Mortal Kombat creator Ed Boom and comics creator Jimmy Palmiotti at the Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe Panel at San Diego Comic-Con 2008
© Rob Worley
SDCC: Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe Panel
By: Rob M. WorleyDate: Friday, July 25, 2008
Mortal Kombat creator Ed Boom and comics creator Jimmy Palmiotti presented the upcoming video game release 'Mortal Kombat vs. The DC Universe' a full room of excited fans at Comic-Con Internation, San Diego today.
The game represesnts a melding of the flagship fight game with cinematic storytelling to create a unique crossover experience for fans of both franchises.
Palmioitti, along with frequent collaborator Justin Grey are writing the story, which explains the melding of the two universes and the reason its inhabitants are slugging it out in the famous bloodsport.
Fans were treated to fantastic looking gameplay footage which saw Superman battling Scorpion, Batman duking it out with Sub-Zero, Catwoman trading blows with Sonya and The Flash going toe to toe with Shang Tsung.
Game settings included a devastated metropolis and a dismal Gotham City, along with more traditionals MK-type arenas.
During the presentation it was also revealed that Shazam, Green Lantern (Hal Jordan) and The Joker were set to appear as playable characters and models of those characters were displayed. Jax and Liu Kang are newly revealed characters appearing on the MK side.
Fans are assured that there were several other characters yet to be revealed , as well as a "Really cool big boss," appearing at the end, Palmiotti said. However they remaind tight-lipped about furhter details.
They did say that the game is to be rated T, so the games famous fininshing moves, the "Fatalites" have been toned down a bit. Further, the DC heroes would not be engaging in Fatalities, but would instead inflict "Brutalities" on their opponents. Villains such as the Joker would use Fatalities.
The storyline can be followed through different persepctives, depending on whether you favor the DCU or the Mortal Kombat characters.
Boon said that they were careful to make sure the fighting styles and moves of the DC characters were consistant with what fans would expect. During the gameplay video Catwoman was seen as a very agile martial attist with at least one special move being a bloody claw rake. Flash looked amazing zipping across the battle field in a blur, chopping at his opponents from every angle. During the subsequent slide presentation, several frames clearly depicted Shazam using his lightning as a weapon.
Fans saw a number of cool transitional elements that take place turing the fight and are fully playable. Combatants can fall off the fight platform but continue to struggle and battle on the way down. During a bout with Sonya, Flash pummled her on the way down and then engaged in a tornado spin, slamming her to the platform below.
Another such transition saw Superman crashing Scoprion into the wall of a building, with the momentum carrying them inside, smashing through wall after wall, fighting all the while.
The slide presentation revealed many more fight settings, including the Batcave, the Fortress of solitude, Gotham City rooftops.
The character costumes were all recognizable, but some had minor tweaks to suit the video game. Batman, for example, wears the grey tights with the black bat (no yellow circle) on his chest. Hoever the detail of the suit included joint seams that made the tights appear slightly more armor-like.
Boon also explained that, should two players select the same DCU hero, there would be some variation in the suits to keep the gameplay clear. However, he said the process of designing and selecting costumes to use required approval from DC and he wasn't completely sure how much they were going to be allowed to do with regards to alternate costumes.
All in all the game got a good reaction from the crowd, who immediately started asking for more crossovers, including New Line monsters, indie superheroes and, of course, Marvel.
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