Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe

Posted 4 years ago By - Jay Acevedo

After a few years, lost somewhere between the real world and Outworld, the Mortal Kombat franchise was eagerly waiting for the precise moment to make a comeback into the next-generation realm. While the announcement of a new MK game was positively received, seeing it happening in terms of a mash-up a la Capcom vs Marvel only with DC Comics characters didn’t make everyone happy and brought its share of doubts. Batman fighting in Hell against Scorpion? Superman defending Metropolis from Kano? Wonder Woman going up against Sonya Blade?

Here’s our review for Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe.


Penned by Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray, whose work include Jonah Hex and other comics for DC, Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe tells the story of Raiden and Superman, each one fighting their own nemesis (Darkseid for Superman and Shao Kahn for Raiden) in their respective worlds. For some strange reason, beating their nemesis at the same time sparked a merging of the DC and MK universes into a singular existence in a realm known as Dark Kahn. During this merge, the characters’ find themselves randomly affected by Rage causing violent outbreaks. Turning friend against friend and unleashing devastating outbreaks, the story explains that these outburts are a conduit for Dark Kahn’s actual feelings as he take’s control of the characters. Pitting universe against universe, each side believes that the other is responsible for what they assume is a potential invasion. They fight each other in ‘Mortal Kombat’ until only one realm remains

Gameplay

The game features a story mode, playable from two different perspectives, one from the DC side, and one from the Mortal Kombat side. Depending on which side you choose, you will see the characters from the opposite universe as the invaders of their own.

Here’s the character roster :

Mortal Kombat

* Scorpion
* Sub-Zero
* Sonya
* Jax
* Shang Tsung
* Liu Kang
* Raiden
* Kitana
* Kano
* Baraka
* Shao Kahn

DC Universe

* Batman
* Superman
* Catwoman
* Green Lantern
* The Joker
* Shazam
* The Flash
* Wonder Woman
* Deathstroke
* Lex Luthor
* Darkseid

Linking both universes seemed like a stretch at the beginnning but the final result surprised me, even if it feels cheezy at times. Originality is what makes the whole thing a success, unlike Jedis visiting the Soul Calibur universe, which actually felt like a money grab more than anything else.

Most of the time, the controls are very responsive and for once, the learning curve for most of the characters’ moves is really easy compared to what we’ve seen lately from Soul Calibur IV and DOA 4. Several modes within the game aid in separating MK vs. DC from the typical fighting game, button mashing your way to victory. Klose Kombat, Rage, Test your Might and Freefall mode all help advance the gameplay in unique ways adding a new layer to the game for players wishing to take advantage of them.


Using the right buttons on your controller, Klose Kombat gives players a tight fighting style with a camera that zooms in to give you close up action as you grab your opponent and unleash a series of special attacks using the face buttons. This lets the player see the brutality of their attacks as well as the intense reactions and damage done to their opponent. This also lets the player learn how to counter against their opponents special moves as the face buttons appear on screen near the bottom. By paying attention to this, you can quickly learn what you’re opponent is preparing to unleash and how to counter against it at which time you can ignite your own barrage of deadly attacks. The developers were careful to make each character unique and not copy special moves. Each character has their own counter move and their own special moves during this mode.

Rage mode is technically not a true mode as it’s a focal part of the game’s story mode; however it deserves mentioning because of the approach and care the developers took creating it. Rage mode within the game is a “state of being” where the character has no control over what they are doing, they are as the mode’s name describes – enraged. You build this gauge up by doing special moves and pulling off advanced combos, allowing you to unleash your rage and go into a 5 to 7 second stance that allows you to barrel through your opponents attacks. Still, this technically is not a mode as it’s importance during story mode is unrivaled, but the more you fight and the more you get hit, the faster that gauge under your health bar will fill until you can unleash it.

Freefall mode allows players to throw their opponent out of the arena. Doing so causes you and your opponent to begin free falling towards the ground below where an interactive cinematic scene plays. Using the face buttons, you can throw punches and kicks while falling. These moves will fill up a special meter off to the side that unlocks a special move available only during this mode. Just as in Klose Kombat mode, in Freefall mode each character has their very own special move. The developers hoped to add another layer of complexity with this mode but the sad part is that not every stage allows FreeFall to be used. Every level is limited as it decides when and where you can go for a display of strength. Still, it remains interesting, well crafted and very entertaining. Lastly, Test your Might is very similar to FreeFall. While FreeFall features fast vertical fighting, Test your Might features fast horizontal fighting. During this mode, players can grab their opponent and slam them through a series of walls. While button mashing your way to victory, your opponent can also button mash to defend against your attacks. Again, very few stages lets you go into « Test Your Might » mode.

Online has been offered in Mortal Kombat since MK Deception back in 2004, so seeing it here is a no-brainer. Rooms have been added so you can join and take turns fighting against other players or you can also host your own matches choosing between ranked or private online play. One thing I have to say though is that MK vs. DC is the fighting game that has fewer online matches being dropped. It also has no lag whatsoever. I have seen some private servers drop or disconnect me after a few matches but nothing really major or unpleasant, take that Soul Calibur IV!


Graphics & Sounds

The game’s look and presence is really nice thanks to the usage of the powerful and still impressive Unreal Engine 3. The characters, especially the Mortal Kombat ones, embrace the next generation look nicely as the models are crisp and far more realistic from what we have been accustomed to in the past; the same can be applied to the DC characters of course. One cool thing is the fact that your characters will show visual damage during their fights as bruises and blood will appear on their faces and their clothes will tear.

While the graphics are nice, the sounds are okay but nothing stands out to give us that “Wow” factor. Voiceovers aren’t excellent as the cheesy and predictable lines are there but better from what we’ve seen in the past. While the environmental effects deliver, they don’t make any splashes that stand out either. One thing that depressed me is the nonexistence of the “Toasty” sound effect, which had become a trademark among MK fans… it’s not much but I really thought they would have included it just for old time’s sake. Love you Ed, no hard feelings!


Value

Story mode and Online play aside, Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe doesn’t feature additional interesting modes such as time-trials, endurance modes; it doesn’t even include a custom character creation tool. This causes the game to grow old quickly, especially after beating the story mode with every character. There’s a Kombo Challenge, but I was hoping for more since most gamers will bypass it and have fun online with their friends instead. We can’t really give kudos to Midway for online play since it has become a staple within fighting games nowadays.


Conclusion

Seeing Mortal Kombat getting the next-gen treatment alongside DC characters is treat and a cool idea but it leaves me wondering why Midway didn’t go with just MK characters at first and then release a mash-up. Eitherway, the result is interesting but this may not be known as the best Mortal Kombat game as the most important element that made the franchise an instant classic (the extremely visceral fatalities) isn’t present here.

Regardless, Midway should be happy with the final result. They took a risk trying to please MK fans with a softer game and offer DC Comics fans a respectable fighting game; a first for the comic book series. Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe is a fun game and will give fans of both franchises a taste of things to come, if there’s indeed something coming. But I’ll say this; I still think we need a definite MK game with the gore and the blood that we all love and was definitely missed here.

Verdict: For what it offers, the game deserves a good look but its lack of MK flavour might turn off some people, especially the die hard MK fans. Still this game is awesome and deserves attention. Shedding some dollars will not be a waste for the entertainment gained in return.

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