Meg
Well-known Member
Injustice: Gods Among Us
Okay, so first off, I really don’t like the title. “Gods Among Us”? Ew. Moving on.
So Injustice is a new fighting game made by the same people who bring us Mortal Kombat, but it’s nothing like that series. Injustice features DC Universe characters, both iconic and obscure. Unlink most fighting games, Injustice actually has a story to explain why all these heroes and villains are fighting each other. Basically, in a parallel world Superman becomes evil and takes over the world. Some superheroes side with him, while others fight against him. The heroes from the regular universe are pulled over in an effort to help the fight.
The story is perfect and I had a few questions about why things happened the way they did. But for the sake of avoiding spoilers, I’ll not go into detail. Overall, I thought the story was entertaining, and I found myself wanting to see what happened next. The story is split up into characters with each one having you play as a different character as you went through a series of fights. And minigames. Those were terrible. -_-
One spoiler free problem I had with the story is that the game revolves around Batman. Yes, I know, Batman is the most iconic and poplar of the DC Universe characters, but why did he have to be the certain of attention again? Sometimes I want to see a different character be the ultimate hero. How about the Flash or Wonder Woman? They’re both iconic and popular enough to carry a game. That said, I did enjoy the Flash’s character arch. Oh, it was nothing new (nothing in the story was original) but I enjoyed it all the same. That could just be because I like the Flash....>.>
But enough about story! This is a fighting game. How’s the gameplay? Oh it’s lovely. Matches don’t have the standard best out of three set up. Matches have one round with each character having one really long health bar. I can’t say which of the two match types I prefer, but I did appreciate this game doing something new. In fact, one of the things I really like about the game is that it does quite a few things new.
Characters can interact with their environment by using objects as either weapons or things to jump off of. Getting the opposing character over to one side far enough let’s you trigger a transition attack. The character will get blasted through the wall and get knocked around by obstacles in the environmental: eventually landing in a new part of the level. Since these moves take some skill to pull off, they are a welcome, fun addition.
The super moves are nice too. Granted, having to watch the same ones over and over gets tiring fast, especially since they only require a full meter and a single button press to activate, but it’s not a huge deal.
The QTE-gamble thing called “clashes” is another story. I still have no idea how these things work exactly. Basically, once activated, you hit a button, then the two characters clash and whoever hit the right button wins by gaining health, or dealing damage. It’s stupid, annoying, and has ruined quite a few matches for me. I hate it. This would have been a forgivable addition if it was optional, but I’ve shifted through the option menu many times. There is no way to turn it off. That’s just mean.
Now the game itself is split into sections. Story Mode and Battles are the two main modes for your fighting needs. There’s also S.T.A.R.S labs which is just a series of little mission things that require you to use specific moves. It’s boring. Battles has a ton of different modes. There’s your typical Arcade mode, but there’s also plenty of special modes to mix things up. You can fight all your opponents with one health bar, fight while your health steadily decreases from poison, win all matches without a retry, etc. All these extra modes are a great way to mix things up.
The actually fighting is fun too. Each character has their own unique feel. Some, like my boy Nightwing, are light and fast, while others, like Ares, are slower but more powerful. Each character has their own special power that is exclusive to them. This is mapped to the circle button on the PS3.
For instance, Wonder Woman switches between using her lasso and her sword and shield. Nightwing switches between using putting his two (for lack of better term) fighting sticks together to make a staff, or breaking them a part for even faster attacks. Green arrow shoots, well arrows, and the Flash can move so fast the other character appears to slow down.
Some characters, like Green Lantern, just get a weird glow around them. I’m not too sure what this does. Makes them stronger? I don’t know. Seems like the developers couldn’t think of anything original for some characters, so they copped-out.
The controls themselves feel stiff at first, but once you get used to it, you’ll be pulling off combos in no time. The game has a fair learning curve on medium (the default difficulty).
The online is lovely as well. I haven’t come up against any lag and there is a variety of modes to pick from. You can choose between random Ranked or Player matches, or join a room. King of the Hill is also available. Now, despite how much fun this game is, I doubt the online will remain really active for very long. It’s fun, but not good enough to dethrone games like Street Fight or Marvel vs. Capcom. Or even Tekken, for that matter. If you play fighting games primarily for the multiplayer, then consider getting this game soon.
The last thing to talk about is the unlockables. There’s a lot of concept art and costumes and the like. You can also unlike icons and backgrounds for your player card. Some of the conditions to unlock stuff is bullsh*t though, like having to use the Injustice iPhone App. Honestly.
Overall-
I don’t like arbitrary review scores. I rate on a Buy, Rent, or Pass scale. That said:
If you love DC Universe and fighting games- BUY
If you love one but not the other- RENT
If you don’t like either- PASS
This game is fan service, but it’s a good fan service. That said, I’m not confident people who enjoy fighting games but not comics will enjoy this game enough to warrant a full purchase. I still suggest giving it a go.