[360/PS3] - Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe Review

[AgtFox]

Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe Review

Title: Mortal Kombat vs. DC Unvierse
Platform: 360/PS3
Developer: Midway
Publisher: Midway
ESRB: Teen
MSRP: $59.99 (360/360 CE/PS3/PS3 CE)
Editor: Loren 'AgtFox' Halek

What's Hot: The graphics are the best MK has seen; the story is interesting; the Joker steals the show in the Story mode

What's Not: Balancing issues; not all characters are used in story modes; still MK fighting at its base; once through story modes and a few runs with arcade your time with the game will be at an end

Most people simply wrote off Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe when they first heard about it. The last couple MK games weren’t all that great…heck, I didn’t even play the last one if I remember correctly. My biggest question surrounding this game was how the heck they were going to combine the two universes. I’m happy to say that in the end they have done a rather good job at doing just that, including explaining how Superman isn’t the all-powerful character that he is usually portrayed to be. My feelings were tepid on this game until Nick (bapenguin) and Scott (Psykoboy2) played it at E3 and came away impressed. Now, with it finally in my hands I can say that the game is good, but that the total experience will probably be done in no time after you go through both sides of the story and fiddle around with the Arcade and Kombo Challenges mode as well as playing a few matches online.

The first thing I want to talk about are the graphics and sounds in the game. The jump to the new generation of game systems has been good to this series. The character graphics and stage graphics are quite nice. Once again this is a 3D fighting game, although your use of sidesteps may be quite sparse. The game uses several different technologies, but the big one is the Unreal engine and it makes this game look quite good with no slowdown and nice, smooth animation. One thing I do want to point out is that although they took out some fatalities in order to get a Teen rating, it is funny to see blood spurting out everywhere as you are fighting in the game.

First on my agenda was to play through the story mode. Right off the bat you need to choose one of the two sides. I chose the DC side of things simply because I am a big comic book fan and wanted to see what Midway did with jamming these two universes together. The DC side opens with Superman facing off against Darkseid after the latter has supposedly laid waste to a good portion of the DC Universe. A boom tube is opened for Darkseid’s escape and Superman uses his heat as Darkseid is getting into the boom tube and an explosion happens.

This of course opens up a portal to the Mortal Kombat universe where the DC Earth and MK’s Earthrealm are literally trying to co-exist in the same space. From the UN Watchtower (I don’t know why it is UN, but whatever) you can see orange lines going through the world with different parts of the two worlds showing up in different places. The DC cast is confronted by the MK cast and each believes that the other is responsible for what has happened. On the DC side they believe the MK side is working with Darkseid while the MK side thinks the DC side is working for Shao Khan. The weaknesses to a character like Superman is explained away by saying the MK cast gets its powers from magic and the fusing of the worlds has brought in the MK magic into the DC world. Captain Marvel is also affected by the two magic systems clashing with each other, although he still has all his powers through the game and is actually quite strong as a character.

Lots of confusion runs through the storylines and all of the characters are affected by this “Kombat Rage” that makes their eyes glow yellow and gives them an almost demonic effect to their voice. Every character is affected by this through the story and it is kind of cheesy in how the Rage is handled because the ability to use rage to power yourself up (for momentary invincibility) or to reverse a move at the cost of one rage bar is constantly there. It is certainly an additional gameplay aspect, but not necessarily one that was fleshed out to its utmost ability.

Each chapter in the two sides of the story mode is led by one character. On the DC side there are eight chapters and only Catwoman and Deathstroke are never controlled by you. On the MK side there are seven chapters and only Kano, Kitana and Baraka are not controlled by you. Now, why these characters couldn’t be plugged in or why the MK side is one chapter shorter I don’t know. Each chapter consists of multiple fights and cutscenes explaining the story. Both friends and enemies, both internally to their universe and externally to the other, will fight each other because of the Kombat Rage and honestly the story mode is kind of enjoyable as you get to play through it. I would suggest you hit the start button and look at the moves because some of the MK ones have slightly changed from how I last remember them. At the end of the each side of the story mode there is obviously a window left open for a sequel if they indeed make it.

There are a few new mini-games that happen while you are fighting. The first one is doing a charge through walls against your opponent. The key is to press buttons as fast as possible in order to increase the percentage damage given to your enemy. The second one sees you push them through a barrier and you get into a mid-air battle where you need to press buttons that are not the same as the one they are pressing. If you hit a certain level you can hit the right button to do a special attack. If they press the same button you do then you reverse positions and you are then on the defensive side. The third mini-game addition is when you grab an opponent with the right button and much like the mid-air battle you press buttons your opponent is not pressing out of the face buttons. These extras in the game are nice, although they can change how the fight is going quite a bit if you unleash a 30+% damage attack.

