Developer: NetherRealm Studios
Publisher: Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
Platform: 360, PS3, Wii U
Injustice: Gods Among Us – Review
Injustice: Gods among us seems to be a game that resembles Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe a lot, when it comes to overall appearance and the storyline. Lucky for us, we are now able to choose a lot more of our favorite superheroes and villains to save or even destroy the world, little by little.
Story:
Injustice throws us a glimpse of how a world would look like, if superheroes would become twisted and consider tyranny as righteous instead of protecting the weak and powerless.
The main story revolves around the Joker pushing Superman to the edge of insanity, making him destroy Metropolis and his family-to-be. Superman decides it’s now time for a different kind of reign, namely a reign of oppression. Batman and a handful of others seem to be the only ones resisting Superman’s grasp on the world.
Then imagine the same world, where these events don’t happen, and you still have the heroes you’ve come to know over the years. These heroes are needed to set things right in the other world.
Basically it’s a typical tale of two dimensions but the way it is brought is very enjoyable. You will pretty much see an entire movie worth of content with the fun attribution you are able to fight the combat scenes yourself.
Graphics:
The developers of the game did their best to portray our favorite heroes and villains like we’ve come to know, love or hate them. Some may have their typical appearance, as they do in the comics or movies, whilst others are ‘totally different’ than how they usually look. Even though some characters may look different than their usual selves, all of them look magnificent. Same can be said about the environments you will battle in. As the battles progress a lot of the level you’re duking it out in, will be destroyed as well, making it seem that little bit more realistic.
An honorable mention goes to the super moves. Each character has its own specific super move, which is matched with a great combat scene.
There is only one flaw when it comes to the overall appearance of the game, namely the side characters in the story mode. They look as if they were designed in a rush, or simply to fill up the story mode. In the end this might be a small remark, but it tends to knock you back to reality after spending a little time in the shoes of your favorite character.
Sound:
Injustice: Gods among us, offers us a great cast of voice actors and this will only add up to the atmosphere of the entire game. Overall the sound will feel like you’re in the middle of an epic battle between good and evil. Sadly again this comes with a small downside. The story mode presents us with a great array of dialogues while the S.T.A.R. labs mode tends to reduce spoken dialogues to text based dialogues. This tends to break up the mood again, if you happened to play through the story mode first.
Gameplay:
If you’re a fan of the Mortal Kombat games, Injustice will immediately feel as if you’re playing a mix between the latest installment of MK and Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, and also something totally different at the same time.
Like most fighting games you will be able to pull of your standard attacks, combo’s and special moves and even a super move. Injustice adds a special ability or ‘character powers’ to each of the available characters. These superpowers are specific for each characters and can involve such things as extra strength for Superman, batarangs for Batman and total randomness for the loveable Harley.
An other attribution to the fighting system of Injustice is the ability, when you’re fighting whilst having depleted your first healthbar, you will be able to perform a ‘wager’. This wager will involve you having to secretly ‘wage’ a part of your ‘super meter’, whilst your opponent does the same thing. If you win the wager when initiating, a portion of your health will be recovered. If not, you will take damage, and vice versa.
Environments are an important factor in your battles as well. You will be able to perform level transitions, which pretty much means you will be able to kick or punch your opponent in a new part of the level, whilst inflicting heavy damage upon him or her. Outside of the level transitions you will also be able to use the objects that surround you. The game will give an indication at the top of the screen when your character is close to an object you can interact with. Again, the same goes for your opponent. Objects can vary from picking up parts of your environment and hitting your opponent, or even fling stuff at them, to possible ways of being able to dodge incoming attacks or escape when you’re getting cornered.
Content is something Injustice is not shy of. The Story mode will take a few hours of your time to finish and by then you will have used roughly half of the cast the game has to offer. Sadly this means you will spend most of your time playing the characters ‘on the good’ side of the law. Another remark about the story mode is that there is absolutely no consistency when it comes to the difficulty level. One moment you’re fighting an AI opponent who seems to have undergone a lobotomy and the other moment you are pretty much drawn in to a series of combo’s which will erase your existence in mere seconds. When pressing retry after a defeat, your master opponent seems to have lost all his fighting skills once again.
After finishing the story mode the game offers you a lot of extra content, namely the battles mode and the S.T.A.R. Labs mode. The first one is pretty much an old school Arcade mode in which several limitations or fixed conditions. S.T.A.R. Labs on the other hand is a challenge mode, as challenge modes should be. Each character will have a set of challenges for them to complete. Most will be battles they have to clear, get certain combo’s, level transitions, etc. Whilst some will take on the form of mini games in which you don’t necessarily play with the hero itself. (Example: Catwoman’s cat.)
A gimmick that is worth mentioning is the fact you are able to unlock in game costumes that aren’t part of any DLC. These are earned by receiving cards which you receive when leveling up, and so on. The game offers a few customization options as well, like editing your hero cards, unlocking experience boosts, etc.
Conclusion:
Injustice: Gods among us, is a solid fighting game, but with all games in the genre it will need some small tweaks to make a truly perfect fighting game. If you ever wanted to know how it feels to walk in the shoes of your favorite superhero or villain, this game is surely worth checking out.
Injustice: Gods Among Us - Review,
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[…] If you want to know more about the original game you can check out our original review here. […]