Review #215: Injustice - Gods Among Us - Ultimate Edition

 And we're back!

  Back in 2013, I did an awful write-up on Injustice. Not to say that I'm good at writing, but I'm slightly less awful than back then. I cringed as I skimmed through it, and did some touching up. Just a little, I want to keep it as awful as it is! Afterwards, I would continue to play the game on and off with a couple of friends, but it spent most of 2014 unplayed, so playing it again reminded me of how awesome it was. I'm not particularly fond of DLC, which is why I never invested in it, plus, I knew that an Ultimate Edition was coming, and here we are.

 I stand by everything I said about Injustice in my previous review, but how did it held up? Marvelously. The game is fast, way faster than MK, which I really like, the combo system is fun once you get the hang of it, and I liked how they adapted the characters into the game. Graphics are slightly less appealing than before, some textures are muddy, and there's the occasional ugly animation, plus, some character models are just terrible(Wonder Woman and Sinestro come to mind). It's also a very drab game, with many greys and browns, while the rest of the colors look very washed out. Overall, it looks decent, it's not the prettiest fighting game out there, but it plays well and does the license justice.

 Why would you want to buy the Ultimate Edition? The 6 new characters, the 30 DLC costumes and over 60 new Star Labs missions. Word of warning, it doesn't include every DLC costume. It's missing the Injustice Mobile costumes(Gotta get people to play the game and tempt them into the microtransactions!) or the New 52 Black Adam costume(You have to sync your Warner account, or somethin' like that). As for the costumes themselves, they are alright, but... poorly spread out. Batman, Wonder Woman and Superman have about 8 skins each, but then there's Cyborg and Nightwing with 3 each, or Sinestro only has two. It's a bit surprising, as there's a lot of character history for them to have drawn from, but they probably just went with what would've sold well... which is disappointing to say the least, nobody needs 8 costumes for Batman! And the DLC characters? Everyone but Zod only gets their default look.

 The costumes may be disappointing, but the DLC characters is the reason why you would want this edition. Lobo is a mid-range grappler, he is fun to play, but his Personal Action(PA) is a bit boring, he just strengthens his next Shotgun attack. Batgirl is ANOTHER Batman character, but she is a blast to play. She is strong, fast and very easy to combo with, a perfect newbie character. An agile rushdown character, her PA lets her switch between electrified knucles or bladed ones, the former deal extra chip damage, while the latter deals more damage overall. Zatana is... is definitely the most complicated of the bunch, she can switch styles, momentarily, with her PA, but it's very easy to break her out of it. Martian Manhunter's PA allows him to extend the reach of his normal moves, has a lot of tools, but is a bit on the dull side. Zod is amazing. A rushdown/zoner hybrid that has some of the best, and most fitting, animations in the game. With his PA he can call forth a Wraith from the Phantom Zone to aid him, and it allows him to pull all kinds of shenanigans with his combos! Lastly, Scorpion, who sports a costume from Comic Book legend Jim Lee, he is a rushdown character that might be a bit overpowered, but it's very fun to use. All of them come with their own endings.

 Lastly, there's the 60 new S.T.A.R. labs missions, and I will echo what I said before: They are a neat diversion, but I didn't care much for them. Most of them are the 'mini-game' kind as opposed to handicapped fights, but the Red Son storyline is a bit amusing. This bumps the mission total to 300, which is not too shabby. Something that will cause a divide, is that everything comes unlocked from the start. Tournament Organizers and a few gamers will probably see it as a huge plus and timesaver, but people that like to unlock stuff might not like that. I didn't care for it... but then again, I had unlocked everything on my previous go through the game!

 Is Injustice Ultimate Edition worth it? Yes. The 6 new characters are very unique and add new styles to the character roster. My advice? Do what I did, sell your previous copy of Injustice and then buy this new, upgraded Edition, which is rather on the cheap by now.
 8.5 out of 10.