
Admittedly, the Mortal Kombat has never been a particular deep or competitive fighting experience. But if anything, the MK team has consistently delivered decent -- if not necessarily remarkable -- titles since the series launched in the 90s. So my hopes for Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe were check accordingly, and at the very least expected a solid but unremarkable experience. Surprisingly, I was wrong -- MK vs DCU is shaping to be a lot of fun, and perhaps deeper than some would have expected.
The game was up and running on both PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 units in Midway's E3 booth. Six characters were playable: Sonya Blade, Scorpion, Sub-Zero, The Flash, Superman, and Batman. Dale North and I picked up the SIXAXIS controllers and without much help from Midway reps, dove right into the action; Dale chose Superman, I went with the more familiar Scorpion.
Moving the characters can be done in two ways: the d-pad will cause them to move left, right, and jump on a 2D plane; the left analog stick moves the characters about freely in 3D. The face buttons are pretty much what you'd expect from any Mortal Kombat game -- two for kick, two for punch. Double tapping towards your opponent causes you to run, and one of the shoulder buttons is block.
With those basics under our belts, Dale and I went to town, easily stringing together brutal combos without much effort. Special moves are also typical and should be familiar for fans of fighters and Mortal Kombat in particular: back, back, and then square threw out Scorpion's spear, as an example. Using the basics, Dale was thrashing me left and right; it was embarrassing.

Then I discovered the game's close combat, which helped turn the tides. By pressing R1 when close to an opponent, a close combat mini-game begins. The camera zooms in close to the fighters and by pressing various buttons, punches and other strikes would be unleashed. As with most Mortal Kombat games, the action is brutal, with punches landing with loud cracks and streaks of blood flying across the screen. The player on the defensive must anticipate their opponents button presses to evade; if the offensive player taps circle, for example, the defensive player would press circle to dodge.
Dale quickly caught on, and I noticed him looking down at my controller to see what buttons I would press next. My solution was to simply hide the controller from Dale during close combat encounters. That seemed to even things up a bit, but these encounters still seemed to rely mostly on guesswork and button mashing than anything else. Still, the encounters happen so quickly, but don't take you out of the experience; in fact, if it does anything, it brings you closer.
Three environments were playable, including Hell, Metropolis, and a graveyard. Each had slightly interactive areas, like in Metropolis where you can pick up your opponent and quickly run him or her through a wall and into a building. During this sequence, players "test their might" by rapidly tapping a button to maximize (or minimize) damage.

In the graveyard, it's possible to toss an opponent through a wall and down to another area. Following them down, you'll fight in the air, which plays out much like the close combat button-tapping anticipation game. As the defensive player pummels their opponent, a super meter is build up; when the meter hits a certain point, the player can tap a button to unleash a devastating attack that quickly ends the falling sequence. The super can be built up higher for more devastation at a risk -- there's always a chance of it being reversed, and the super move being stolen.
Visually, MK vs. DCU is looking pretty good running smoothly on the Xbox 360 and the PS3 using the Unreal Engine 3. The DC character designs have been tweaked to fit in with MK universe and not the other way around; characters look more "realistic," and not necessarily ripped directly from a comic book. Characters take damage over the course of the fight as well, with bruising and clothes tearing as the battles progress.
Also, important to note. Unlike has been previously reported, MK vs. DCU does indeed have finishing moves. DC heroes will have "Brutality" moves, like one we saw in which Superman hammered and pounded his opponent into the ground. Mortal Kombat characters and DC villains will have more traditional fatalities, like when Scorpion pulls his mask back and chars his enemy with fire. While you won't be seeing any heads rolling or limbs being ripped off, Midway are promising to push the expected T rating as far as they can.
Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe is expected to ship with ten characters from the Mortal Kombat universe and ten DC characters, and will be available this Fall.
The animations just look so stiff and clunky in every video I've seen of this game. I just don't know.
Cool, not something I would pick up before it's under $20 necessarily, but it still looks interesting nonetheless.
Sounds good. I've always enjoyed Mortal Kombat. One note: "As the defensive player pummels their opponent...." Did you mean "offensive?"
Because I learned on the Internet that aggressive cat is aggressive while defensive cat is ALWAYS defensive.
Will rent.
OK, but is it still a "dial a combo" style of fighting?
If I don't know the combos, and I hit HP, then HK, will it be fluid, or will I have to wait through a HP animation before my HK starts... if it starts at all?
It's the most interest I've had in a MK game since the first game. It would probably take a few price drops for me to pick it up since I'm not a big fighter fan though.
No limbs being ripped ? No flying skulls ? Wait WHAT ?
