Surprisingly, MK: DA is a fairly solid game. Coming from a fighting game fan, and one of the many people that feel the series got shallow after 2, I can tell you that Deadly Alliance is a fresh start to an otherwise hokey franchise. No more are we subjected to Friendships, Babalities, Animalities, Brutalities, or any other form of half-witted finishing technique. This game brings it back to the old school, with new school touches - each character has a set of specials, and one fatality each. The scope of fatalities ranges from simply awesome (Kung Lao) to utterly ridiculous (Quan Chi).

With the change to the old, there's a fresh new face on the engine. Unlike MK4, which had a really screwed-up weapons system and pseudo-3D environment, MK: DA is in true 3D and has a much better weapons system. You have your choice of three fighting styles (two unarmed, one armed) for each character, and each characters styles are different. They have their pros and cons, and most are pretty well rounded for battle. The rest of the controls are pretty standard for a 3D fighter as well. The quarter circle motions have been replaced with direction taps, although for most moves that require you to do D, F+[attack] you can roll the pad. Button designation is more akin to Tekken now, with high and low attacks being totally eradicated in favor of numbering the attack buttons. Returning though, is a really rigid and unflexible dial-a-combo system. You can do some improvising, but at heart it's the same ol' static sequence of button pressing made famous by Rare's Killer Instinct.

Sound is really good in this game, too. All the moans, groans, grunts and screams fare very well. The music is fairly standard: it's got a rock/techno-ish vibe to it that you've heard in countless other games. Nothing to ogle over. What perplexes me the most, though, is why you find no trace whatsoever of rock band Adema's song recorded exclusively for the game - Immortal - in the actual game itself.

Speaking of that, let's talk about the extras now. Holy snot, there's 676 koffins to unlock in the "Krypt", a special section in the game where the secrets are held. You earn money (Kurrency) by going through various modes like Arcade, Vs. (you can bet on matches by hitting R2), and Konquest (a hybrid training/story mode). This does get tedious, trust me. Koffins range in price from 5 coins to 6000 coins, with obviously the more expensive being the better rewarding. You can unlock everything from box art to fan art (one member of TNL actually has his featured) to hidden characters to comic book art to arenas to various videos and more. While the Krypt can be satisfying, it can also be extremely irritating. You don't know the rage I felt when I spent 1500 coins from the 2300 red I had to open a piece of the comic book art up. Or that koffin that was empty that I bought for 1800. There's also 3 freebies you get. "The Making of MK" - a short 20- 25-minute documentary on one day in the process of making Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance, "The History of MK" - a 15- or 20-minute voyage into the history behind MK and it's success, and finally Adema's video for the song Immortal, the song featured in all the teasers and on the television advertisements.

All in all, Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance is probably the best game to come out in the series since MK2. It is a good, wholesome fighter too - despite a rigid combo system and lack of fatalities. While more character fatalities and stage fatalities (face it people, they aren't in the game) would have made for a more filling experience, we can live with what we get. And what we got was a pleasant surprise, considering many people totally lost faith when 4 came out.

. . . cka