Review: Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe (360)

For once Europeans should be the ones feeling lucky as unlike the American version, the PAL release is uncensored. Not that it makes much of a difference though because in comparison to previous MK titles, MK Vs DC is a little tame. Blood is shown and as characters get worn down wounds will appear. DC obviously were very conscious of what antics their characters got up to. So while Fatalities are included, they are poor compared to what has gone before with only a few standout examples. The Jokers, in particular, is superb. Pulling out a gun he goes to shoot his opponent only for a “Bang” sign to pop out, obviously being the crafty Joker he pulls out another gun and shoots the other person in the face. A scene that was unfortunately edited for American audiences.

Heroes such as Batman, Superman and Green Lantern are obviously opposed to killing so in the Fatalities place are Heroic Brutalities. Although using the word “Brutal” is stretching things a little too far. A lot of them aren’t especially violent and well thought out either. Of course we’re only speaking for the ones we’ve actually managed to pull off. The Xbox 360 d-pad once again shows it’s lack of accuracy when it comes to precision button presses.

If you’re wondering there is a story beneath the madness. Some people might complain that it’s just stupid and convoluted, with these two worlds held together by the tiniest of threads, but then those people have probably never read a DC comic in ten years. It’s no more insane than the Multiverse story that was told not so long ago. It can be played from two sides, the DC Universe story or the Mortal Kombat story. Both start out similar, with each main villain (Darkseid and Shao Kahn) being defeated by the heroes only for a portal to be activated which quickly goes awry, sucking both villains into it. This then creates one entity that is ingeniously known as, Dark Kahn. Worlds quickly collide and it’s up to your chosen team to stop the universes from destroying each other. It’s nonsense, but then what do you expect?

The gameplay hasn’t really moved on from the likes of Deadly Alliance and the other, newer Mortal Kombat games. It’s all very combo based with the usual special moves thrown in for good measure. It’s one of those games that’s easy to pick up and play, but if you want to learn all the intricacies of each character then you can. It’s just not crucial to enjoying the experience. There are a few new differences in the fights. First there are the falling moments. Knock your opponent through a wall then they’ll fall, press buttons to beat each other to a bloody pulp, just watch out for the reversals that can put you on the bottom leading to a crushing blow. Then there are the Fight Night style close-up fights that are activating by grabbing with the RB button. This is like the falling sequences where you just press buttons to perform moves, but a well timed button press can reverse it in your opponents favour. They are needless additions, seemingly only included so Midway have something new to highlight in the press release, but nevertheless they provide variety to each encounter.

While the Story Mode and Arcade are fun while they last, each falls into the same trap that we’ve seen from so many titles. In other words a needlessly cheap boss fight. The final encounter against Dark Kahn is a lesson in frustration. He’s so powerful that one combo can decimate your energy bar. We’d like to think some skill is involved, but we only found ourselves spamming the same combo over and over again, bringing back many memories of the old leg sweep action that saw off many tough battles in the original MK games. Another disappointment are the graphics on show. It wouldn’t be too harsh if we said it looked like an old Xbox game in HD. Nothing here stands out and the cut scenes can often be hilariously bad looking, and the voice acting doesn’t help.

By merging two franchises Midway is being quite clever. Mortal Kombat and DC fans will lap this up and for the uninitiated it’ll still provide ample enjoyment. Yet after the story and arcade modes were completed, Gamestyle was left wanting more and unfortunately the lag ruining online play doesn't satisfy.

Rating: 7 / 10

Words by Adam Gulliver