Crossovers suck. From The Flintstones meeting The Jetsons to the Harlem Globetrotters meeting Scooby Doo, there has never been a justifiably good crossover besides the satirical The Critic meets the Simpsons, which actually made fun of the whole idea of crossovers, and Marvel Vs. Capcom, which surprisingly worked beyond any level of comprehension.
But the idea of the Otherworldly beings in the Mortal Kombat universe meeting the Justice League and their super-powered reject friends just sounds stupid from the get-go and here’s why—Both Mortal Kombat and the DC Universe are wildy unbalanced. Okay, okay, okay, you can tell me until you’re vermillion in the face that a match-up between Servbot from Mega Man doesn’t seem like a fair match-up against The Incredible Hulk, but the Capcom universe has always been bound in a sense of never mind the story-lines, just stick to the multi-hit combos. And that’s what makes Marvel vs. Capcom 2 so much damn fun—you’re not being asked to think, just to rub your flat palm against the buttons quickly during combos. But Mortal Kombat has always prided itself over its storylines, even if they suck, and the idea of the DC Universe, with its ultra-powerful Superman facing off against a lowly grunt like Baraka, just sounds idiotic, even if Ed Boon does say that the DC characters have been weakened to make it a fair fight.
The fact of the matter, though, is that this DC Universe game doesn’t have enough well-rounded characters to really sell the crossover in the first place. Checking out the new list, DC is throwing in fan-favorites like Superman, Green Latern and the Flash, but leaving less powerful Joes like Sgt. Rock, Lobo, and Sandman out of the mix because they may not have the appeal of a Batman, Wonder Woman or a Darkseid. Of course, a character like Sgt. Rock would NEVER make it into this game since it doesn’t gel well with the overall storyline, but why does this game need a storyline to begin with? Can’t it just be a bunch of brutes duking it out, Mugen-style, just because it sounds like an interesting premise? Do we really need to sell this crossover to the fans, causing all kinds of hubbub amongst both the DC lovers (Superman could kick Raiden’s ass any day!), and the Mortal Kombat acolytes (What? No dismemberments? Come on!)?
Fighting games, unlike RPGs, which need a storyline to sustain themselves, are not about storylines and never should be. Similar to a martial arts picture, (excluding all these new artsy fartsy ones about love and iridescent colors), the storylines will always lag behind the actual combat, as it should be in video games as well. And when that interesting combat is taken away in exchange for some ridiculous scenario where the DC Universe battles the Mortal Kombat warriors, then you’re just looking to run into some problems from the start, many of which I’ve already pointed out.
But maybe I’m wrong. Maybe it’ll be totally awesome. If it is, then this will be the first MK since the fourth one that I will have actually liked, and the first DC game since Batman for the old, change-my-contrast-please, Gameboy that I’ve even found tolerable. If it does rock, I’ll eat my own words with catsup and sauerkraut, I promise you that.
But the idea of the Otherworldly beings in the Mortal Kombat universe meeting the Justice League and their super-powered reject friends just sounds stupid from the get-go and here’s why—Both Mortal Kombat and the DC Universe are wildy unbalanced. Okay, okay, okay, you can tell me until you’re vermillion in the face that a match-up between Servbot from Mega Man doesn’t seem like a fair match-up against The Incredible Hulk, but the Capcom universe has always been bound in a sense of never mind the story-lines, just stick to the multi-hit combos. And that’s what makes Marvel vs. Capcom 2 so much damn fun—you’re not being asked to think, just to rub your flat palm against the buttons quickly during combos. But Mortal Kombat has always prided itself over its storylines, even if they suck, and the idea of the DC Universe, with its ultra-powerful Superman facing off against a lowly grunt like Baraka, just sounds idiotic, even if Ed Boon does say that the DC characters have been weakened to make it a fair fight.
The fact of the matter, though, is that this DC Universe game doesn’t have enough well-rounded characters to really sell the crossover in the first place. Checking out the new list, DC is throwing in fan-favorites like Superman, Green Latern and the Flash, but leaving less powerful Joes like Sgt. Rock, Lobo, and Sandman out of the mix because they may not have the appeal of a Batman, Wonder Woman or a Darkseid. Of course, a character like Sgt. Rock would NEVER make it into this game since it doesn’t gel well with the overall storyline, but why does this game need a storyline to begin with? Can’t it just be a bunch of brutes duking it out, Mugen-style, just because it sounds like an interesting premise? Do we really need to sell this crossover to the fans, causing all kinds of hubbub amongst both the DC lovers (Superman could kick Raiden’s ass any day!), and the Mortal Kombat acolytes (What? No dismemberments? Come on!)?
Fighting games, unlike RPGs, which need a storyline to sustain themselves, are not about storylines and never should be. Similar to a martial arts picture, (excluding all these new artsy fartsy ones about love and iridescent colors), the storylines will always lag behind the actual combat, as it should be in video games as well. And when that interesting combat is taken away in exchange for some ridiculous scenario where the DC Universe battles the Mortal Kombat warriors, then you’re just looking to run into some problems from the start, many of which I’ve already pointed out.
But maybe I’m wrong. Maybe it’ll be totally awesome. If it is, then this will be the first MK since the fourth one that I will have actually liked, and the first DC game since Batman for the old, change-my-contrast-please, Gameboy that I’ve even found tolerable. If it does rock, I’ll eat my own words with catsup and sauerkraut, I promise you that.
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