Along with the story mode you have the regular Arcade mode as well as a Kombo Challenge that I never really got into. There is also online play which works well, but there are characters in the game that are not well balanced. I found that the strongest mortal in the world, Captain Marvel, was one of the most powerful people in the game simply because he is so strong and has a plethora of long-range and melee combat options. Superman is a strong character, but he doesn’t have nearly the versatility I saw in Captain Marvel. No idea how you will like Arcade mode or online play, for me they were enjoyable, but ultimately will not be fun after a while.

Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe is a good game, but can only be recommended for a rent because you will be done with it quickly. This has been a crutch for the MK series for a long time. Way back when it first came out it was shiny and new, but now the short gameplay time in this day and age just doesn’t work very well. Midway has done a good job here and hopefully they will sell enough to continue on as a business, but they need to add something more to keep people’s interest in these games. In the end, Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe just doesn’t reach that level.

Score: 3.5 out of 5 CoGs


Loren says, "As hard as it is to say because of Midway’s financial troubles, it is best to rent this game because you will be done with it soon enough"

- Review this title yourself over at Play It Review It, part of the CoG Network

*Note - Review based upon 360 version of game

[bapenguin]

I don't know, fighting games are never about "length" or "depth" - if you buy this game you get exactly what you should.

In fact, I say the story mode went above and beyond anything I've seen in a fighting game yet.

[AgtFox]

Originally Posted by bapenguin

I don't know, fighting games are never about "length" or "depth" - if you buy this game you get exactly what you should.

In fact, I say the story mode went above and beyond anything I've seen in a fighting game yet.

Some fighting games are built for length and depth. Heck, we have Super SF II Turbo HD Remix this week and people still play this game and it is 14 years old. After you've made it through the story modes and dabble in Arcade and online there really is nothing that keeps you wanting to play this game honestly.

Trust me, I'd love to tell everyone to go out and buy it, but at $60 for a rather short experience it just doesn't cut it in this day and age. As I said in the review, way back when this series first came out it was okay to have a short experience, although back then Mortal Kombat was far more replayable than it is today honestly. Then again I was about 16 when the original MK came out, so it's only 2 years older than SFII Turbo and the latter stands up better in this day and age than MK honestly.

[Iron Past]

I still might pick it up later. I'm not much of a fighting games guy, but series like Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter are strait foward (and simple) enough I always had fun with them.

Unless there's a good Black Friday deal, maybe I'll just wait for Street Fight IV.

[Raen]

I never really care about the story mode that much, apart from unlocking stuff. If this has a good story then that's great, but I still play old MKs, Tekkens, Insert Fighting Series Here, just to play arcade and versus. All I care about in a game is versus mode really.

[AniAko]

The only game I've seen pull off a semi-exciting RGP story mode was Mario Golf for the GBA. MK has failed at "story modes" since they attempted the MK Mythologies: Sub Zero RGP like side scrolling fighter on the N64. I don't blame them. They're supposed to spend most of their time on the fighting engine and balancing anyways. When you try to add story, or even some RPG aspect in the mix it gets a little meh.

[bapenguin]

Originally Posted by AgtFox

Some fighting games are built for length and depth. Heck, we have Super SF II Turbo HD Remix this week and people still play this game and it is 14 years old. After you've made it through the story modes and dabble in Arcade and online there really is nothing that keeps you wanting to play this game honestly.

What's different between that game and this game in terms of content? I guess the question is - what does SFII Turbo have that other fighting games don't?

[MachEnergy]

Great review Fox. I hate to nit-pick, but I felt this sentence could be reworked: "Every character is affected by this through the story and honestly it is kind of cheesy in how the Rage is handled because honestly the ability to use rage to power yourself up or to reverse a move is constantly there, but you are not in rage the whole time in the fight."

Between that and your response to Bap, I would say that "honestly" was on your Word Of The Day Calendar!

All friendly ribbing aside, I think you communicated everything that I was concerned about in regards to this game. I was planning on it being a rental, and this review definitely solidified that. I have been a dedicated MK enthusiast since the very first, however they are innovating less and less in the directions I would like to see.

[MachEnergy]

Originally Posted by AniAko

The only game I've seen pull off a semi-exciting RGP story mode was Mario Golf for the GBA. MK has failed at "story modes" since they attempted the MK Mythologies: Sub Zero RGP like side scrolling fighter on the N64. I don't blame them. They're supposed to spend most of their time on the fighting engine and balancing anyways. When you try to add story, or even some RPG aspect in the mix it gets a little meh.

Hey now...I loved Shaolin Monks. Friggin awesome co-op juggles abound!

[nnanji]

Originally Posted by AgtFox

Some fighting games are built for length and depth. Heck, we have Super SF II Turbo HD Remix this week and people still play this game and it is 14 years old. After you've made it through the story modes and dabble in Arcade and online there really is nothing that keeps you wanting to play this game honestly.

But people aren't playing SF for the stroy mode, are they? They are playing the versus mode. In 1994 me and my friends spent months playing Mortal Kombat 2 together, and if a fire hadn't destroyed the game system, we'd probably still be doing it. So I guess my question is, did you play any multiplayer with this game? If me and a group of friends can pass a controller and a bottle of wine around the room, would we enjoy it?

