On the other side of the box art, Raiden and the other earth warriors have finally beaten Shao Khan, and Quan Chi opens a portal for him to escape. Khan tries to get through it, Raiden shoots it with lightning, and since it was presumably at the same time Superman shot Darkseid’s portal, things go horribly wrong.

The two stories share similar focuses, but the unique characters and confrontations make each one a different experience. Ultimately, both sides tell of how that world reacts when the heroes (and villains) learn that their universe is being “invaded” by a foreign one, bent on contaminating its inhabitants with a form of supernatural anger known as Rage, which sends even Batman and Liu Kang into murderous rages against their friends and allies.

And, in case you were wondering how someone like Superman is on equal grounds with other various DC heroes and the non-magical MK people, the answer is fairly simple (even if it’s never fully explained): the merging dimensions split his power among the participants of the game. This is particularly amusing when The Joker figures out he suddenly gained superhuman strength and decides to go beat up people he never could before.

Of course, with the inclusion of the DC characters, sacrifices and additions had to be made for the MK engine. For starters, the overly violent fatalities are gone. While I really don’t care, there are some who will refuse to buy any MK game which doesn’t feature them, so it’s worth noting.

The other new additions to the gameplay weren’t specifically labeled as being added for the benefit of DC’s characters, but given how different they feel from regular MK play and how they seem to cater to the cape crowd, I can’t help but feel they were. The first, Free Fall Kombat, takes place when you knock your opponent through a wall or off a higher plane to a lower one. By pressing attack buttons, you pummel your opponent until you build up enough momentum to unleash your strongest attack: a usually spectacular-looking move which will leave a Superman-like crater in the ground. If you’re on the receiving end, guessing which button the striker will push next will reverse the fall, and suddenly the attacker becomes the one who takes the damage. It sounds good on paper, but playing against other players results in very little action, as neither wants to push a button and give away their gameplan at the risk of adding to damage they can inflict on themselves. On the flipside, the computer almost always manages to guess your attack, and 4/5 of the time will reverse it.

In a similar vein, Klose Kombat also involves pressing attack buttons and trying to counter by pushing the correct corresponding button. By grappling with an opponent, you basically enter a wrestling-like “we’ll both hold each other and grunt” stance. Pushing buttons beats your opponent with various hard-hitting and costume-shredding attacks, but once again the computer always seems to have the advantage in terms of countering.

If there’s any weak point in the game, it’s that there just isn’t much to do once you’ve beaten the story. While you can go through the Arcade Mode and unlock the endings for all the characters, all you’ll get is a picture and a voice-over saying what your choice did after they won the MK Tournament. Unlike pretty much every Mortal Kombat game before it, MK vs DC has absolutely zero unlockables. No alternate costumes, no actual hidden characters (only Shao Khan and Darkseid as unlockables for beating the respectful story modes), no music – nothing. It severely limits the staying power of the game, because once you’ve seen the story and know how it ended … There’s really no reason to keep playing.

For that reason, I’d highly recommend MK vs DC to fans of both DC Comics and Mortal Kombat – but as a rental. The combat is fun in short bursts, but the lack of things to do once you’ve beaten the 5 hours of story makes it impossible to recommend a purchase for anyone but the most extreme Mortal Kombat fans who were going to get this game regardless of how it turned out. I’m still shocked Midway managed to pull it off and make it work so splendidly with both licenses, but even Batman and Superman can’t keep a game fun and meaningful when you’ve experienced all there is to do in the first 5 hours of play.