I see a lot of people absolutely hating on MK v DC around here. I admit, I was originally one of the biggest detractors. When I heard MK v DC was coming I had a Raiders of the Lost Ark melting face reaction. How do you take the series that started it all...the one game series that can probably take the most, if not ALL OF THE CREDIT for the creation of the ESRB, and make it into a T-rated game? Less blood. Subdued fatalities. And DC super heroes. A recipe for utter disaster.
Hardly.
MK v DC was the best MK game since MK2, in my opinion. And as Pat pointed out, probably the best thing to happen to MK as a whole. When I picked it up and gave it a go, I was immediately drawn into the game play. Despite being a 3D game, it had a distinctly 2D feel. It had MK2/MK3 fluidity to it all over again. When MK went 3D it had this certain...static feeling to it. The animations just didn't flow, it felt so cartoonish and rigid. Going 3D was the worst possibly thing for MK. They tried...they were already years behind the competition so they wanted to try their hat in the 3D arena, but they failed miserably. DA was sluggish and choppy, Deception improved the speed but was still Rigid, and ArMEHgeddon was just a rush job version of Deception with a every conceivable character, though the sluggishness of DA seemed to return...obliterating the MK story along with it.
People b**ch and moan about the fatalities. Seriously? They were the BEST fatalities since MK2. The T rating forced them to be creatives. How do you violently kill your opponent within the confines of a T rating? Well, they pulled it off. It was no less violent that any of your other T-rated games...if anythign they pushed the limits as far as they could go for T. If you remember, Boon mentioned a few times that they kept failing to pass a T rating because the fatalities were too violent. They had to do a lot of cutting, and they still came up with some good ones. I liked Raiden's shocker, and both of Scorpion's. Sub-Zero's both completely destroyed the body with vicious ice-based fatalities. And some of those Heroic Brutalities were pretty cool. I liked Captain Marvel's SHAZAM brutality in particular.
Give me ANY of MK v DC's fatalities, even the lamest ones ANY DAY over the following fatalities:
Quan Chi neck stretch (DA), Li Mei Tummy Kick Popcorn Head (DA)....aw heck let's face it. I'll take any MK v DC fatality over ANY fatality from MK3 or MKDA.
I know Deception had some pretty good ones, but at the same time they were all super goofy. You can tell that they really tried, but either ran out of ideas or just didn't have time to make them really extra brutal. I appreciated a lot of the Death Traps but I prefer pits rather than gory ring-outs, since they get old quick. Sometimes you don't need excessive amounts of blood to have a really good fatality. I admit, Jax and Kano had terrible fatalities but you know what? In every MK game, there's always a few characters that have terrible fatalities.
Furthermore, I got the most longevity out of MKvDC. Deception had Konquest mode but it got so monotonous that after a while you jsut want to finish it and hope that it ends soon. MKvDC kept me playing. I attribute a lot of that to the kombo challenges (some of which were ridiculously hard) and getting achievements.
And overall, the reason why MKvDC SAVED Mortal Kombat is that it had huge sales, it partnered the MK team with Warner Bros., and it definitely influenced WB's bid to acquire the MK team. And now look what we have? The BEST Mortal Kombat ever. Back to 2D. Ultra violent. TONS and TONS of content. Why all the great stuff now?
Simple.
Midway SUCKS. They were quantity over quality. How many games can they get out before the quarter number crunch? That's all they cared about...getting out half-assed games as quickly as possible. Midway was one of the original arcade kings that failed miserably when they forgot how to market their games and support their teams. The MK team was forever rushed, never able to implement their ideas because Midway told them "GET IT OUT THE DOOR, NOW".
WB is BETTER. They have money. They are patient. They gave NRS all the time, resources and leeway that they needed. If Midway were still around, this game that is coming one month from now would never be. Either it would be yet another 3D MK that is forgotten in less than a month when its replay runs out, or it just never would've existed and went the way of the dinosaur when Midway filed for bankruptcy. Instead, we have a game that we can clearly see has financial backing and a lot of love and care put into it.
So yes. MK v DC was a blessing. Maybe it didn't satisfy your bloodlust, but by teasing the myriad MK fans it got the blood rage flowing. I can guarantee you that every single person who said "THIS IS IT! I AM NEVER PLAYING MK AGAIN BECAUSE OF THIS!" are currently the new game's biggest supporters.
I will always cherish MK v DC for marrying the MK development team to WB. The greatest thing that ever happened.
Cheers.