Injustice Gods Among Us
NetherRealm Studios is back with their next fighter, the much anticipated Injustice Gods Among Us staring just about everyone's favorite DC heroes and villains including Superman, Batman, Joker, Luthor, Wonder Woman, Black Adam, Green Lantern, to name just a few. Fans of DC heroes and villains will want to get their mits on this game. The rest of you, well, maybe. And Maybe not. Read on and decide for yourselves.
Injustice Trailer Youtube vid by: IGN
Injustice Story Mode
One of the best things about Injustice Gods Among Us is that NetherRealm Studios took the time to include an actual story, a real narrative to better immerse you into the games in a way that many fighting games out there just can't be bothered to do for whatever reason. Obviously, Injustice will capture the audience and players of the people who grew up reading the comics and watching their favorite heroes and villains on T.V. after school and on the weekends.
What if Batman put a stop to Joker?
So what happens? Why Injustice to begin with? Basically, Joker tricks Superman into killing Louis and their unborn child while simultaneously setting off a nuclear device in the heart of Metropolis. The Man of Steel snaps and brings the whole world under heel to, in his mind, prevent any future violence. It's covered in the Injustice comics written by Tom Taylor, which are pretty good, and it was fun to play into this creation. HOWEVER, what does the game get WRONG, right off the bat? Immediately, you are informed there are INFINITE PARALLEL UNIVERSES *que perpetual echo* UNIVERSES....UNIVERSES............universes...... thus completely wiping out any real tension or drama, heck, even dare I say, some of the interest, that could and should have been afforded to the players who perhaps haven't read the comics going along with the game. In other words, all the clashes of our favorite characters lack any "on the edge of your seat" moments even when it would appear one hero or villain is pretty much neutralized. So and so is DEAD!?!? Impossible!!! Oh, that's right, there's a billion others out there. Oh, well.
Injustice Roster
Injustice has an impressive roster of 24 characters, most of which are fan favorites right from the start. Which is always the way it should be. Can you imagine the throwback and outrage if Superman or Batman was only available through DLC? It would be madness, I tells ya! But, NetherRealm Studios is smarter than that.
More on Story Mode
Story mode is about 4-6 hours depending on your skill level. And what's nice is that most of the fights, if not all of them, move the story along and have actual context. And the DC universe is ripe for this sort of thing. Most of the superheros and villains know each other, or at the very least, know of each other, and they interact appropriately. There's12 chapters each of which will have you switching between the main characters of the story, ie Batman, Joker, Aqua Man, Wonder Woman, etc. Now, some may like this as you get to play with about a third to maybe half the roster and switch things up. Others might find this annoying as they'd prefer each individual character to have his or her own story like in Tekken or Dead or Alive games. This for me wasn't a big deal at all considering all the characters essentially fall under the same story arc as opposed to other games where every character has his or her own agenda. This is DC, the heroes and villains pick their sides and try to, well, I won't spoil anything.
Injustice or Mortal Kombat?
Let's get into the meat of the game, ala, what everyone really wants to know about as this is primarily a fighting game. I'll answer most of your first questions right away. Yes, Injustice, not that it's not different in many ways, does tend to feel like you're playing a Mortal Combat game. Surprised? You shouldn't be. The good news is, Injustice isn't simply a re-skin of MK9.
Some may find a gripe with the parry system. Injustice requires you to press back to block, similar to Tekken games. So some may hate this and other may be just fine with it. I'm familiar with Tekken so this really wasn't a deal braker for me.
Injustice Combat
There are light, medium, and heavy attacks along with a unique character trait that makes sense for the characters, but... some seem a bit more usueful than others, perhaps even slightly broken (I'm looking at you, Doomsday...) among a few others. But, thankfully, NetherRealm has a well earned reputation for fixing these things and balancing out abilities. These unique abilities range in effectiveness and damage depending on how full your meter is. For example, when playing as Superman, you can use your ice breath which is normally used to kind of stumble and push back opponents, and give it a bit of a kick by actually freezing the opponent. Ice breath freezing people, who knew, right? And by expending the whole meter, you launch a super attack. For example, Batman will blind a guy, call in the Batmobile, electrocute, smack em in the face with a Baterang, then jump out of the way as the Batmobile slams into them.
Injustice Gods Among Us Gameplay Youtuve vid by: TheLLSMUVG
Place your Bets
Injustice features a Wager system. What this means is, if you break another player's combo, or the computers, you and your opponent will clash in this trainwreck of an explosion and "wager" your meterpoints to win the clash. Defensive winners cancel the combo and regain a little health. Attackers prevent the cancel and gain a slight boost to their attack. It's pretty cool at first, but I gotta say, for me at least, it became more of an annoyance than anything else as it began to feel as though it abruptly put a stop to the gameplay. For me, I'd much rather continue to string combos and attacks myself rather than hit a single button and watch what I could be doing. It's dangerously close to a quick-time event.
Hazardous Environments and Objects
In Injustice, you can use the hazardous environments of the different stages to your advantage. Knock your opponent into explosive reactors, electrocute them, and so on. You can even smash your opponent into other DC characters who will then take offense, arguably with the wrong person, and proceed to beat the stuffing our of your opponent on your behalf. This is tons of fun but can be somewhat broken just like some of the character's special abilities. Advanced players who really know what they're doing can and probably will exploit a stage's hazards and interaction options and essentially juggle new players with quick combos followed by launching them into several spikes and background characters and such for massive damage, perhaps even too much. You can switch this mechanic off in the options, and I suppose this is what will end up happening in competitive tournaments and such, but for more casual players playing against friends and randoms online for the sheer enjoyment, this is something best left on as it's just oh so satisfying to do if not overdone and relied upon for victory.
Where is TAG TEAM!?
WHERE IS TAG TEAM!?!?!? Especially in a DC game, with the members of the freaking Justice League, or the Legion of Doom, etc, you would think Injustice Gods Among Us would have Tag Team. Nope. Sorry. This, for me, was one of the biggest disappointments. What a wasted opportunity for both single player and online... It's a shame.
Star Labs... eh...
Star Labs missions are... interesting... a change of pace. Basically, each of the 24 characters get a bunch of missions that aren't like the traditional fighting game fare you'd expect. Each mission can earn three stars, and some are really hard to accomplish this. One that got a big "What the heck" from me was controlling Catwoman's kitty chum Isis, infiltrating a museum, jumping over lasers and MEOWING, yes, MEOWING something like 20 or 25 times by the time you reach the end of the stage to get three stars. Now, some are much better than others, and some are... playing as Isis... meow?
Injustice Gods Among Us Final Verdict
So, here we are. The final verdict for Injustice Gods Among Us is an 8 out of 10. I enjoyed this a lot more than I thought I would to say the least.
Superman vs Batman
And finally, there's been a long standoff over the last few weeks. Who would win in a straight-up fight? Superman? Or Batman?
Batman has been my favorite super hero since I was just a little guy, I'm talking around four years old. He is absolutely my favorite hero. Now, as far as my second... I don't have one. There's just too many badass heroes out there. However, I will say, Superman is one of my personal favorite, not as much as Bats, but still high up on my list. Now, having said that, here's what I think. Drum-roll if you please..................................
Superman would win. I know, I know, all the Bat fans out there must be thinking "How can this guy claim Batman is his favorite?????" Well, he may be my favorite, but I look at what both can do, read the comics, and personally believe in a straight-up fight, Superman would crush Batman. But perhaps that's something I'll get into in another post. What do you guys think? Who would win?
