Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe
Review
Wipe that smile off Superman's face
by Keaton Arksey
reviewed on PS3
Fatalities and Brutalities
Of course, it wouldn’t be a Mortal Kombat game if there weren’t fatalities. Since the DC heroes don’t kill, they perform heroic brutalities, moves that are extremely violent, and in all likelihood would kill someone, but don’t. Still, villains like Joker and Lex Luthor, as well as all the Kombatants can perform fatalities. Some of them are fairly funny, and I think the reward for greatest way to win ever is Batman’s brutality when he throws a batarang into a person, which begins to glow. A horde of bats then terrorizes the poor sap until they fall into a crumbling, sniveling scaredy cat. Sadly, most of the fatalities are neutered in the fact that no gratuitous blood and guts are seen. Still, seeing the Green Lantern being burnt alive is pretty sweet, just don’t expect to see heads explode.
New features
Two new features are the Klose Kombat and Free Fall Kombat. At any time, you can press the R1 trigger to grab your opponent and go into Klose Kombat, where the camera zooms in up close. Opponents aren’t completely helpless, as they can counter your move with body movement and a button press at the right time. You can usually get up to four hits before things go back to normal.
Free Fall Kombat is when you manage to shove your opponent through a barricade of some sort. Most levels are multi-layered, and the fight continues through the sky. Similar to Klose Kombat, the person on top gets to wail on the opponent unless they counter, which results in a switching of places. If you get enough hits in, a bar in the side is filled so you can unleash a special move. The odd thing is that if you switch places, all of the damage you did, or had done on you is transferred to the person on the bottom.
Test Your Might is for levels that have transfers horizontally, instead of vertically. Someone is picked up and carried through wall after a wall, with the two combatants undergoing a button pressing contest to determine how much damage is done. “Rage” also factors into gameplay, where being hit with attacks or having your opponent block your attacks builds your rage meter. When the meter is full, you can press the L2 and R2 triggers to put your character into the Rage mode. In Rage mode, your character does not flinch when attacked (but still takes the normal amount of damage) and inflicts more damage to your opponent, and opponents who rely too heavily on blocking will find it failing them. It’s an interesting addition, and definitely can be a game changer.
Unlockables
Recent 3D Mortal Kombats have featured a huge amount of unlockables, a tradition this game sadly doesn’t continue. You can unlock the arcade mode endings for every character, and there are a couple of unlockable characters, but there is no concept art or "making of" movies, or extra costumes or anything. Not even an optional bonus mode such as Puzzle Kombat or Chess Kombat.
This really leads into the main problem of Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe. With a story mode that will only take a few hours for one side, and a tiny amount of unlockables, most gamers can probably run through everything in a week. The fighting isn’t as deep as in Virtua Fighter or Soul Calibur, so most hardcore fighting enthusiasts won’t find much to sink their teeth into.
Looking great
The game uses the Unreal Engine 3.0, and looks very good. Character models look great and are very detailed. The cut scenes generally look good, though some of the textures aren’t amazing and look out of place. During fights, wear and tear appears on the characters. Clothes get torn, faces get cut, and some things get broken. It’s pretty visceral, and is a pretty cool feature.
Sound wise, all of the characters sound as they should (Batman sounds gravely, Superman sounds boy-scouty), even if some of them seem cheesy, but hey, Mortal Kombat is supposed to be cheesy. The main menu actually displays a fight between Batman and Scorpion, which is fairly neat. Other than that, the presentation is basic, with standard loading screens showing a piece of art or scene from the story for five seconds.
The game also supports two player fights on the same console, as well as online battles, featuring leaderboards that detail most matches played, most wins, etc.
Finishing moves
Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe surprises in the fact that it’s probably the best 3D Mortal Kombat game in a while, and that it successfully merges the two universes together in a way that makes sense. Fighting game enthusiasts won’t find an incredibly deep experience, and the series focus on fatalities has been toned down a bit. Still, people who remember fondly the days of “Toasty” will surely find something to enjoy.
8.0
fun score
No Pros and Cons at this time
