I still vividly remember my first experience with Mortal Kombat. At age nine or 10, its launch somehow slipped by as I did not go to arcades very often. But upon discovering it on my birthday, I knew that Midway was on to something special. The cool characters, digitized graphics and excessive blood were merely used as selling points to attract skeptical gamers hooked on Street Fighter. The Fatality system – which allowed the winner of two rounds to finish off the loser with a grotesque and life-ending performance – was the most astonishing and attention-grabbing concept ever seen in a fighting game.

But you can only perform the same fatality so many times. In the coming years, digitized graphics would be surpassed by polygons, ending the series’ run as the best-looking fighting game. That hardly mattered to its fan though, who were permanently engrossed by the unique combat engine that provided one of the most addictive game experiences of the 90s. For two games and three years, Mortal Kombat ruled arcades. MK3 arrived as arcades were beginning to fall, but even it – with iffy critical acclaim – managed to bring people back, forming long lines once more. MK4 would be the last Mortal Kombat to hit arcades; by the time Deadly Alliance arrived, gamers no longer had the urge to spend $0.50 for three minutes of play when they had PS2, Xbox and GameCube at home.

Despite the format shift, Mortal Kombat held onto its fans, who bought up two million copies of Deadly Alliance, a game that spawned two successful sequels. Last fall, Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 was finally made portable – in near-arcade-perfect form – on the Nintendo DS.

Now we have reached the dawn of a new Mortal Kombat era, one that includes – it’s old news now but was once a shocker – several characters from DC Comics. Looking back, is it really that surprising? Fighting games have been teaming up with other licenses for a long time now – just look at what Capcom did with Marvel and SNK.

There’s no question that Midway is hoping to expand Mortal Kombat’s audience by adding the DC license. With 20 different characters available (10 from MK and 10 from DC), newcomers may feel somewhat overwhelmed. There are tons of moves to learn, and while all of the normal and projectile attacks are provided in the move list (accessible at any time via the pause menu), most of the combos – especially the aerial juggle combos – must be learned on your own. The Kombo Challenge mode can help with that, however, it is much too demanding to be a worthwhile learning tool. You’re better off learning the moves by experimenting (one of the joys of the Mortal Kombat series) or by searching for them online.

The DC Comics portion includes Batman, Superman, Lex Luthor, Catwoman, The Joker, The Flash, Deathstroke, Captain Marvel, Wonder Woman and the Green Lantern. Each character has been given a different set of moves and combos that match their comic book powers and/or gadgets. Batman, for example, throws bat-shaped objects that create a mild explosion on impact. The Flash’s moves are based on speed, allowing him to teleport punch, among other things. (And dish out a whirlwind of fists faster than the others.) The Green Lantern’s moves are the most unique, forming large, semi-transparent green-colored fists and walls to grab and bash his opponents.

On the Mortal Kombat side, you get Scorpion, Sub-Zero, Liu Kang, Kitana, Baraka, Kano, Shang-Tsung, Sonya, Jax and Raiden. Their moves are what you’ll expect, plus a couple performance changes (Sub-Zero’s sliding kick move has been changed from holding multiple buttons to pushing back, forward, B), a handful of new moves (Scorpion covers himself in fire; Jax fires a gun like Stryker once did; Sub-Zero can drop a giant block of ice, etc.), a notable change for Baraka (he can fight with or without his blades drawn, creating two different sets of moves), and a bunch of new combos that are short and easy to perform.

New characters and attack moves aren’t the only changes brought on by Mortal Kombat Vs. DC Universe. There are also three new types combat – Klose Kombat, Free Fall Kombat and Test Your Might – as well as a Rage mode that enhances your fighter’s attack and defense abilities. Contrary to the videos and screenshots, which show Klose and Free Fall Kombat as being nothing more than a mini-game, they are actually very cool. In both cases, the player that initiated the attack is given the opportunity to unleash four different attacks with the A, B, X or Y buttons. You can attack up to four times, but only if your opponent doesn’t counter one of the attacks. To counter, you must try and guess which attack your opponent was going to throw and press that button just as they’re about to press it.

