As more and more information continues to pour in concerning Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe, I can finally admit that I’m torn on the subject. I want to hate this concept, but Ed Boon continues to show why I should love and embrace it rather than cast it out and deem it unfit to join the MK family. Why must you play with my emotions, Ed Boon?

I ultimately decided that I had to think of what directions this game could go, and I’ve been given plenty of information to assist in my speculations. I decided to imagine into the future and give solid reasons why I think a portion is good or bad. Good? Bad? I’m the guy with the Mortal Kombat fetish.

The first thing that truly made me smile while watching the video package that Midway released was the character animations. When I saw the first trailer that pitted Batman against Sub-Zero, I thought to myself, “This is bad - stiff bad. I sincerely hope that they don’t plan to continue with this and try to sell a product.” But, thankfully, they crushed my old opinion with a video that showcased brilliant animation and fighting that could be called “exciting.”

But what about the actual gameplay with this smooth animation? Obviously, we haven’t had the chance to grab a controller and test drive this one, so are we being set up for the fall on the gameplay aspect? So far, it looks like it. I noticed that both Superman and Scorpion were basically using the same attacks, and these attacks appeared to be linking together in the same combo fashion that was introduced in Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance. Not to say that this is completely bad, it looked like this aging system received a burst of speed that it needed all along. The action flowed smoothly and quickly. I was definitely impressed.

The one thing that has me daydreaming as the fact that multiple fighting styles haven’t been confirmed yet. At this point, I have to believe that these are necessary or the gameplay will be stale. Of course this wouldn’t entirely fit with the DC Universe characters, but I’m hoping that the MK Team understands that they’re trying to create a fighting game, and Mortal Kombat should be the dominant brand in this game. I’m also certain that if the multiple fighting styles return, then certainly the weapons styles will return as well. I believe that, with enough work and imagination, huge, three style chain combos that were popularized in MK:DA and MK: Deception could make a return and be mixed in with special moves to create visually impressive and complex chain combos that will force players to practice and become better at the game.

I don’t want to keep talking about the basic gameplay and overlook the new features that will be introduced with this title. The Klose Kombat system is very interesting, the free fall mode seems to be a great addition, and the wall smash/Test Your Might mini-game also makes me give the thumbs up. What I’m terrified of is that my previous paragraph isn’t going to happen, and this is the MK Team’s idea of making up for that fact. “The gameplay is mind-numbingly stale, but you get to fly through the air and still fight!” This isn’t Dragonball Z, and hopefully the rest of the MK community isn’t buying it. Don’t get me wrong. This looks so promising that I actually applauded when I watched the video. But I want these features to be extras rather than replacements, and hopefully I’m speaking for everyone on this subject.

However, these features could be replacing the ill-received stage interactions that have been with the MK series since Deadly Alliance(remember those stupid statues that spit acid?). I wasn’t really impressed with the Desert stage in Deception, and I thought that the Tower stage in the same game could be pretty cheap at times. Stage interaction is cool, but I’m not too keen on it when the interaction involves cheap chipping damage along with the animation. I especially dislike the stage fatalities. The name of the stage with a good thousand of them escapes me, but it was the most annoying stage in Armageddon.

There is a good chunk of the community that agrees with me on this one, so how would the MK Team appease us and not repeat something that’s already been done? Welcome again to the new interactions. Falling down a long cliff and being able to attack or defend and have a chance is far more fun than being shoved into a stage trap or stage fatality by someone who is just looking for a cheap win. It provides a desire to build skill and a sporting chance rather than an underhanded scheme. The interaction with the walls seems to be a different spin on stage traps, but I suppose that is something we will have to accept and/or hate.

There are so many people going insane over the game’s potential roster. I’ll admit that I’m not a DC fan, but I’m definitely game for speculating the MK roster. We’ve already seen Sub-Zero, Scorpion, Sonya, and Shang Tsung from the MK side, and we’ve been treated to Superman, Batman, Catwoman, the Flash, and the unveiling of the Joker from the DC side. We know that Liu Kang, Kitana, Jax, Captain Marvel, and the Green Lantern are also confirmed for the game. But there isn’t much else known about the roster at this time. A strong rumor from MortalKombatOnline.com suggests that Kabal will be showing up for the MK side, but I don’t believe that the MK Team would want to have two characters with similar moves(the Flash and Kabal) show up on the same game. I hate to say it, but the Flash would make Kabal look pitiful in comparison. There’s no need to do something like that. I believe that we will see Baraka show up mainly as a show of MK’s brutal side. Brutal side, eh? We’ll cover that soon enough.

The thing that really interests me when I push the hate out of my mind and actually imagine is the story mode that will be in the game. Would the story truly be as simple as DC characters fighting MK characters? I don’t think so. That would make for a boring day. However, DC heroes and MK heroes teaming up to take down supervillains and MK villains sounds like a winning package. If they took this approach, I believe that it could be one of the greatest crossover stories ever told, and it would make the competition utterly jealous. I’m hoping that I come out correct on this one.

The announcement that Fatalities would indeed be a reality for MK characters and supervillains was definitely needed to take some of the pressure off of the ever growing fan hatred this title originally attracted. I’ll admit that I was one of the people who arrived only to take a baseball bat to the idea and bid it farewell by catching it ablaze. However, this made me happier. I wasn’t exactly overjoyed, but this was a step in the right direction in my view. I mainly wasn’t thrilled because the announcement at the time is that the superheroes would get nothing. Ed Boon recently corrected this information with news that superheroes would perform Brutalities. Are we talking about the oldschool Brutalities that appeared during the MK3/UMK3/Trilogy era? Boon didn’t bother to confirm, and I think that it will be a watered down version of what we think of when we hear “Brutality.” I’m sure that the opponent would get the beating of a lifetime, but something tells me that there won’t be an explosion and body parts raining from the sky this go around - though I wouldn’t complain if there were.

Overall, the game continues to actually become better in my eyes as more and more information is released. I’d love to see all of my ideas appear in the title, but that’s probably not happening. For now, I can only hope for the best. But something tells me that I won’t be receiving the worst afterall. I can now rest peacefully.

I still say that Ed Boon is trying to manipulate me.