The whole concept of two colossal fictional franchises, in this case the blood-soaked brand that is Midway’s Mortal Kombat series, and a varied selection of characters from the universe that has been forged by DC Comics; sounds like an extremely exciting and appealing proposal with masses of potential. Here at Addict Gaming we got the opportunity to get a complete hands-on of the resulting child that was created by the collaboration from Midway & DC Comics.
Here are our thoughts and feelings on the title…Like mentioned above, this game’s concept brought around masses of potential for a great fighting title, but I am disappointed to say that it appears to be nothing more than a empty shell of what it could have been, but that’s not to say it is a bad game, it just did not deliver to expectations - particularly from the extensive online ad campaigns and viral videos that were distributed throughout the net prior to it’s release.
Mortal Kombat VS DC Universe consists of three main offline modes; Story, Arcade & Kombo Challenge. From the titles alone it is fairly self explanatory of what they consist of, but for your benefit we will go into a bit of detail about themFirst and foremost the story mode; Straight from the beginning I got the impression that the story was going to be a poor excuse for the two different franchises to battle it out, and from developing progress in the game, I discovered I was right. Everything about the game’s plot is a relatively poor excuse for these guys to kick the crud out of each other, if you don’t want to spoil the story, then ignore the next few lines, otherwise continue reading. Essentially Superman (DC) & Raiden (MK) destroy their respective enemies; Darkseid (DC) and Shao Kahn (MK) at the same time.
This for no apparent reason leads to both bad guys infusing with each other to create the oh-so-creatively named ‘Dark Kahn’ which eventually leads to the merging of the two realms. Now in all respect, it’s general rule of thumb that a lot of fighting games do not focus on the story or plot, which is generally accepted, but I felt that this particular title could have had much more substance to it, in particular the characters from both franchises as they have a particularly extensive portfolio of background history around them, and I felt that those responsible for the story of the title had rushed the development of the story either for a release this side of Christmas, or simply because they didn’t want to.
This was evident from the ridiculously predictable linear plotline, and the corny dialog (which in all fairness could have been to keep in line with the comic-like dialog on behalf of DC Comics).Regardless, the story mode game of sky whale hack donuts play itself consists of you selecting a side to fight with (a gold sticker to anyone who guesses who you can choose between). This then consists of a series of cut scenes which lead to each character you fight with for anything up to 4 different battles, each fight being transitioned by another cut scene, gradually developing the so-called ‘story’. Now here is where I have to give some due credit to the developers, although the games aesthetic isn’t the most advanced on the market today by far, the game does however have some very nice visuals, in particular the characters as opposed to the backdrops. From featuring the Unreal Engine they've managed to implement a detailed use of lighting and shading to give each character a very bold, distinct aesthetic. As well as detailing some characters with a reasonably dark, gritty sense of illustration, for example Batman looks pretty bad ass, in juxtaposition to the Adam West embodiment of the dark knight. In overview the game appears to have an adequately smooth, bold appearance which is always a pleasing feature within a game.
The combat system itself is also another (if not the most) uplifting feature in the game. From utilizing the same fighting-style system as previous Mortal Kombat titles, it also has its distinctive ‘Klose Kombat’ and ‘Freefall Kombat’ which makes this game worth playing at LEAST once. From using Klose Kombat the camera pans in to the two characters who then can exchange a variety of hefty blows to the face, body, torso & arms with the use of X, Y, A & B, with some just as impressive sound effects to boot. Personally I loved the melodic crunching of Sub-Zero’s nose as Superman made contact with his forehead, surely it can’t be topped by that? Of course it can, on particular levels featured within the game it’s possible to charge your enemy through a series of walls, quicker than a speeding bullet! Even more enticing is the ‘Freefall Kombat’ which allows you to knock your enemies down great heights, and jump down after them to deliver a further pummelling before you smack them into the shattering concrete below!
Which I will admit now, did have me shouting ‘Owned!’. In my head of course…The other game types, Arcade & Kombo Challenge, are self-explanatory. Arcade mode is essentially like any other MK game out there, working your way through a series of enemies before leading to the ‘big boss’ Dark Kahn, completing the game with each character unlocks a short illustrated ending, which can be viewed at any time after unlocking it, this mode also has the famous feature of fatalities and the DC equivalent; Heroic Brutality. Which again is also an extremely satisfying bit of salt to add to the wounds as it’s always been throughout the MK series. ‘Kombo challenge’ is literally what it says on the tin, you can select each character that each have a series of 10 combo’s that can be attempted, obviously graduating in difficulty, with some that are for the fighting platform guru’s that a lot of us would probably prefer to eat the controller than sit there and try to execute successfully, if you’re a completionist then you’ll have to try, with 5 gamer score awarded for completing each characters challenges.
This is will keep you busy for a temporary period before you either get bored or like I said eat your controller with frustration (that’s right, I have issues).On the overview, the game in itself is a fun, fast-paced inventive re-incarnation of the much loved Mortal Kombat series. However like mentioned before it just feels to have lacked any true substance or content, which would have greatly improved the overall quality of this game. It’s nice to see that they haven’t made it as difficult as some Mortal Kombat games which ultimately lead to bleeding thumbs and such, which might not appeal as much to die-hard Mortal Kombat fans, but it certainly will attract a larger audience in general. But in general particular aspects of the game just appear rushed and ‘bolted on’.
An instance of this is the online multiplayer. Everyone is aware that it will be difficult to compete with titles such as Gears of War, Call of Duty & Halo dominating the multiplayer sector of XBL, but it just appears far too evident that a bit more time and development could have vastly improved the online features of this game. On the final summary, I would recommend this game to any fan of the Mortal Kombat series, or fighting titles in general. But it’s disappointing to say that this game has only limited re-play value, which with a bit of luck and patience, could be improved with some DLC from the guys at Midway, nudge nudge.Likes:Great Graphics, supplied by Unreal Engine 3.Interesting array of charcters from the DC Universe.Stayed 'true' to the previous games, fixing everything that was broken, leaving the things that weren't.Dislikes:Poorly thought out story.Lack of 'Awesome' Fatalities.Game only offers 2 unlockable characters, both of which aren't really worth the hassle.
No comments:
Post a Comment