Test Your Might works a little differently. When fighting near a vulnerable environment (such as a building whose walls you can blast through), the attacking player will automatically push his opponent through the wall, initiating the Test Your Might scenario. The attacker must button-mash the four face buttons as fast as possible to inflict a maximum damage of 20%, while the one being attacked must button-mash to try and reduce that damage to 0%.

Rage mode is yet another type, but this one is cheap and therefore does not succeed. Many fighting games have given us the chance to charge a meter just by playing and then unleash it for a last-minute gain. Though a skilled player will be smart enough to stay back and avoid as much of the Rage assault as possible, it doesn’t really matter – this mode feels out of place. MK never used to be a game about automatic gains, but instead one where the best player can overcome any situation. It should have stayed that way.

Every character is unlocked at the start of the game. As far as the story goes, the worlds of MK and DC Comics collide when an unknown force creates a new threat. Depending on which side you choose (DC or MK), you’ll get to play as each character for roughly three to four battles. This is a good way to sample the lineup, so long as you don’t mind enduring one of the cheesiest comic book collaborations known to man. Conceptually, the idea is perfectly acceptable. But the execution is hilariously bad – the voice work is a clear reminder why fighting games aren’t really meant to have a story.

If you’ve never played a Mortal Kombat game before, chances are you haven’t spent much time with any of the traditional fighting franchises and will have to work really hard to get into the gameplay groove that makes an MK game seamless and engrossing. However, if you’re a series veteran, you’ll be feeling the complete opposite. First and foremost, it won’t take more than a night to learn the new moves. Most of the combos can be figured out in a day or two – the jugglers will take longer as there is a lot of depth behind them. The Kombo Challenge proves this with moves that appear impossible until you perform them fast enough. Then, magically, additional hits are made and further damage is inflicted.

MK fans will notice that, in replacing many of the series’ stranger (but much loved) characters with 10 DC heroes and villains, the developers have also decided to give them some old moves. Lex Luthor can shoot a lock-on missile, just like Sektor. Superman has Kano’s laser eye attack – to differentiate between the two, the developers made Kano’s attack weaker. The Flash has been given Kabal’s dizzying spin move – an excellent decision given how perfectly the move fits with The Flash’s style. But the rest seem too … familiar. And it’s not the first time an MK game has done this. With MK4, they replaced many of our favorite characters with newcomers like Tanya and Jarek who received moves from old characters like Sindel and Kano. Tekken and SoulCalibur have done the same thing. I know that’s the way of the genre now, and that we may never get another fighting game where every character has unique moves (Arcana Heart came very close this year). But these developers need to realize that drawing a new aesthetic is not the same as designing a new character.

Beyond that, players have several Fatalities and Brutalities to master. Many are rehashed from the previous MK games; most have been toned down to achieve the desired Teen (age 13+) rating. Arguably, in today’s world, where blood and guts are so common in games, no Fatality could have had the same effect on this game as the Fatalities did on the first MK. But that’s partially because Mortal Kombat Vs. DC Universe looks like it was designed for a comic book. The faces are more realistic but the characters are closer to a 3D cartoon (think DreamWorks animation) than they are, say, the characters in Resident Evil 5 or Metal Gear Solid 4.

Having known about this change since the day it was announced, the lack of realistic finishing moves did not disappoint me in any way. But I fear for the MK faithful who has only heard a little about the game and, upon playing it for the first time, wonders what happened to his beloved series. Tears are not out of the question – angry message board postings have already occurred.

Like or loathe the Fatality system, one thing all MK fans can agree on – especially those who love UMK3 – is that the series thrived on hyper gameplay. The speed and intensity of every battle has been crucial to the game’s success. But in keeping with the theme of making the series more mainstream, Mortal Kombat Vs. DC Universe is the slowest sequel yet. The combos are more traditional, with the ability to jump in fist-first and begin pounding on your opponent. But the characters move more slowly than in MK2. You won’t notice a difference after starting a combo, but every other action – walking, running, jumping and most painfully performing projectiles – is arduously slow.

