrees that the fatalities suck for the most part, especially Quan-Chi's. The fact that each character only has 1 fatality is a major blunder by the programmers. Some of the fatalities don't even look that well thought out (did I mention Quan-Chi's fatality sucks?). The GOOD ones that I've seen so far are simply rehashed versions of MK1/MK2. One more thing: Where the hell are the stage fatalities? It's one thing to have only one fatality per character, but couldn't midway have put those impressive stages to good use? So many possibilities..... /versus/images/icons/mad.gif

<font color="yellow"> Graphics: </font color>
Although the characters have a sort of "plastic" look to them, the graphics are excellent. Fighting arenas are well detailed and animated. Shang Tsung's stage has several souls flying all around while you fight, and I noticed no slowdown whatsoever. Another nice effect is the electricity flowing across Raiden's body during a match. Very impressive. Also, as the fight progresses, blood remains on the ground as well as on the character's faces. The mixture of blood and guts pouring from the opponent's body during a fatality has been described before as "bloody popcorn". I agree with that.

<font color="yellow">Extras:</font color>
There's some thing called the "Krypt", which is basically a room filled with coffins containing different items. These are unlocked by earning coins obtained in arcade and konquest mode. These coffins (over 600 I think) contain hidden characters, alternate fighting oufits, hidden stages, concept art, etc. Alot of the Krypt's items are useless IMO. One secret item is a goofy picture of one of the programmers doing Tai Chi. What the fuck am I supposed to do with that? It seems like alot of this useless crap was thrown in so they'd be able to say "hey, we've got over 600 secret items".....pathetic.

<font color="yellow">Final thoughts:</font color>
Overall, it's clear that this game isn't meant to be taken seriously. It's IMO an excellent "side" game to VF if you're looking for tons of fun, mindless entertainment. Style Branch combos are awesome!!! /versus/images/icons/cool.gif

 

Re: IGN’s review of MKA – do you agree?

Your review is almost exactly the same as IGN's! /versus/images/icons/grin.gif

 

Re: IGN’s review of MKA – do you agree?

For the most part, I agree with your evaluation

I quickly realized the gimmick behind the multiple styles. The frame stats for most moves seem to all be closely tied to each other. (ie. if your oppt blocks a melee special move, at least 80% of all combo starters will connect...what kind of bullshit is that??) Is it just me, or do all the characters seem the same? For a mortal kombat game, i was expecting a lot more special moves. And for the fifth engine in the series (and for anything after 1994), it sure is disappointing to see your favorite character with 3 special moves. Most characters only have two! Where does the variety distinguish the players apart from 2 special moves and movement speed??

Ahh....the Krypt. A lot of the secrets are bogus as well. I appreciate that characters and second outfits are unlockable. but doing it through the 26x26 (that's how many coffins there are) coffins (which can range in the thousands in currency) the krypt is not only tedious, but completely random. So you could have spent 6549 jade coins to open a coffin containing 26 ruby coins, and realized only after reading gamefaqs that 3 rows and 1 column down you could have wagered the same amount to release the characters Kitana and Cyrax instead. I would not even bother with the krypt if it meant there were no onine resources and I had to resort taxing my patience on a quasi-fun game eaerning hundreds of thousands of coinsinstead

So far, I'd give Mortal Kombat an overall rating of between a 7.5 and 8. The graphics are fantastic for the most part. I actually like the character designs (although some are iffy quality), the music is decent with more than enough MK flair, and the action is always at a breakneck speed. On the other hand, it feels oddly reminiscent of the old Mortal Kombats; that can be attributed to the four main attack button layout (with 3 specials) - each button having 1 or 2 alternate attacks with a direction input, and i consider that limited compared to vf4. None of the characters I've played have 2-simultaneous button press moves. That shouldn't be acceptable in this age of fighting games.

Don't get me wrong. It's been hella fun at times, but the more I pick up the controller the more I feel the redundancy.

Am I missing something that anyone can shed light on, or hidden gameplay depth I should know about... tell me, because I really want to enjoy this game! Not too long ago, some member(Hyato i believe) showed the board that doa3 shouldn't be played like vf and its depth lies elsewhere, does it look like I'm viewing the game like mk3 but instead should think out of the box?


Or else back to Electronic Boutique MKA goes, and instead I exchange it for Metroid Prime or turn it into down payment for something else.

 

Re: IGN’s review of MKA – do you agree?

I don’t think the game has depth to the same degree as VF, but there’s a method to Midway’s madness. It’s obviously the deepest fighting system the MK series has ever had, which isn’t saying much. Being limited to 2 or 3 special moves per character is a bit of a letdown, but I seriously don’t consider that to be a huge flaw in the game. This game puts a heavy emphasis on combo strings, and that’s where all the fun lies. I enjoy the idea of multiple stances (including weapon stance), but many of them appear to be very similar in function. Note: While in weapon stance, you take more damage than you normally would…. I guess that’s the tradeoff. A few characters also have reversals, which don’t inflict damage, but can be followed up with a variety of attacks. The timing for reversals isn’t all that strict either, but it appears that only high or mid attacks (using a single limb) can be reversed. The new evade is also quite useful for setting up combos. Overall I think this game provides decent fun in VS mode, and there are enough hidden secrets/rumors to keep people interested…for a while.

 

Re: IGN’s review of MKA – do you agree?

Yeah, ultimately the most important thing is that it's fun - and so far everyone seems to feel that it is, myself included.

 

Re: IGN’s review of MKA – do you agree?

BTW, if anyone discovers any secrets or if you have a favorite fatality move, by all means - share the sequence here!