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Fighter fans either love or hate the Mortal Kombat series. But is it all that hard to see why? Since the franchise debuted in the early '90s, there was more emphasis put on executing gruesome finishing moves (or fatilities as most know them) than there was on a distinct fighting engine. These fatalities, though, are what separated MK from any other fighter of its era.

The classic Street Fighter games – released parallel to the bloody MK series - was far more family oriented, as was cult favorite World Heroes. It wasn't until the first Mortal Kombat and, more specifically, its smash-hit sequel, Mortal Kombat II, that game developers started creating their own gruesome one-on-one brawlers with plenty of blood, gore, and winning-round executions. Some are better than others (Eternal Champions, Eternal Champions: Challenge from the Darkside, Weaponlord, and Primal Rage to name a few), while most others were simply cut-and-paste affairs that were little more than clones of MK's invigorating if shallow game play and laughably gruesome if cool fatalities (the Atari Jaguar's Kasumi Ninja and Midway's late-'90s offering, War Gods immediately springs to mind). MK was, in fact, an innovator if for all the wrong reasons.

Whereas Street Fighter became historic for introducing technique and variety in a fighter and Killer Instinct popularized the combo system, Mortal Kombat has always relied more on excessive blood and gore, as well as increasingly ridiculous ways to "finish" your opponent, to move copies. It should come as no surprise then that when an already ridiculous idea such as the Mortal Kombat fighters colliding with and battling characters from the DC universe was announced fans nearly had heart attacks. An even bigger issue was the obligatory Teen rating and a once rumored omitting of fatalities. This would mean that, if there were fatalities (which, in fact, there are) they would be massively truncated or worst comes to worst would not exist at all. It has been said that the DC comic’s people didn't want their characters - which are well-known and adored by children - to either execute horrendously brutal finishers or be brutally finished off themselves via the MK roster or fellow DC fighters.

With that said, I think the first thing I should mention is that, despite the Teen rating on the box, this doesn't feel at all like a Teen-rated brawler. Sure, blood doesn't cover every inch of the arena during fights and instead looks more like red mist than it does the large drops/geyser-like spurts of past games in the franchise, it's still effective. This entry introduces a level of restraint not seen in any MK before it. Yes, there are fatalities for every MK fighter and a handful of DC fighters (including The Joker and Deathstroke), and the remaining DC roster do have finishers, but they are not necessarily fatal (again, a result of DC stepping in). These are called Heroic Brutalities.

I feel I should mention, though, that there were two fatalities trimmed for the US release. Joker and Deathstroke both have fatalities that involve their opponent being shot in the head and, although we no longer see the impact of the bullet, their censoring was somewhat unnecessary. It is quite strange that Deathstroke is able to jab a sword completely through his foe's stomach during his gunshot fatality and that remains intact, but the bullet impact is censored. There is also a fatality where MK favorite Jax uppercuts his opponent into the air, pulls out a machine gun, and fires multiple rounds into their abdomen with resultant blood splatter. That fatality is completely uncensored, mind you. The violence may have been trimmed down - meaning there are no more decapitated heads or missing body parts - but the violence still hits hard. There are head impalements, body impalements, scorched bodies, crushed bodies & heads, the aforementioned shootings, knifings, broken necks, electrocutions, soul-snatching, head-into-ground pounding, and so much more that I could not believe was allowed into a Teen-rated game without further censoring.

It is simply a testament to the development team then, that without the MK series' trademark gore that Midway was still able to deliver on whatever promise this mash-up may have had. Although the fighting presented is set in a three-dimensional universe, DC Universe feels very 2D. Aside from avoiding barrages of projectiles by side-stepping through the arena, you won't find yourself manipulating the environments much. To be frank, there really isn't much reason for MK vs DC to be 3D fighter (and that's a good thing). This feels like classic Mortal Kombat in every sense of the words. The fighting is fast and intense, and stringing together quick, seemless attacks feels immensely satisfying. The fights are fast-paced and are a far cry from the simple punch-kick-block formula of the early MK games. There is an overwhelming sensation during each fight that these larger than life characters are partaking in huge, larger than life battles; the epic scale that Midway manages to provide with each individual fight no matter the character selected is astounding.

By way of some gimmicky if not incredibly dramatic segments, you will feel your adrenaline rush. Players can enter Klose Kombat mode by simply pressing R1 next to their opponent. The camera will zoom in and present a view similar to EA’s latest Fight Night title. This mode is identical to a number of popular boxing titles and it plays just like one. A total of four successive hits exits Klose Kombat, but attacks can be countered which effectively evens out the odds on both sides.

Free Fall Kombat is one of my favorite additions. To describe it best, it is reminiscent of Neo and Agent Smith’s fight in The Matrix Revolutions when they are tumbling back to solid ground. Whichever kombatant is on the offensive will, naturally, be dishing out the damage and, when it becomes available, the offensive player can tap R1 to do a special attack that sends their opponent rocketing down to the next arena.

Test Your Might is a lot like Free Fall Kombat, but instead of falling to the next arena, the kombatant on the receiving end is sent crashing into a series of walls and ran through several buildings (yes, buildings) before ending up at the next “stage.” Button mashing is a must here as it will increase the amount of damage the offensive kombatant inflicts.

Character selection is also a plus as there are 11 selectable characters from each camp with two unlockablesl Darkseid for the DC side and Shao Khan for the MK side. The story mode, though rather shallow and unfulfilling, is something I was grateful for as it introduces something new to a Mortal Kombat game other than the tower (aka tournament mode) or Konquest modes. A real story involving both the essential DC and Mortal Kombat characters is presented with some flaw as there really isn’t much storytelling going on and a lot of the emphasis is placed on fighting various characters 2-out-of-3 rounds without the inclusion of finishers.

As a fighting series that has never had the best graphics, this new title is being backed by Unreal Engine 3 technology and even if it doesn’t look absolutely gorgeous, it is still a positive departure from previous games in the franchise. There is a magnificent amount of detail given to each respective fighter and every last one of them moves with such fluidity. While some of them could look marginally better (here’s looking at you Wonder Woman), these are the graphical improvements you would expect from a current-gen MK game. It would have been interesting to see eviscerations and popped heads with the Unreal Engine 3 tech, but simply being in control of fluid fights between Batman and Joker in all their hi-res splendor, complete with deteriorating costumes and an articulate amount of detail is reward enough for this gamer.

Even with a Teen rating, I can’t say this is for the uninitiated. This title was obviously made with love for both the MK community and the DC supporters. Whoever cries “cash cow” is completely missing the point. Ed Boon has already stated that the next Mortal Kombat game will get right back to the intense violence and insane amounts of gore, but this was a refreshing idea and, what’s more, a nice break from the laughably goofy fatalities and insane amounts of blood found in past entries. The idea of the DC world colliding with that of the Mortal Kombatants was a kooky one, but Midway pulled it off flawlessly (no pun intended) and I’ll admit to enjoying the living hell out of this game. The fatalities may be toned down, but I will commend the developers for avoiding all of the useless blood and gore and still making the game violent and fierce. It certainly isn’t as grotesque as MK: Deception, but how MK vs DC Universe ever got a Teen rating is beyond me. MK fans and/or DC fans owe it to themselves to check this out.

8/10
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Added by Loyal-T
13 years ago on 6 July 2010 20:54

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