News Archive - February 2005

Game Informer: First off, will I be able to fire up Shaolin Monks and go online and play cooperatively with someone else?

Ed Boon: No, so far there isn't a plan for this game to go online yet, but for future games it may be a consideration.

Shaun Himmerick: We looked at online and the things that we would have to cut back on, and what we found were some things that we didn't really want to do gameplay wise. And, it would have been too expensive. We really want to maximize gameplay and that's the decision that we ended up making: no online.

GI: How many playable characters have you settled on so far?

SH: More than two! There isn't a final number yet. We could fit in a ton of playable characters if we were willing to sacrifice differentiation. If one character fights the exact same way as all the others, heck, we could have everyone be playable. But, we don't want to do that. We really want to make each character feel and play differently. Right now Liu Kang and Kung Lao feel and play completely different from each other. So there may be as few as three and the most there would probably be is six.

For now, let us start with MK: Shaolin Monks. The intro is just amazing. Every single character from the first Mortal Kombat game can be seen battling each other in just utter chaos. They also cut to a shot of the Tarkatan hordes charging into the throne room of Shang Tsung, only to have one dispatched fairly quickly by Kung Lao's razor-sharp hat. Shang Tsung's guards from MK1 are also seen, and they are given a beating by Shang himself after being knocked into him by Liu Kang! Kung Lao's presence seems to indicate a major retcon to MK continuity, as the Mortal Kombat II comic by John Tobias establishes that Kung Lao was not present at the Mortal Kombat tournament.

As always, old school fans will have every incentive to play this game, as you can now see what's around stages that will be very familiar, such as The Pit, The Tower, Goro's Lair, The Portal, and The Living Forest. MKSM will also continue the MK tradition of turning rumors into reality - you can now knock your enemies into the mouths of the trees in the Living Forest. In fact, Shaun Himmerick assured that not only would every stage from MKII be included in MKSM, he also assured that each of these stages would have at least one secret unlockable within them.

The gameplay starts out very simply - in a one player game, you can choose to play as either Liu Kang or Kung Lao. You can also choose a 2-player cooperative mode. You begin with your classic moves from the MK fighting game. As you progress in the game, you can get your moves "upgraded" - eg, Kung Lao's Hat can strike multiple opponents, or whizz around the entire room. He never loses the ability to do the plain old Hat Throw, however; it's just that more options become available to the player as the game moves on.

The graphics seem much improved since the early screenshots we saw when the game was first announced. This could be a combination of the fact that the in-game models have been worked on some more, and that since we are now seeing the game in motion we can appreciate its fluidity.

Fling the joystick, press the power button off, and pull the dust-cover back over the mega drive, you can soon get your "Mortal Kombat" fix at theatres. Again.

After many a mixed-bag of rumours, Moviehole can confirm that filming on the third film, title "Mortal Kombat : Devastation", will begin in May.

Essentially skipping over the events of the second film, "Devastation" reunites the cast of the original
- Christopher Lambert as Rayden, Linden Ashby as Johnny Cage, Robin Shou as Liu Kang, Chris Casamassa as Scorpion with Talisa Soto and Sandra Hess in talks to reprise their roles as Kitana and Sonya Blade, respectively
- with the remaining parts being cast as we speak.

The film is being developed by Mink ["Into the Sun"] and Threshold Entertainment. The Asst.Producer is Neil James.