Comic book fans have seen it all. In DC's eighty-year history, we've witnessed earth's salvation too many times to count. We were there when superheroes skipped multiple dimensions in search of fresh fights, and we've seen punches thrown so hard, they've shattered reality.
Yet despite such rich, violent source material, few games have captured the excitement, devastation and spectacle of a city-spanning brawl between metahumans, and fewer still put that power in our hands. Injustice: Gods Among Us wants to fix that.
In another dimension, Superman is tricked by Joker into killing his beloved Lois and destroying Metropolis. His faith and ties to humanity irrevocably broken, Kal-El decides his kid gloves must come off and trades them in for an iron fist, establishing the 'One Earth' regime and forcing his super-powered contemporaries to either conform or die. His actions spur alternate-dimension Batman into a truce with alternate-dimension Luthor, and together the unlikely duo bring heroes from 'our' DC universe into theirs in a bid to end Supes' totalitarian reign. Fight time.
The very words 'alternate dimension story' often harbour the superpower of making toes curl, but the DCU has had so many reality-melding adventures over the years that Injustice gets away with it. Just. Such an elaborate storyline seems extraordinary for a fighting game, but it won't come as a surprise to anyone that played NetherRealm's 2011 Mortal Kombat reboot; a game that went to great lengths to weave a compelling tale between its impromptu eviscerations. Injustice borrows the same cutscene/battle/cutscene structure, as well as the narrative device of flitting between characters and perspective as events unfold.
The basics of battle are also borrowed wholesale from MK; opponents go cape to cowl on a 2D plane, mixing a combination of light, medium and heavy attacks with unique character traits, grabs, and Super Moves. The controls feel slightly slow and weighty compared to other brawlers, but the upside is you'll feel the bone-fracturing force behind every brutal blow - making even basic combos grimly satisfying. As with Mortal Kombat, you're going to have to spend time studying and restudying the move list if you want to master each individual character and build customised combos.
Beyond basic attacks, unique traits perform a variety of functions in keeping with each character's modus operandi; Batman can summon remote gadgets to attack from afar whilst Supes can temporarily boost his strength. Other characters, however, possess more elusive unique moves. The Joker's, for example, requires a successful parry to activate, so he's probably best saved for after you've had a bit more practice with the controls.
During these, each player secretly chooses how much of their meter to spend, and whichever opponent can afford the most will either regenerate health or deal extra damage. It's an opportunistic feature that won't endear itself to more tactical players, but casual users and those with a flair for the theatrical will get a kick out of a wager's ability to turn the tide of a match at any given moment.
10 comments so far...
Wadium_Arcadium on 18 Apr '13 said:
I'll definitely get this at some point but I don't see much point in paying full price for it. It has the most appealing roster in a fighting game yet but I'm not sure how long I'd stay interested in it.
fracturedrich on 18 Apr '13 said:
I have been playing for the last three hours and it has got the fun and is complex enough to keep me interested for a while.This review is spot on from what i can see but out of about 30 wagers ive only won one.I prefer this to the last mortal combat but ime just going to thrash it out until next week and hand it over for dead island.
fracturedrich on 18 Apr '13 said:
I forgot to mention it has a level system so you can see how much experiance the person you are going to fight online,you get xp whatever mode you choose to play,ime a 17 and i fought someone who was twice that and he put the batdown on my arse,then sent me a joker joke message for the fun of it.
golliwoza on 19 Apr '13 said:
Been giving it a good go today and for my first fighting game I am absolutely loving it. Still trying to get used to the moves but the training option helps a lot for a newbie like me, I actually managed to win my first 7 games in a row too against some random, lucky for him he kept wanting rematches.
I really want to have some fights against some friends next or anyone up for a challenge, I have been able to adapt to most of the other characters but my main achilles heel is Deathstroke and his deadly gun combos, which seem to tear everyone up online.
Oh and word of warning do not underestimate Aquaman!!!
ghost whistler on 20 Apr '13 said:
Most people i have seen are playing Joker/Harlequin.
I did play one Aquaman in the only ranked match i've tried (didn't seem to be anyone playing as the search went on for ages so i gave up; didn't want to end up matched against a yank and forced to lag). All he did was hide in the corner and throw bloody spears at me. Bit disappointing people want to resort to cheap spam, but not surprising.
SidTheSloth on 20 Apr '13 said:
Sorry Golli, know i said i'd give you a few matches - the slow pace/slightly clunky movement in the demo put me off in the end from getting it day 1. I kept coming back to it and it got worse rather than better. I'll get it at some point but suspect with the speed you change games you'll have moved on by then!
You friends with Mav? Saw him playing last night - he's a big of a fighting game nut (pro?) though so be warned!
ghost whistler on 20 Apr '13 said:
There is a tutorial that explains how the game works. BUt there's no written instructions which is annoying.
The only real issues are:
1. matchmaking uses the shitty XBL system. It's markedly better than MK and not unplayable, but i still don't want to be matched in ranekd against people from the US. There is a small but noticeable input delay over distance. Also please ffs design a ranked system that actually works: I am not a super player, so don't match me against people that are because that totally defeats the point of ranked gaming!
2. The bounce cancel mechanism is needlessly awkward. Why do i have to double tap a direction and press RT while in mid combo to do this? Why not just single tap, or just trigger?
3. the game is combo heavy. That's fine, but at least teach people how to deal with heavy combos, because you will get mullered otherwise. Also the pace is kinda weird: when you're on the receiving end of combotastic you feel slower, like you can't get up in time to block the next. This maybe because of the animations: when you get knocked down you can be forced into a protracted animation wherein you wobble around or roll over from the force of the blow. While it looks nice, I'm not sure it's terribly helpful. Or at the very least, again, let's have some help learning how to deal with this.
4. Did we really need so many Batman enemies? Harley AND the Joker? Don't use this as an excuse to charge silly money for the inevitable line of DLC characters that, hopefully, wont' be designed as an afterthought. It's bad enough that we have to have season passes in games, but we don't even know (other than Lobo) who's in this first batch of characters.
fracturedrich on 20 Apr '13 said:
Aquaman is good,what i dont like is people leaving if they are losing,that happen'd to me six times in a row last night and ime not very good at all.Give me a couple of days and ill give you a game or two.
Metalrodent on 20 Apr '13 said:
If people are leaving because they're losing then you cant be that bad
Maverick_McCool on 20 Apr '13 said:
I'll give you a match GT MaverickMcCool be warned though , I'm better than I thought I would be.........