Here we are five years later and NetherRealm has just
released their eagerly awaited newest entry in the fighting game genre – Injustice: Gods Among Us. Based solely
on DC Universe characters and using a fighting system very similar to 2011’s Mortal Kombat reboot, Injustice takes everything that worked
in that game (which was pretty amazing) and improves upon it in many ways.
There is a Story Mode which is pretty well written and
involving. Basically The Joker tricks Superman into nuking Metropolis, and in
return he kills The Clown Prince of Crime. This begins a chain reaction in which
Superman goes a little mad and begins locking down the population of the Earth
under the guise of safety, recruits hero and villain alike to help him achieve
his goals and inspires a few rebellious ones to form an insurrection. Mind you,
this is taking place in a parallel universe. When the Joker of our universe
decides to blow up Metropolis in a similar fashion, the alternate Batman kidnaps
all those involved and brings them to his world in order to avert the same fate from befalling
another dimension. They combine forces to stop the mad Superman from completely
taking over his Earth… and possibly ours.
The Story Mode took me about 6 hour to beat, and while it’s
pretty short (Mortal Kombat vs. DC
Universe had two Story Modes which took about 6 hours to beat each and Mortal Kombat’s took about 10), and even
though it’s really short I enjoyed the hell out of it. The story is dark and
violent and features a plot device I have always found intriguing - coming face
to face with a mirror image of yourself that has gone down a different path. I
ate this stuff up and found it entertaining as well as interesting. Sure there
are some hokey bits just to get certain characters to fight each other, and
there’s a particularly annoying focus on Batman for some reason, but outside of
that it’s a well thought out story (which is even more fleshed out in the
prequel comic book series) that made me want to keep playing to see what would
happen next. It doesn’t disappoint.
The controls are easy to pick up and play, but will
definitely take some time to master. The fighting system is deep and complex,
but for those not experienced in the genre it won’t be that hard to learn the
basics and whoop some ass. By cycling through the in-game move list you’ll see
that the game makers have gone so far as to include how many frames it takes to
initiate an attack and the amount it takes to recover from performing it. This
might be too much info for a layman, but to someone who spends hours battling
online this is extremely helpful.
There’s a wide array of characters to choose from, each have
their own style and special abilities. The in-game roster is: Batman, Superman,
Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Aquaman, Shazam!, Nightwing, Cyborg,
Green Arrow, Hawkgirl, Solomon Grundy, The Joker, Bane, Deathstroke, Harley
Quinn, Catwoman, Raven, Lex Luthor, Ares, Sinestro, Doomsday and Black Adam.
There will be more available for download at a later date, Lobo being confirmed
as the first of four (I WANT BLUE BEETLE!) So far my faves are The Flash, The
Joker, Wonder Woman and Aquaman. They are fast and their moves are easy to pull
off. Batman, Green Lantern, Lex Luthor, Bane and Doomsday are too slow. The
others are just mediocre or have a number of moves that seem underwhelming. I’m
not saying they’re bad. None of them I would say are bad. But I like the quick
attack types and have found my selections the most balanced thus far. The voice
actors chosen for each is perfect as well. Most reprise their roles from the
animated versions of their characters (Kevin Conroy s Batman rulz), and some
are newcomers. Adam Baldwin as Green Lantern, J.G Hertzler as Deathstroke and Stephen Amell
as Green Arrow (Amell plays the character on the WB series Arrow) are kinda awesome.
There are unique super moves for each character that are a
blast to watch play out. So far watching Superman uppercut someone so hard they
enter orbit and The Flash racing around the world to build momentum for a right
hook are the winners. I gotta give a shout out to Aquaman’s as well. I won’t
ruin the surprise, but it’s pretty awesome.
Another awesome addition was the ultra interactive
backgrounds. Each level you fight in has a number of items you can either pick
up and throw, launch off of, trigger some sort of booby trap, hit a character
into the background itself for extra damage and even knock your opponent into
another area of the level. It gives the game a new strategic element that
changes the way a typical fighting game is played. Some of the backgrounds are
more fun than others, but for the most part each is just as good as another.
One more neat fact is that certain characters interact with the backgrounds
differently than others. Where one
character might use an overhead monitor to jump off of for more distance,
another might rip it off the wall and hurl it as a weapon. It’s a clever and
unpredictable mechanic.
There are plenty of modes to choose from, from simple
one-on-one battles to missions that give you credits to spend on unlockables
and XP to level up your characters. Online fighting is a staple now and is as
lag-free as it comes. There’s a training mode to get you up to speed on moves
and more. You definitely get a lot of bang for your buck. And depending on
where you reserved your copy from you would get specific add-on content. Since
I reserved mine through Gamestop I received a few extra costumes and 20 additional
missions that revolve around the Superman story arc “Red Son”. Going through
Best Buy got you a Zombie Mode and costumes from the “Blackest Night” series.
Walmart gave you a download of Mortal
Kombat vs. DC Universe and Batman:
Arkham City costumes.
When a new fighting game comes out I always choose the PS3
version over the Xbox 360 due to the better D-pad and controller layout. It’s
always been a safe bet for me, but with Injustice
I found the controls to be a little unresponsive. Pulling off some moves in the
Training Mode is nearly impossible and in a couple of the “Red Son” missions
there is no way to get a perfect score due to this. Out of all the amazing
things the programmers did right it’s a shame that this one basic necessity is
faulty.
The graphics, as good as they are sometimes, already look
dated. NetherRealm Studios has always made their characters, especially the
ones in their cut scenes, look blocky and awkward. When I see what can be done
in a game like Halo 4, where
characters look almost photorealistic, seeing these plain and gawky models
looks like lazy programming to me. Wonder Woman looks like a dude, and that’s a
cardinal sin in my book. Sure the animations are great, but everything else is
a tad disappointing. Although I will say the still shots used during the title
screen look fantastic. Why couldn’t the in-game graphics be that awesome?!
Injustice: Gods Among Us
is a fun game that will keep me occupied for at least a month or two while I
try to unlock all its secrets. The forthcoming bonus characters will no doubt
bring me back to it repeatedly as well. There are some technical gaffs that
keep this from being as orgasmic as the Mortal
Kombat reboot, but as a starting off point for what I hope is a long
franchise of DC games, Injustice is quite
solid in its own right. Highly recommended.
4 out of 5
Injustice: Gods Among Us is available for Playstation 3, Xbox 360, WiiU and iOS.
Injustice: Gods Among Us is available for Playstation 3, Xbox 360, WiiU and iOS.
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