Wednesday 17 Dec 2008

It goes without saying that Midway has been attempting all kinds of things to fit their 2D brawler into the 3D arena since the launch of the original PlayStation and one has to applaud them for at least trying. From puzzles in Deception or sheer quantity in Armageddon they always try something to breathe life into a very old series now. This time they have put up the Bat-signal and called in the Dark Knight for help with the rest of the DC team at your disposal including Superman, The Flash, Wonder Woman and The Joker.

The title says it all as Midway has struck a deal with DC Comics to pit the likes of Scorpion, Sub Zero or Liu Kang against your favourite DC Comic Hero. Now, you might be thinking to yourself that you have experienced this initiative before… if so you are very much correct. Do you remember Marvel vs Capcom? (The sequel on the SEGA Dreamcast standing out as the best in that franchise) No? Why the hell are you reading this? You totally lost out! One of the reasons for the success of that game was that Capcom managed to blend the comic heroes’ abilities into the fighting system while making them balanced and distinct. Midway had a go at this formula and it seems to hit and miss in many instances.

Characters and modes

The Mortal Kombat fighters all play as we have come to expect with their token moves but it is the new DC characters that are all brand new with all their power at hand. The more well-known characters like SuperMan, The Flash and Batman are all great additions: Superman lasers, super punches and blows (or sucks) air to draw enemies in for a beating; Batman combines smoke bombs and bone-crushing martial arts to annihilate his foes; and the Flash, as you would imagine, does all that at breakneck speeds; but it feels like several other characters are afterthoughts.

Wonder Woman is as useless as a torch that works with sun power and Green Lantern, who has this incredible Ring at his disposal to emulate all kinds of goodness, has very little to make him as powerful in the game as he would have been in the comic, which is very sad indeed. Not to even mention Lex Luther, Cat Woman, Darkseid, Deathstroke and Shazam all feel so mediocre in comparison. If there is one standout character in the game, which had lots of attention given to it, it would be The Joker. I loved every bit of the playing time with this character. The Joker had such charm and charisma (as Heath Ledger would make you believe in the movie) that he becomes an instant favourite with all his practical jokes.

What seems to have taken a bit of a backseat in this game are the modes available to play. In single player mode you have Arcade (as per usual), Story Mode, Kombo Challenge (learn combo’s) and Practice mode. Story mode is actually a massive improvement over the Konquest mode they had previously. Instead of running all over the place in a 3D virtual world a story is told via some great CG scenes and you fight against those in your path as the story unfolds. You also have the option to join the Mortal Kombat or DC party, whose stories follow different routes but both have the same outcome as they melt together as you approach the end. What I also liked about the Story mode is that the game would adjust the difficulty according to your skill – you would fight your opponent and lose, when continuing you will find that the difficulty has dropped. If you lost again it would adjust again, very clever indeed.

Mortal Kombat has suffered to regain their once popular following in the 3D arena and with this incarnation they have nearly gone back to their roots to rediscover the magic. It all comes down to the following: Do you play with the D-pad or analogue stick when moving your characters? Play with the analogue stick and the game follows its 3D route as before with the endless titles since Mortal Kombat 4, play with the D-pad and it feels all very 2D. The latter is probably the better system if you are a hardcore Mortal Kombat player. Remember “back + C” + “down + Z” (SEGA Mega Drive) = a sweep followed with a great uppercut? That was THE REAL Mortal Kombat as we got to know it back then, well…it has returned…but Midway has made a sad little mistake.

New features

The combat in the game feels very slow, not the game speed itself, but rather the speed at which the character reacts to your button presses, it doesn’t register quick enough – Do a sweep and follow that up with an uppercut straight away and your character just sits there…looking at the concrete or sand. You have to pause slightly before following up with that uppercut. It might be a very small problem, but it follows suit for the rest of the moves in the game. If it was not for that delay it would without doubt have been the best Mortal Kombat since Mortal Kombat 2 on the SEGA Mega Drive, what a pity! At least they have got rid of all the weapons and rubbish.

Added to the gameplay is a new RAGE meter that builds up when being battered. To activate it you press your L2 and R2 buttons simultaneously and your character is filled with RAGE (a yellow aura) that gives you this super strength for a few seconds, very helpful when in a corner (also, I thought Superman was as strong as one could be? Mmm…). The game also now has grappling moves that play off like a little mini game where you press any of the face buttons to hit your opponent in your grapple but at the same time he/she counters your moves by hoping to press the same button. Taking a tip from the Dead or Alive series, you can now thump your opponent off the edge of the building and hit him on the way down to the next level, which can also be countered! So watch out! Lastly you can “Test Your Might” by grabbing your opponent, hurling him/her over your shoulder and running through several walls, pressing your face buttons to inflict more damage.

The stages all incorporate stages of both worlds. The Outworld of Mortal Kombat or the Bat Cave, you decide. But the stages do all feel a bit bland and lifeless. Graphically it is decent and so are the character models, but it isn’t something we have not seen before.

Unfortunately I have not had the chance to play the game online… well that is actually a complete lie. I tried, but could not get it working. I made it into the lobby, which are all a bunch of random fights with a text chat system. It is up to you to challenge an opponent and hope that person accepts. Once your opponent accepts you choose your character and it loads…that is where I lost connection – on a 4Mb line. I’d imagine that the 360 version will have a better setup.

Watered down Fatalities

Lastly there is an aspect that makes Mortal Kombat, well, Mortal Kombat…and it has been given the “lets hope we can sell to more” treatment. Yes, the distinguished Fatalities. You will not be hitting heads off shoulders and you certainly won’t be ripping complete spines out – it’s now a Teen rated game. I would imagine that DC had some influence in this but it just does not feel like Mortal Kombat when a game’s most important aspect over the last (gosh!) 16 years has been watered down. Now it’s just another fighter. The fatalities are but mere “more involving” looking moves. Wow, who would ever have thought that the franchise would go the commercial route? Well it has.

Overall the game, as mentioned earlier, has hits and misses. Midway have advanced in many aspects but taken several steps back in other departments. If they can stick with the good in the next installment and sort out the steps they have taken back in others we will have a Mortal Kombat on our hands that will eventually make the mould for a great 3D beat ‘em up. Till then, 2D and 3D worlds will collide.

Pros: 2D fighting is back! Some great DC characters to play with; awesome story mode.

Cons: The game not keeping up with your button presses; online seems iffy; watered down Fatalities.

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Contributor:	Dawid

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