Oh the dissapointment... Mortal Kombat ? No. It's just your average fighting game...
A little disappointed that we won't be seeing any ridiculously gory fatalities (i.e. ripping off someone's arms and beating him to death with them), but this looks to be shaping up to be a pretty good game otherwise.
The T Rating isn't quite a dealbreaker, but it certainly hurts. It'll take some solid gameplay to compete with the likes of Guilty Gear and Street Fighter 4 in my heart though.
The videos look like fun. I like the "test your might" as you are smashing through 20 walls, and how you can keep fighting as you are falling to the next level down.
I'm honestly more interested in this than I am Soul Calibur 4, and maybe even Street Fighter 4. I just saw The Dark Knight last night, and if the Joker's not in this game I'm going to be pissed.
BATMAN FTW!!!!
I don't recall a mortal kombat game every having anything close to an understandable story, or endings.
"Six characters were playable: Sony Blade"
Kaz Hirai to weild a katana in MKvsDC confirmed!
wield*
;_;
I'm strangely interested in this game even though I'm not a big MK fan. I'm a really big fan of the DC Universe and I hope Midway really brings a solid game to the table.
While I do love the over-the-top fatalities--it was that kind of camp that gave the series legs in the first place--I hope the T rating really forces Midway to consider new, solid game mechanics.
this is the kind of reimaging Mortal Kombat needed for the longest time- GETOVERHERE, SUPERMAN
@ DynamicSheep
I'm pretty sure they said they removed Dial-A-Combos and it's now more free form.
Can I play as The Joker? Because I'll buy anything that lets me play as The Joker. Lego Batman!
Where's my kitana?
It looks somewhat good but nothing I would buy unless I was very strapped for games. It's good to see comics and games coming together again though.
I personally am going to wait to see the reviews before I decide whether I'm going to pick it up. If they're good enough I'll probably go out and get it the first day, if now then I'll just wait for price drops to start happening.
Also, this game has to have The Joker. He's like the most iconic villain in the DC Universe, almost as iconic as Batman himself, maybe even more so. They'd have to be completely brain dead to not have Joker as a playable character in the game.
Woot! MK!
I'm guessing that the reason nobody went ape-shit about the Marvel vs games is because Marvels characters fit in with Capcom's thematically. You don't get that from this game.
Aside from the possible exception of Batman, there just seems to be too big a disconnect in tone between the DC and MK universes.
This very well might end up being a good game, but that disconnect is always going to be present to my mind, and I'm not sure I'll be able to see this game as anything more than a bid to mimick what Capcom and Marvel did so successfully years back.
I'm not interested in this at all, I don't see anything that really draws me in. I'm sure I'll play it considering I usually give things a 2nd chance, but we'll see. If it surprises me, well then so be it. But I highly doubt I'd ever buy it.
ummmmmm you know whatd be awesome?
if they brought the MK characters UP to the DC characters level and not the other way around...... see marvel vs capcom for more....
"pressing R1 when close to an opponent, a close combat mini-game begins [...] but these encounters still seemed to rely mostly on guesswork and button mashing than anything else."
"Following them down, you'll fight in the air, which plays out much like the close combat button-tapping anticipation game."
This isn't combat depth... and I'm not pleased.
Aw, fucking hell. So much for linking directly to a picture instead of uploading first to photobucket.
I'm so glad they have some form of fatalities!!
This might end up being pretty darn cool!
I play the MK games for the story.
There, I said it. I am the only one.
T rating?! Fuckin' lame! But I picked up the last 3 MK games so I'll probably still be enthralled as long as they have Baraka in it
speaking of stories, have you seen any of their attempts to create back stories for EVERYONE? like it or not, you have to give the MK team credit for giving a back story to RAIN.
with that said, i've always dug MK. so i'm interested, but not waiting on the edge of the seat. good to hear it's shaping up.
and a lot of the fatalities were too silly anyways. so toning it down just a tad won't hurt too much, IMO. have you seen that video where scorpion covers superman in fire? still brutal.
@FuriousGeorge
ummmmmm you know whatd be awesome?
if they brought the MK characters UP to the DC characters level and not the other way around...... see marvel vs capcom for more....
Didn't all of the kombatants basically become gods at the end of Armageddon? At least, according to Taven's ending anyway. Not sure what's going to be canon for MK vs DC, but Taven was the character you played as during the Konquest mode, so if it's anyone's it's probably his.
@ Dr. Nutt
im with you on that
@ gohan
lol u faild
@ MK vs DC
hmmmm...
plz dont suck
that's right, nick. i kicked your ass.
High Rez picture of Sonya Blade has nipples. Tee Hee Hee. Oh, how I've waited.
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