The Earth Realm is now about to face great peril, now that Quan Chi and Shang Tsung have formed an alliance. Raiden has given up his status as elder god to return to help his warriors win against the new threat. Quan Chi and Shang Tsung are using the souls of dead warriors to resurrect the lost army of the dragon kings. Lui Chang has already fallen victim to their assault and now rests in the nether realm. Do you have what it takes to stop this deadly alliance?

Gameplay

Deadly Alliance has 2 main areas which allow you to test your skills to max, Conquest and Arcade mode. Arcade mode pits you up against every character unlocked at that given time, each proceeding character getting harder as the game progresses. Conquest mode has you test your button mashing skills as you try to master every known combination for each of the available characters as you try to reach the end of your adventure. As you work your way through the game you will collect 1 of 6 types of coins for each task no matter the case.

The coins are one of the more appealing aspects of Deadly Alliance since they allow you unlock videos, concept art, costumes and even hidden characters hidden throughout the many coffins located in the Krypt. There are 676 coffins total each marked with a 2 letter alphabetical combination, some being empty, of course, just to tick you off.

The gameplay is a well polished area which is an understatement seeing as this isn't the first Mortal Kombat off the shelf. Each character fights with 3 different fighting styles unique to that character and of those 3 styles is a weapon. The weapons come in handy for the most part, some of which can be used to stab into your opponents body making them slowly bleed to death.

If you really want to enjoy yourself invite a friend (or shall I say enemy over) and knock him about in versus mode. See how many times you can stab your daggers or long sword into their stomach and thighs before they flip out or see how many combos you can pull off before they toss the controller at you. Now that's how fighting games should be played, although I am not saying start a fight club when you can do all the fighting in game.

Graphics

Gore doesn't come in short supply when your dealing with the Mortal Kombat team and Deadly Alliance is no exception with gruesome fatalities to quarts of blood pumping out of the characters as shot upon shot are forcefully aimed at areas of the body and objects of all sorts are jabbed into the enemies' body.

The graphics department over at Midway are some sadistic people showing you in its full glory the fatalities which can range from ripping out body parts to completely dismembering your opponent after you have already ripped apart there body leaving the level floor slick from blood knocked out of every orifice you can imagine.

Outside the fighting the graphics aren't that appealing, but still have their perks, such areas include the krypt which is lined with coffins as far as the eye can see all sporting hefty price tags and items of unknown nature inside them, ranging from collector comics to exclusive videos.

Sound

The strong silent types, how fitting. Most of the characters don't really speak in the game, sure they grunt and groan when throwing or receiving a punch, but the taunts are rather slim pickings. Don't get me wrong they sound good and give you that extra incentive to beat the opponent to see how much agony you can cause your foe, but when you're getting into it and you want to annoy a buddy as you play head to head, taunts are definitely the icing on the cake.

The background music and sound gives off the feel of a fight about go down in china town if you know what I mean. They have peculiar instruments being played as you traverse from fight to fight and the traveler moves from arena to arena in Conquest mode. The krypt is the best area for noises as it is filled with dreadful music and torturous screams that echo about the room.

Overall

Even though I'm not the biggest fan when it comes to Fighting games, Mortal Kombat has always clenched its fist around my spine through the pit of my stomach. The fighting doesn't usually change all that much throughout each game in the series, but the extras and bonus areas add quite the treat.