Also known as
Batjustice: Batman Among Us.
Injustice is the latest fighting game from NetherRealm, the developers of Mortal Kombat(And they will have you know it by writing "From the creators of Mortal Kombat: Injustice"
every chance they get!). For this outing, they decided to try something different, instead of being your usual fighting game, they added stage transitions and
interactives. The game is confined to the 2.5 D realm though, and just like MK,
borrows attack strings from 3D fighters like Tekken or Virtua Fighter, while
borrowing command specials from 2D fighters like Street Fighter or King of Fighters.
There's four primary actions: Weak Attack, Medium Attack, Strong Attack and a unique
Trait. Traits range from buffs to actual attacks depending on the fighter, admitedly, I expected something a bit more...
unique, like Blazblue, as most Traits are merely buffs, but it's still a neat idea. Best of all, NetherRealm Studios made this game
Arcade Stick friendly! Actions like grabbing no longer take up a button, you can press Medium Attack+Strong Attack to grab. Stage interactives are performed via their own button or Medium+Strong. There are two other buttons, Flip Stance and Meter Burn, press them together to use the Super Move(Which consumes the full Meter bar). Meter Burn is pressed after inputing a Special Move to enhance it, it's anything from adding knockback to adding attacks, and you can pushblock
too, by pressing it while blocking. Flip Stance looks useless, but certain combos only work on
certain stances.
The game borrows the 2 health bars 1 round system from DarkStalkers, so fights can go by quite fast. It seems NetherRealm wanted to attract Street Fighter players, as blocking is now done by holding back, and the game is much faster than Mortal Kombat, and it's much more
combo-friendly. You can also change the controls in order to turn the MK motions for Special moves into Street Fighter motions(Turn Down,Forward+Punch into quarter circle+punch).
Interestingly, overhead moves are now
universally performed by pressing Strong+Forward. Strong+Back has two functions, first it causes the oponent to rebound from the edge of the screen, providing juggling opportunities, but, perform it close to the edge of certain stages and you'll inititate a stage transition. Stage transitions are very damaging, but after a while tend to last just a bit
too much. The game introduces a "Clash" mechanic, or wager, usable when you are on your 2nd life bar, by pressing Forward+Meter Burn when you are hit, you'll engage in a clash. By waging your meter you can regain health(If you outwage your enemy) or get damaged if you lose.
The game uses MK's engine, so visually, it looks quite similar. The character designs can be hit or miss, some disliked the new armored look,
I dig it. The models themselves get the job done, but couple of them could've been better, right Wonder Woman? Her official render is stuff from
nightmares. Regardless, it shows that NetherRealm is getting
better with animations, while there are a few stinkers here and there, most of the animations are really nice, and some are
surprisingly fluid. The stages are very interesting however, and they get destroyed as you fight, which is kinda cool. While it's clear that they were going for a dark setting, there's a
notorious lack of color. Every color is very light, even the Green and Yellow lanterns, and it haves an overall
washed out look, it is a very dark game.
I can't really comment on the music, since it's too low, you can
barely tell it's there! On the other hand, voice acting is fantastic. They managed to get
Kevin Conroy, and most characters are voiced by people that voiced them
previously on other media! The sound effects sound as if they came straight from Mortal Kombat 9, and they get the job done.
There are many modes, stand-out among them is the Story mode. While shorter, it feels a lot
tighter than Mortal Kombat, though you might need to be a comic book fan in order to enjoy it the most(Parallel universes), and those that have been reading the prequel comic book might feel a bit
disappointed with the direction they took. The next Single Player mode is called S.T.A.R. Labs, a series of 240 missions themed about the 24 characters. Some of the missions are actually mini games, like dodging missiles or flying through the air while avoiding flaming rocks, they are not exactly engaging, but their inclusion doesn't hurt. There's also Arcade, where each character has his/her
own ending and Versus(Both online and offline).
As for unlockables, there are loads. There's about 20 different Arcade mode variations, like "Heroes only", "Survival", "Mysterious buffs and debuffs per round", "Infinite meter" and a lot of others. You can also unlock concept art(Which is pretty
nice, by the by) and alternate costumes. For the costumes themselves, while NetherRealm is providing paid DLC costumes, there are not many free costumes. Few characters get three costumes, while each one has at least a Regime and Insurgency costume. Problem is, on most characters, Regime and Insurgency are pretty similar. You can play as Flash or a
slightly different flash. Aquaman or a slightly different Flash with
beard. Armored Batman or
even more armored Batman. Worst of all, alternate colors. There's only one alternate color per character, but the differences are in the shade. You can be Red Flash or a
slightly different shade of red flash. It feels as a bit of a
missed opportunity, as they could have made cameos with Colors(Dr.Zoom Flash? Red/Blue alternative for each Nightwing Costumes?).
Lastly, each character has only 1 win pose, and they are a bit on the long side, so they might get a bit boring. The
first couple of times Joker burns his opponent are awesome, the next couple of times where you have to sit and wait 'till he is done to pick rematch or character select are
not. Also, unlocking stuff can get a bit long in the tooth, the game uses a "Level up" system, as you play you earn experience, every time you level up you are entiltled to 1 or 2 unlocks of your choice. Let's just say that there's enough stuff locked to last you a loooong time, from the costumes and arcade ladders, to galleries, avatars and music. But after you reach level 50, leveling up starts to take a long time.
Injustice: God Among Us is a great game, there's few real complaints to be had, and everything it does, it does it very well. Easily the best fighter released this year.
8 out of 10
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