After several years of competition with many fighting games such as Street Fighter, Virtue Fighter, Tekken and Marvel vs. Capcom, Mortal Kombat has returned to the game universe again and ready for the top spot. In 2008, the competition was between the fighting games Soul Calibur 4 and Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe. Although the two were excellent fighting games, Mortal Kombat vs. DC still pulled away with the better game.
Mortal Kombat had an excellent storyline of colliding both the Kombat world and Earth together, forcing the two sides to fight each other. Mortal Kombat had the original classics such as Lui Kang, Scorpion, and Sub-Zero, and DC had classics such as Superman, Batman and Flash. With the rise of superhero movies, this is a great addition to the video game world and an excellent time to release it.
The graphics are amazing and the combos fit right along with it. There are several levels to choose from and you also have the option to play the tournament mode, in which you select either the Kombat fighters, DC fighters, or a mixed tournament.
You can also play the storyline, which is interesting to play and understand why and how the two worlds collide.
The game was released late last year and hit the stores running. Mortal Kombat vs. DC had a few small problems that kept it from being the No. 1 game of the year, including the lack of characters. Although the two worlds had their own share of characters – which were all classics – you still have only about 18-20 fighters on the game.
Mortal Kombat had some major superstars but was also missing classical fighters such as Reptile, Smoke and Johnny Cage. DC was in the same situation. They were missing fighters like Robin, Two-Face, Aqua Man, etc.
Another major downfall of the game were the fatalities, one of Mortal Kombat’s highlights. As a child, I remember that nothing about the game was exciting until the screen got dark. That’s when you knew you hit the right buttons to do the fatality. On Mortal Kombat vs. DC,, the DC characters are not made to kill people, so the fatalities are not as violent as they have been in the past.
I can see this game beginning a new era of competition, if Marvel vs. Capcom were to begin their series again. I guess we have one more game to see before we can say Mortal Kombat vs. DC is the best fighting game that came out within the year. That will be answered in March when the rise of Street Fighter 4 becomes available in stores.
I give Mortal Kombat 8 out of 10 and the title of best fighting game of 2008.