#1097 Mortal Kombat Deception (PS2) Hidden Characters (10/11): Liu Kang playthrough.
0A playthrough of the hidden character Liu Kang/Zombie Liu Kang in the PS2 version of Midway’s/Netherrealm’s Mortal Kombat Deception.
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Sweet Zombie Jesus, it’s Zombie Liu Kang.
Given how young Bruce Lee was when he died, I can’t help but think that this character is a bit in poor taste. The thing is though, the MK team wasn’t dumb about pulling this. They seemed to realise that not everyone would be happy with the undead version of the series’ protagonist, and so added a secret, human costume for him as an unlockable extra. As I’ve said before, that’s the way you do it. Experiment a bit, but also have a backup in case the reception for the change doesn’t go over well. It means I’m still able to play through as human Liu Kang, which is certainly a much more enjoyable experience. I’ll technically get another look at zombie Liu Kang in the future anyhow, so this is more appropriate for the time being.
There’s no denying that Liu Kang has been more or less overshadowed by both Sub-Zero and Scorpion, in a general sense anyway. Despite that fact that he’s meant to be the series’ protagonist, time and time again he’s been overshadowed by the stories and characters of those multi-coloured ninjas we all love. A bit like how ninjas scenes take precedence in a Godfrey Ho film, I suppose. Hell, even in Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks, a superb game basically dedicated to the stories of Liu Kang and Kung Lao, Scorpion and Sub-Zero were still made hidden playable characters in the story mode of that game. Both ninjas simply have more interesting backstories, not to mention that they’re simply more user-friendly as a result of their immobilising special moves, with Scorpion having his spear move and Sub-Zero having his freeze ball move.
As a result of this, Scorpion and Sub-Zero took a rather centre stage in the 3D MK games, with Liu Kang basically being shoved into the background for most of the story. Hell, this technically isn’t even Liu Kang. It’s simply his reanimated, mindless corpse, filled with evil and roaming the world(s) for people to kill.
Liu Kang is known for four moves in particular; his high fireballs, his low fireballs, his lunging kick and, probably the most iconic of all, his trademark Bicycle Kick. He has all of these moves, which is some nice attention to detail, and certainly appreciated. Special moves are, unfortunately, relatively limited in this game (unless it’s a capture move), but the fact that they included these is still incredibly welcome. Liu Kang has a couple of decent fighting styles, with his second having one of the most hilariously easy combos in the game (Circle, X, X, X). His weapon is, of course, the trademark of Bruce Lee himself; nunchakus, as if to really hammer home “this guy is basically Bruce Lee.” With homages this blatant I’m surprised there isn’t a cutscene with Johnny Cage talking about the cool refreshing taste of Coors Light™, or Bo Rai Cho trying to sell me a Wolf Cola.
He also has two fatalities like most characters; one of which is pretty standard, the other of which is…one of the most hilarious in the entire series. There are no words.
We’ll be seeing Liu Kang again pretty soon, technically. Up next however, it’s onto the final hidden character of the game, and the star of Konquest Mode itself.
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