Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks for PlayStation 2

Shaolin Monks is the third attempt from the Mortal Kombat team for an action/adventure game and in my opinion they finally got it right. The Sub Zero mythology game was awkward, cheesy and not very fun to play, while the special forces game never interested me enough to play it. This game is the closing moments of part one and continuing through all the way to the end of two. It follows the white lotus society's best fighters, Kung Lao and Lui Kang, as they fight their way to protecting earth from Shao Khans invasion. The game play is faster, smoother, easier to maneuver and a lot more entertaining. With impressive combos, special attacks and brutal fatalities, multalities (the killing of numerous opponents at once) and brutalities, conquering the many levels of this game stays pretty fresh. The story of Mortal Kombat is finally a little more clear through this game. You see each fighters contribution to the story and learn how the game went from a honorable tournament to an all out war. You work to unlock combos, fatalities and special moves as you fight through several different stages which are impressively designed including the netherrealm, outworld, edenia and earth. If that wasn't enough the guys at Midway even throw in a versus mode where you can use any one of the eight or nine fighters, that come with several fatalities and special moves. The graphics are mind blowing, the game is brutal and exciting and the story is very intriguing; on the negative though, this game is usually just good the first time around after that it's pretty much been done and the versus is nowhere near as good as the regular MK games. All in all it's one great adventure game.