Specifically, you're playing what amounts to UMK3 done right.
You play against the computer, you play in story mode, or you play online, but you're playing a fighting game the entire time. All you get when you open the box is the central fighting game there are no gimmicky minigames and no quasi-action-RPG.
MKvDC is very stripped-down by comparison. One of the notable things about the last few Mortal Kombat games is that the actual fighting has been almost peripheral between Puzzle Kombat, Motor Kombat, Kreate-A-Character, and Konquest, post-Deadly Alliance MK games were so packed with features that the central gameplay may have suffered for it. In a weird sort of way, that may have rebounded to the game's benefit. DC Universe may wind up being the company's swan song. Midway's in a pretty fair amount of trouble as I write this they're bleeding money and facing bankruptcy.
