‘Mortal Kombat' a bit too reliable

• By JOSHUA WASCOM
• Special to 2theadvocate.com
• Published: Jan 9, 2009 - UPDATED: 2:20 p.m.

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While it doesn’t have quite the tactical depth seen in today’s fighting games and never really tries to be innovative in any way, “Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe” manages to both feel like a Mortal Kombat game and justify the inclusion of the comic book characters.

The game’s story revolves around the mysterious fusion of the two universes, and you can control all 20 characters – 10 from each universe – to figure out what’s happening, or you can just pick anyone and start beating up friends, the computer or people on the Internet.

While it isn’t a surprise that the Mortal Kombat characters feel right, it is nice to see that the DC characters are well-handled. While they’re mostly the biggest names in the Justice League, a few lesser-known characters have been thrown in for good measure (with Deathstroke probably being the least well-known). All of them, though, have moves, sets and animations that work well in a Mortal Kombat game and feel appropriate for the character.

Somewhat less surprising is the story, which is more or less exactly what you’d expect from a game called “Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe” – simplistic, straightforward and fairly silly. There’s a great deal of “and then Batman shows up, and they fight,” but some of the cinematics still manage to be fun.

“Exactly what you’d expect” describes not just the story but the game as a whole. There aren’t really any surprises, pleasant or otherwise. The basic fighting mechanics are a fun – if slightly too safe – retread of the old Mortal Kombat style. The fatalities, always a staple of Mortal Kombat games, are present, but in an age where games like “God of War” have taken mid-fight cinematics to incredible levels, they just aren’t as impressive as they used to be.

There are a few smaller new touches, though. A few quick minigame-like contests break up the fights, and while they never exactly get tedious, the novelty wears off pretty quickly. The new “Rage” system lets you build up power as you attack and get hit, then use it to break combos and perform unblockable attacks. Again, it’s not anything groundbreaking, but it can really turn a fight around if used carefully, and gives the fights a bit of much-needed additional complexity.

Even though it never really does anything new, the game can be a lot of fun, particularly for those who happen to be fans of both franchises. Ultimately, though, the fighting mechanics are too simple to give the game much replay value for many players, so I’d recommend a rental first.