So I decided to go pick it up when it came out, and I'm quite glad I did. Deadly Alliance is definitely a game you need in your collection if you are an old school MK fan, like mwah.
First thing I noticed were the beautiful textures on EVERYTHING. My hat is off to the textures department at Midway. The fighting arenas have made a huge leap from earlier MKs. Scorpion's arena for example. All around the arena, there are these giant ogre type things, constantly banging on drums, kind of weird if you think about it. Johnny Cage's arena is stunning too. You fight him at the portal entrance, surrounded by ocean and sky. Quan Chi's arena wowed me the most. In the background, there are some waterfalls, and they look amazing. They actually look like real water, and, if you've ever played a game that has a waterfall in it, you know they don't always look authentic. One thing I like a lot, was the blood. The blood stays on the ground throughout all the matches. I've wanted that in a MK game since I was 10. The finishing moves are also as grizzly as ever. I don't want to give anything away on those. You have to play it for yourself.
Note* you won't fight these characters (except Quan Chi on the levels specified)
Not only do the arenas look great, but the models are done without a hitch. If you've taken some damage by the end of the match, but you still will. You can actually see damange done to your player's face. The models are just excellent. Each different character has three different fighting styles, and when you switch from one to another, your character will change stance. What I liked the most, was how the blood actually ran off the body. At times you can see blood traveling down your's, or your opponents body. Then is splashes onto the floor.
The sounds of Deadly Alliance are very well done too. Each different arena has their own unique sound and music. Every character has a unique set of grunts, shouts and taunts. The combat sounds are what I expected, and tied in with the screams of the opponet, it makes it that much better The new controls is what makes Deadly Alliance so good. Each character has three unique fighting styles. No two characters have the same style. So the moves are different for everyone. They have two martial arts fighting styles, and a style that includes a weapon. There is so much diversity among every character's moves, that no button combo will give you the same results with any other character (except the classic 'down, forward, or down, back moves). Mastering one character doesn't come easy, mainly because their attack library is huge for each style. A definite plus for the MK series.
Deadly Alliance comes packed to the edge of the DVD-ROM with modes, and extras.
You got the classic arcade mode, where you fight through the opponents until you've beat them all, in turn you unlock your character's ending. The final three bosses can get frustrating. I was ready to throw my controller through my TV screen, but I realized that would set me back a couple hundred bucks.
There's a new mode added to the MK series called Konquest. In Konquest you select a character, and you begin a small conquest of 10 missions, and each mission will teach you how to use the character's styles. This is a very nice addition. Since there is three fighting styles per character, Konquest helps you understand each character, and their style. I've been concentrating on the Konquest mode so far. I've got 52 out of 248 missions done. It is a very helpful mode.
There's a practice mode, that lets you just whail away on any character. This can also be helpful for honing your combos, and other techniques.
Deadly Alliance uses new Player Profiles. Player Profiles keep track of your game statistics. When you begin the game, you can make one if you like, and then create a code using the buttons on the Dual Shock 2 to log into your profile, which you can name whatever you like (mine is J Pots, fitting, I think so). Once you're logged in, it will keep track of your wins, losses, win ratio, konquest, your globes, and your amount of money. I think Player Profiles is a neat little add on, because I like things like that. Things that will keep track of everything you've done, just so you can go back and look at it later as a little fun fact.
Now, onto the Extras.
First we have The Krypt. In The Krypt, there is a grid of coffins, 26 coffins long, 26 coffins high, totalling to 676 coffins. You can open up each coffin if you have the right amount of the coin specified. Say one coffin will ask for 3,000 of the green coin (there is obviously something of high-value in there, like a new character, or a new level to unlock). And if you have enough, you can open it and retrieve your prize. While another coffin may ask for only 26 red coins (probably a character sketch in that one). With 676 coffins at your disposal, each containing anything from a sketch, to a movie, to a new arena, to a new character, you could be at it for a while until you open each coffin.
The Kontent section is where you can view all the extras. Deadly Alliance comes with a MK History video, which goes over MK throughout the years since MK1 debuted in 1992. It's got a movie about the making of Deadly Alliance, and Adema's music video for "Immortal". It's also the section that you go to, to view what you win in The Krypt. After you've been at it for a while, and bought a ton of features from The Krypt. You could be hours just watching, and looking at all the characters and galleries you unlock.
I recommend Deadly Alliance to anyone who was in love with MK 1, or 2. It's already made a nice addition to my library.