The run button – a key feature introduced in MK3 – has been replaced by a function that every other fighting game uses: tap the D-pad (toward your opponent) twice to run forward. That may be good enough for Tekken but it isn’t good enough here. It’s clunky and hard to work with – if you’re not standing 10 feet or more away from your opponent, the run won’t even work. That may not seem like a notable issue to Johnny Newcomer, but MK veterans know that it is essential to manage every inch between you and your opponent.

As expected, the online experience mirrors that of the offline multiplayer, which is still limited to just two players. That’s not a complaint – fighting games rarely work well in a three-or-more environment (Smash Bros. and Power Stone are a bit different from the MKs, Tekkens, Virtua Fighters and SoulCaliburs of the world, so I’m not counting them). But if you go online expecting something more than the offline experience, you’re going to be disappointed. There are ranked and non-ranked matches, private matches for you and a specific player, and the ability to create a room or join an existing one. Since you can only battle one opponent at a time, the standard room setup is kind of pointless. It might have been better to offer a 3D view of players (an avatar system might have worked) waiting in a line with virtual quarters notably placed on an arcade cabinet. This wouldn’t have served any gameplay purpose, but it would have created an interesting visual for the majority of MK’s fans, who no doubt remember playing it at arcades.

In the long-term, I am hoping that the disappointment that came with the lack of speed and other flaws will wither away, just as MK4’s flaws eventually did, and that I will grow to love and become obsessed with every part of Mortal Kombat Vs. DC Universe. Whatever happens, a valuable lesson needs to be learned: you can keep the license and align Mortal Kombat with whomever you please. But don’t let the series’ fundamentals slip away in the process.

Gameplay: 7.9
Klose, but no MK2 or MK3, Mortal Kombat Vs. DC Universe is an entertaining game with 20 characters and hundreds of moves to master. Unfortunately, most MK fans have already mastered the basics and will not be challenged by the new moves or combos. Klose and Free Fall Kombat are great (though small) additions, and the Test Your Might feature is pretty fun as well. Having the ability to jump into was one of my favorite features from UMK3, so it's great to see it return. But the lack of speed (these fighters move very sluggishly) is hugely disappointing.

Graphics: 8
The comic-book graphics aren't what I was hoping for prior to the game's announcement. My vision was for an ultra-gory, ultra-realistic MK that would make Grand Theft Auto seem tame. I still want that for the next MK sequel, but it has to be said that MK's artists have done a great job of making the comic book visuals come to life. The projectile attacks are drenched in beautiful colors and animation, the backgrounds are rich with detail and exquisite architecture, and most of the characters look and move pretty well. The Fatalities suck, but didn't we all see that coming? You can't achieve a Teen rating without making huge sacrifices.

Sound: 7.5
Having love MK's music and sound effects (and even the voice announcing "Round 1: Fight!"), it was easy to enjoy the sounds of MK Vs. DC Universe. But when other games have great music and/or sound (Silent Hill quickly comes to mind), the composers and sound designers add several new pieces to each sequel, expanding on the variety. MK Vs. DC Universe, however, doesn't sound all that different from the other MK titles.

Difficulty: Easy
Newcomers beware; series veterans, prepare for a hearty Shao Kahn laugh.

Concept: 7.0
Rage mode aside, the new combat types are great. But the Fatality reductions were not smart, even if it was the only way to secure the Teen rating, nor was it wise to reduce the gameplay speed. Speed is what MK thrives on. How could you take that away?

Multiplayer: 8.0
The online combat may not offer any brand-new thrills, but whether playing on Xbox Live or with a friend in the same room, there is no better way to experience a Mortal Kombat game. MK Vs. DC Universe included.

Overall: 7.9
So close in many ways but way off in others, Mortal Kombat Vs. DC Universe doesn't move the series forward so much as it tries to redefine what Mortal Kombat should be about. We could "if this" or "if that" all day long, but ultimately, Midway has created a game that MK fans will enjoy while being greatly disappointed.