[MosBen]

So is replay value for this game short *for a fighting game* or short *for an average game*. I'm not asking for myself because I'm so bad at fighting games that I gave up long ago. Still, I know people put tons of time into games like Virtua Fighter because, I guess, the fighting engine is deep or whatever. I guess the bottom line is that fighting game fans seem perfectly happy with games that don't have tons of features as long as the game takes time, skill, and hardwork to master. They don't seem to care much whether the story mode is long enough.

Also, I guess it's a spoiler, but who's the ultimate boss here? I assume Darkseid and Shao Khan for the two story modes, but maybe there's some ultimate boss.

[AgtFox]

Originally Posted by MosBen

Also, I guess it's a spoiler, but who's the ultimate boss here? I assume Darkseid and Shao Khan for the two story modes, but maybe there's some ultimate boss.

Here's the answer:

The final boss is Dark Khan, a combination of Darkseid and Shao Khan. At the end of the game once you defeat him on either side the opposite characters are left on the opposite world. Darkseid is left in the MK Universe and Shao Khan in the DC Universe. You actually never fight Darkseid or Shao Khan by themselves in the story mode, but you do unlock each character by beating their respective storylines.

[AgtFox]

Originally Posted by nnanji

But people aren't playing SF for the stroy mode, are they? They are playing the versus mode. In 1994 me and my friends spent months playing Mortal Kombat 2 together, and if a fire hadn't destroyed the game system, we'd probably still be doing it. So I guess my question is, did you play any multiplayer with this game? If me and a group of friends can pass a controller and a bottle of wine around the room, would we enjoy it?

No, people don't play SF for the story mode, but in the long run the SF games have more legs than the MK ones from my own perspective. Someone asked if it is short for a fighting game. I would say the storylines, since there are 2 of them, are longer than your average fighting game length. It is certainly longer than Soul Calibur IV, although with that game there are different stories depending on the character you choose whereas this game has a set character per chapter through the story modes.

Yes, I did play multiplayer online with this game. It is fun, but ultimately would not make me rush out and buy the game (this was rented from Gamefly). Bap asked what SF II Turbo has that this game doesn't and I think you're going to have different opinions on that. From my vantage point I've always been an SF fan before an MK fan and if we really want to get down to it I am a Virtua Fighter fan above all. It takes a long time to master Virtua Fighter, it also takes time to master any SF game. MK has its place, but it just can't stand with the other two on things like balance and punch/counter-punch gameplay. However, as I said, this is a very opinionated question. I still stand by the fact that a game like SFII stands the test of time better than MK1/2/3 that co-existed in roughly the same time era.

The gameplay here is much like the other 3D MK games from last generation. They were good games (although I did not play the last one if I remember) and I enjoyed them, but I only rented them versus buying them. I would most likely rent SFIV instead of buy it because I don't have the time I did back in the 90s to sit and master these games.

As for the word "honestly", there was a bit of stuff added and edited last night by me. I like using the word "honestly" quite a bit, but I will fix that sentence because it makes no sense. Thanks for the catch.

[Kelegacy]

Originally Posted by bapenguin

I don't know, fighting games are never about "length" or "depth" - if you buy this game you get exactly what you should.

In fact, I say the story mode went above and beyond anything I've seen in a fighting game yet.

I agree about length, but depth? Fighting games should always be about depth. Or, great ones anyway. Virtua Fighter series is one of the deepest fighting game series, if not the deepest, but it doesn't seem to do as well in the sales department.

The deeper the fighter, the more rewarding it is. But then again I SUCK at fighting games. Deep fighters make me want to cry because I'm more of a button masher. I can't seem to ever remember combos. One of the reasons I suck at other games like Ninja Gaiden as well.

[muddi900]

Who gives a damn about single-player in fighting games?

Fighting games are about doing awkward winner dances and shouting "in your face,biatch!" when you beat a cocky friend.

[Psykoboy2]

Originally Posted by muddi900

when you beat a cocky friend.

And that guy who uses Sub-Zero's slide. And NOTHING else.

[vuk]

Originally Posted by Psykoboy2

And that guy who uses Sub-Zero's slide. And NOTHING else.

I used to be that guy.

[Dave]

Originally Posted by Psykoboy2

And that guy who uses Sub-Zero's slide. And NOTHING else.

Haha! Sounds like me using ONLY Bowser when we used to play Mario Tennis on your old GC.

[Psykoboy2]

Originally Posted by Dave

Haha! Sounds like me using ONLY Bowser when we used to play Mario Tennis on your old GC.

We hated you for that, you know.

[Dave]

Yeah, that's why it cracked me up when I read your original response. I thought to myself that it might have been me that you were talking about, then I started thinking about Mario Tennis and I had a good laugh about it for a few minutes.

I miss moments like that, you know? Not necessarily playing one singular way, and all, but I do miss all of us being over at your house having a fun time with whatever game happens to be on at the moment. Even watching you get into the Myst series wasn't that bad.