The Vile One's Dungeon: San Diego Comic Con 2008 - Mortal Kombat VS. DC Universe Preview and Party
Posted by Jeffrey Harris on 07.31.2008
The Vile One tests his might with the clash of the MKU and the DCU!
Mortal Kombat/DCU Party
On Fifth Avenue at the joint Thin, Midway through a slamming party in order to promote their upcoming release, Mortal Kombat vs. DC. Besides the demo of this game set-up, attendees could also check out their demo of TNA Impact due out this fall, The Wheelman which is a new game starring Vin Diesel.
This was my first chance to finally play TNA Impact, and overall it was very satisfying. Midway reps say their main focus was getting the game-play right in this one rather than all the other things like story modes, entrances, and what not. That's cool and all because I've been rapidly getting tired of the game-play style of the Smackdown vs. RAW series. In this game for example if you are punching a guy they won't suddenly fall outside the ring. Controls have a learning curve, but they work pretty good. The matches and action are both very fun. Ultimate X was one of the selectable match types and it is hella fun to play. It reminded me of trying the ladder match feature for the first time in THQ/Aki's Wrestlemania 2000. Ultimate X looks like it will be the coolest thing to do in the game, and its mechanics really work.
If there's a problem I noticed, it seems that the wrestlers seem to share a lot of the same generic move. It's a little annoying when the easiest grapple move to pull off for everybody is a death valley driver. Sting never does a death vallery driver. Character designs are very accurate and detailed for the next-gen consoles, but we already knew that. I did hint to the Midway reps that they should use other storyline consultants than Vince Russo, and they seemed to note that a lot of people aren't big fans of him. I did explain to the Midway reps that while I'm very excited about the games, I'm not too keen on the TNA product, which they also seem to be familiar with. Midway also confirmed that new downloadable content will be available on a more than likely monthly basis for the game. This includes new players, and Midway says there can be almost no limit to it in addition to your created wrestlers. Title divisions you can compete for are world heavyweight, x division, and tag team. Color me convinced because I'm all for the TNA video game right now.
I finally got the chance to sit down and take a gander at the MK/DCU game without being surrounded, mauled, and squashed by throngs of people. The demo set up allowed Scorpion, Sonya, Shang Tsung, and Sub-Zero to be played on the MK side, while you could play as Batman, Superman, The Flash, and Catwoman on the DC side. Controls are good, and the grapple system for this game is really fun. This new grapple/striking system is called "Klose Kombat". You can blast your opponents through walls like previous MK game environments. Since I haven't been into MK games for a while, I'm not sure if this is an original feature, but in this game you opponents become visibly bruised, bloodied, and torn up as the fight goes on. Very nice.
While there is blood and fatalities, the violence has been considerably toned down from previous MK games. I spoke with one of the original creators of the MK series, Ed Boon, about this. Boon basically confirmed my thought that there was no way DC was going to let them show Batman or Superman getting their heads ripped off or their spines ripped out. And it's my understanding that the DC fighters can only basically use what are brutalities as their finishers. Boon also said he's still the voice of Scorpion after all these years.
DC Comics writer of Power Girl and Jonah Hex, Jimmy Palmiotti, was also in attendance at the party. Palmiotti serves as the story/scenario writer in the game. The basic idea is the vs. aspect of the DC world vs. the MK world. However, a certain person who remained nameless at the party is the cause of it. So it is the heroes of the MK and DC worlds up against the villains of the MK and DC worlds.
At Con, Midway also announced in addition to the characters previewed in the game, other playable characters will include The Joker, Kitana, Jax, and the Green Lantern. Midway also released an official image of Joker from the game below.
Official image of Joker from the MK/DCU video game.
God this game looks bad. I could really care less about Mortal Kombat at this point, and really, a DC fighting game with a huge DC roster would have been better.
Posted By: jiu (Guest) on July 31, 2008 at 02:33 AM
Can't wait for this one. I am willing to concede on the blood and guts, so long as I get to whoop batman's ass with Scorpion, and vice versa.
Posted By: Toddo (Guest) on August 19, 2008 at 11:22 AM
Great character selections for both MK and DC so far. Can't wait to play this.
Posted By: Brent (Guest) on August 25, 2008 at 11:53 AM
"God this game looks bad. I could really care less about Mortal Kombat at this point, and really, a DC fighting game with a huge DC roster would have been better.
Posted By: jiu (Guest) on July 31, 2008 at 02:33 AM"
Ever since Mortal Kombat Gold on Dreamcast got mercilessly bitchslapped by Soul Calibur, Dead or Alive 2 and Virtua Fighter 3 Team Battle around the DC's launch, MK has gone down the tubes.
Imagine DC comic characters in the hands of people who actually know how to make decent fighting games. I don't think that this has ever happened (Justice League Task Force on the SNES was fecal), and I don't expect Midway to break the drought.
Posted By: WadeMcG (Guest) on August 27, 2008 at 04:00 AM
