Its the first thing that comes to my mind when thinking about how I should recap my first couple of hours with Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe. The "feeling" of Mortal Kombat in this game is PURE. It hasnt been this pure since Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. After all the sidetracks and sidestepping this series has done since then its a blessing to play this game and just feel straight from the start that this is fucking MK ! Badass, wonderful, smooth MK. The fighting engine feels suprisingly tight and the fights themselves feels more cinematic than in any other fighting game to come out this year. Emphasis has been pu on cinematic cameraviews, epic cinematic music and moves that breaks up the fight for some cinematic goodness. Special moves have been streamlined a bit and they seem more easy to pull off. No more standing there trying to pull of a "down, back, punch" special move just to have your character duck, step back a bit and punch instead of doing the special move. Special moves can be stringed together to form very spectacular jugglecombos and the feeling of pulling it off is a real rush. Theres not much downtime between combos. You always feel that you move very smoothly between them and still you feel that you can back off and distance yourself to your opponent if you need to.
The fighting also feels 10 times more "heavy" than in any other fighting game on the market right now. Alot of careful soundwork has been put into the use of your subwoofer. The hits will really shake the room you´re sitting in, further strenghtening the cinematic feel. The announcer voice is the same as always but hes been upgraded to sound more "surround" and more "subwoofer" than before and it sounds nothing short of spectacular to hear him scream "Test Your Might".
The feeling of playing MK vs DC is really the best thing about this game. It feels heavy, cinematic and very tight.
Midway have also succeeded in blending new with old to hit that perfect sweet spot between freshness and nostalgia.

Not until I turned on the game for the first time did I realize that the game actually uses Unreal Engine 3 like every other game these days. Ive seen that engine in many genres now but I did not think I would find it fueling a fighting game. Naturally the game comes out looking spectacular when dealing with that engine. With the powerhouse of the Unreal engine midway has really gone to town on the characters. The design is very over the top Mortal Kombat just like it should be and the game runs without a hitch anywhere. Theres some wierd loading times when navigating menus or restarting a fight but compared to some other titles that have licensed the Unreal Engine 3 its a small price to pay.
Overall this game is probably up there in the top 3 runners for game of the year for me so far. Its been like playing tetris and just seeing everything fall into place during these first hours. The story is cheesy in a totally good way and it really should be. I mean comic book characters clashing with Mortal Kombat characters. Its really a sight to behold. Yet it feels completely natural. The DC side dosent feel misplaced or wierd. Its just fun to see Scorpion interact with The Joker, very fun.