It's a game that any Mortal Kombat fan can appreciate and will probably really enjoy.
The game takes place right after the first Mortal Kombat tournament takes place. In fact, the into movie is the final battle in Mortal Kombat tournament. And though it may not mean much, but the intro movie is actually really impressive and entertaining. It's a FMV sequence, and though there have been better looking FMV sequences (like the ones found in the Tekken games) it still looks great.
Anyway back onto the game, after Liu Kang defeats Shang Tsung, Tsung opens a portal into outworld, and Liu Kang and Kung Lao fall into Goro's lair. The first part of the game begins with Raiden teaching you the basic commands. Also throughout the game Raiden will give you tips about things and what you have to do and so forth. The games controls have been simplified significantly. This works both positively and negatively. Overall the game controls pretty well, but at the same time, there isn't really much depth to it. Sure you can perform 80 hit combos, but other than that, it's pretty much a button basher game. Essentially there are 3 basic kombat commands, quick, powerful and launch. The quick attacks are the standard attacks, power attacks are obviously more powerful than quick attacks and a bit more powerful than launch attacks, and they can sometimes knock your opponent a fair distance away. Launch attacks launch your opponent into the air, and there more powerful than quick attacks as well. Launch attacks are mainly used for juggles, which makes them probably the most useful attack type.
Mortal Kombat wouldn't be what it is without the fatalities. But this time, theres also Mutalities and brutalities. You can use a fatality to kill one of the normal enemy's you face, but also at the end of some boss battles you'll need to perform a fatality to kill them. Mutalities can kill multiple enemy's at once, which can be really useful. Performing a brutality just means you'll get power boost for a short period of time. While all of this (besides maybe the brutalities) sounds good, but some of the mutalities and fatalities (especially the fatalities) can look really chesse and just downright stupid.
One thing that i was impressed with in this game, was some of the puzzles. While some of the things i'm talking about may not be referred to as a puzzle, it's the things that will make you think. I don't want to spoil them for you, so i'll only tell you one example. In one of the rooms in the tower you'll be going up you'll have to uppercut an opponent into some spikes, then jump on him to get up onto a ledge. Theres a lot of clever stuff like that in this game, and though sometimes puzzles in games like this can hold the game back, these puzzle fit in well with the action.
Mortal Kombat Shaolin Monks also features a tonne of fan service, most of which only Mortal Kombat fans can appreciate. You've probably heard this a dozen times, but one of the fan services in the game are the living tree's in the living forest level. You may of heard about the rumor in one of the classic Mortal Kombat levels, where you could supposedly knock your opponent into one of the tree's in the background. That rumor ended up being fake, but in Shaolin Monks, one of the puzzles requires you to knock your opponent into one of the living tree's. There's also some pretty good extras in the game. Such as Mortal Kombat II, and some other unlockable players.
One of the dissapointing things about the story mode is that you can't switch between Liu Kang or Kung Lao at anytime. So onece you've chosen your character at the start, your stuck with him. Though the only real difference between the characters is there move sets (and of coarse there appearance), it's still a shame you can't swap, though in Ko-Op mode you can just simply swap controllers.
The boss battles in Mortal Kombat Shaolin Monks are iffy overall. Some of them are really good while some of them are too easy, or too frustrating. The boss battle where you fight Jade, Melina and Kitana is definitely ranks up there with some of the boss battles from God Of War, Devil May Cry 3 and The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction (weren't expecting that, were you?). But some of the battles like the Baraka boss battle can be really frustrating. Putting a "test your might" mini game in a boss battle isn't excatly the brightest idea Midway have come up with.
For the most part, the graphics are decent in Shaolin Monks, and the FMV sequences do look pretty good. The frame rate also holds up nicely, but you will see omse occasional problems, but that's only when things are going crazy, which isn't very often. The character models look impressive, especcially the outfits, but i was dissapointed with the facial models, especially Lui Kang's, which don't look really look that great, or resemble the character very well either.
The voice work in Shaolin Monks is definitely the highlight of the audio. Raiden's voice work impressed me the most, because it captures the way you would expect a thunder god to sound accurately. Mortal Kombat fans will also recognize Lui Kang's screaming when he attacks from the classic Mortal Kombat games, because he sounds almost identical to what he used to sould like in the old days. If you've got a friend or a brother/sister to play Ko-Op mode with, you'll have a blast with Mortal Kombat Shaolin Monks. The game is definitely at it's best when your playing in Ko-Op mode. There are a lot of unlockables, even a boss battle or two that are exclusive to Ko-Op mode.
Mortal Kombat Shaolin Monks may not be the greatest installment in the series (it's far from it) but it's still a must own for Mortal Kombat fans, and generally any action adventure fam would do well to atleast give it a rental. Shaolin Monks just like almost every games, has it's share of problems (such as being really frustrating at times), but it's still the best action adventure Mortal Kombat game ever created.