This is my blog, it is about me, my life, and my interests, i hope to use it to hone my writing skills, and to have fun.

11/26/08

Mortal Kombat Vs. The DC Universe

The Mortal Kombat series started going downhill around the time of MK3, ever since then the franchise became bogged down with stances and complicated movesets. But, I am happy to announce that MK vs. DC Universe is a return to the 2D style control and feel of the old MK games. Done away are weapon stances and crappy characters.

The story is pretty good for an MK game, it is fairly intriguing and helps to explain the mash-up, as well as why the MK characters are able to injure people like Superman. The story also helps to explain why any DC characters(besides the villains) would be fighting each other. Due to either a lightning bolt from Raiden or a blast of Heat Vision from Superman, to a teleportation device, a rift opens in time-space and causes “Dcland” and “Mkland” to collide. The combatants are effected by something called “Kombat Rage” which causes them to blindly fight anyone in front of them, leading to some interesting face-offs in the story mode such as, Flash Vs. Batman. The way the story mode is put together is very cool too, at the beginning you pick which side you want to play on, and you see the story from that perspective. Also, the story is set up in chapters, where in each chapter you play as a certain character. This is a very nice move, as it allows you to get acclimated to every character in the game, although some characters will feel weak and be hard to use(damn you Wonder Woman!!!! I had to play your fights 1 million times).


The Graphics are very good, the DC characters are true to their comic form, and the models are as realistic as “Ice Ninja” “Lightning God” and “Overly Muscular Superhero” can look. The Levels are good, ranging from Raiden's Temple to Wonder Womans home island. Also, there is a point in the story mode where the places begin merging to become weird “line down the center” mash-ups.


The move sets are generally the same as the older MK2 style games, all of your favorites return, Sub-Zero's ice teleport, Raiden's fly across the screen, humorously called “The Superman”, and Scorpions famous “GET OVER HERE!!”. On the DC side, a lot of the characters take moves from MK characters not in the game, Lex Luthor's robot suit effectively makes him Sektor, and Joker's bomb moves make him like Cyrax. With that being said, the DC characters moves don't feel shoehorned, and they match really well with the rest of the characters moves.


This game adds in 2 new in-fight mini-games that are kind of hard to explain without text, so I will try to explain them as effectively as possible. The first is “Test Your Might” mode. On some of the levels, there are walls you can knock the opponent against, triggering a game where you are running your opponent through layers of walls, and you mash buttons to either increase or decrease the amount of damage done by the attack. The 2nd is “Free-Fall Kombat”, on other levels you can knock the other combatant off the edge and onto another platform. During this free-fall you hit buttons to attack or to try and reverse the attack.


Overall this is a very good fighting game, The DC characters and levels don't feel shoe-horned into the game, and it is a product of very high quality. Although, DC wanted this game to be rated T-for-Teen so the violence isn't as extreme as other MK games, it gets me excited for the next “Real” MK game. This fighting engine is solid enough for it to be made into the next MK game, If Midway can last that long. Now for my verdict, much like my last review it is going to be split. Everyone should play this game, DC fans should rent it and see if they like it, MK fans should buy it. Fans of fighting games in general should rent it at least. This is a strong fighter, with very good “pick-up-and-play” you don't need to be a crazy frame counter to play the game and be effective.

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