The Mortal Kombat series has had a tough road to hoe in recent years. The pinnacle of the MK titles was easily the second one, and the subsequent games made the water murky by adding way too many dial-a-combos, run buttons, an ill-advised 3-D version... for a while it looked like the most successful American-developed fighter in history was dead and buried for good. Then Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance showed up on the radar, with Midway looking to resurrect the once fabled series to prominence once more. Well, with an all-new fighting system not initially developed for arcade use, Midway has used the Renderware platform to create its best MK fighter since MK II.

Deadly Alliance's storyline is just as convoluted as previous MKs. Shang Tsung joins forces with another Sorcerer named Quan Chi, who proceed to wreak havoc. Enter the various fighters who each have their specific beef, make the introductions and proceed to throw down. New fighters are introduced, while some didn't make the Kut - where the hell is Baraka, Midway? Anyways, this particular MK has more than your typical Arcade mode, however. In an effort to extend the life of the product, DA has introduced the Koncept of Kurrency - by going through the Arcade Mode or Konquest mode (more on that in a minute), you earn Kurrency of six different types: Sapphire, Onyx, Jade, Ruby, Gold and Platinum. Some are more rare than others, but all are used to purchase secrets in the Krypt - cool stuff ranging from funny movies, hidden characters, extra costumes, additional Kurrency, developmental sketches and the like. There are 676 different Koffins to unlock and you'll be hard pressed to get them all without using a memory card/HD cheat which I won't go into here. Konquest mode is awesome - a monk avatar, representing your fighter, moves across a desolate landscape, making various stops along the way. At each stop, training for that character begins. It's more than the typical "tap right + right punch" training mode found in most games, thankfully. Midway has included a great deal of each character's backstory in the training and it fleshes out their personalities nicely.

One of the first set of things that stand out in MK: DA are the vibrant use of colour and ultra-sharp graphics. The front end is imaginatively designed, with fire and dark menace apparent for all to see from the get go. Arenas are varied in structure, with destructible points and certain areas that can do damage to either fighter if careful attention is not paid. Weather effects, night and day matches, animated bystanders and stages - all contribute to providing an excellent backdrop for the fighting action. This attention to detail extends to the fighters themselves as well. Fighters cut and bruise their bodies during battle, showing the effects of the fight. With the addition of weaponry to the fighting styles available, some characters can stab their opponent with a weapon, leaving it buried in the flesh to drip blood and drain energy for the remainder of the round. Nice touch. The character design is intriguing for the most part. Sub-Zero never looked so good, with dry ice rising from his hands and a cold, steely glare in his eyes. Some characters do exhibit mannequin-like qualities, especially the female ones however. More Real Doll than real life, unfortunately. The design overall ranges from the ultra-cool (Scorpion, Quan Chi), the deriative (Frost), the merely pedestrian (Lin Mei - girl in a purple dress, whoo), to the absolutely ridiculous (Hsu Hao looks like he should be auditioning for a Chippendales version of the Village People). Full marks for including a few characters that don't always have to rely on stereotypical racial gimmicks to get over - no Dennis Rodman or pimp characters here - although saddling a black cyber-ninja with a fighting style called "Sambo" is a little beyond the pale, so to speak.

Speaking of fighting styles, this is the main change between Deadly Alliance and previous MKs - hell, it's the difference between DA and pretty well every other fighter available. Each fighter is equipped with two different fighting disciplines and one weapon stance, allowing for shifting between styles during the match. Animations for these fighting styles range from the smooth to the stilted - some character stances look distinctly uncomfortable, while others flow from point to point like mercury. Due to the heavy dial-a-combo influence in MK: DA, it's important to select characters who not only move around the screen quickly, but execute their fighting animation sequences quickly as well. In other words, stay far away from Mavado if you want to enjoy any sort of success. MK: DA's fighting isn't as fluid as Tekken 4, despite sharing its juggle combo style of gameplay, although the ability to switch between fighting disciplines mid-combo affords a level of creativity that is new to the fighting genre. If the combo system employed here was less finicky in the timing in order to compensate for the animation shortcomings, it would earn a higher score. As it stands, Deadly Alliance is still fun to pick up and play, and it's a damn sight superior to the button-mashfest known as Dead or Alive 3. Just don't go in expecting the next Soul Calibur or Virtua Fighter and you'll be fine. Despite some painfully unbalanced characters, MK: DA is still a fun experience.

Fun in Mortal Kombat has always meant Fatalities. Babalities, Animalities, Friendships and other nonsense have been removed from this latest version of MK, leaving only Fatalities behind. Some are imaginative, some flat out reek, but the main disappointment is that there only seems to be one Fatality per fighter. After being used to at least two per fighter in previous MKs, this certainly doesn't provide value for money in the cranial-explosion department. For shame, sirs. Still, MK: DA doesn't skimp on the blood in the Fatalities that are provided - red stuff gouts from open wounds, spurting in a particularly nasty sort of manner. Even during fights, blood will go flying from weapon wounds, staining the ground while the fighters get it on their boots and trample red footprints everywhere. Nice attention to detail, and hilarious to watch. Deadly Alliance certainly earns its M rating honestly. One thing that I don't understand, however, is why when fighters are injured, blood will flow downwards following the laws of gravity... but when that same fighter gets laid out flat on his back, the blood doesn't flow directly to the ground. Instead, it flows down from his or her head to their feet as if they were still standing up.

Come on - if you're going pay attention to detail in all of these other areas, you need to try and maintain the suspension of disbelief in this as well, especially in such an important aspect like blood. Ignoring obvious problems like that seems rather lazy. Midway did add the ability to change your fighting stance to Fatality when the time is right, which is a nice touch. No longer do you need to worry about exactly how far away from your opponent you have to be to execute the Fatality correctly. KO the opposing fighter, tap the Stance button once to switch to Fatality mode, and Bob's your uncle. Sound? Good, if somewhat typical. You've got your deep-voiced announcer, your martial background music, your bone-crunching sound effects, your spurt and splashing of blood on the ground - it does the job asked of it, but nothing more. As long as Scorpion's "GET OVER HERE" isn't touched, I'm a happy fighting fan.

Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance is a worthy addition to the MK series, and probably the best one after MK II. With more polish and character balancing, Midway could have crafted one of the best pick up and play fighters in existence - but combo timing issues hurt the overall score and that's a shame. Still, it is a lot of fun to play, and there's nothing better than pulling some nasty Fatality out of your hat against a buddy or two. Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance is an excellent refresher for MK fans worldwide, but fighting game purists won't find what they're looking for here.