REVIEW -- Injustice: Gods Among Us

Okay, I finally caved into the hype and I wanted to see what's the big deal about this new fighter on the market. NetherRealm Studios, the folks who brought us the acclaimed revival of Mortal Kombat that was a huge success, has returned with a new fighter. Instead of a sequel to Mortal Kombat, this time NetherRealms are focusing on the heroes and villains of the DC Universe.

Is this another success like Mortal Kombat 9, or is it a stinker like Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe?

The Plot: (Full Spoilers)

In an alternate reality, the Joker has destroyed Metropolis and has tricked Superman into killing Lois Lane and his unborn son. In retaliation, Superman murders the Joker in front of Batman in a fit of rage and establishes a new world order. A battle ensues between the forces of Superman's Regime and those allied with Batman's Insurgency. The Insurgency discovers the Justice League's universe where the Joker's plan did not succeed and transports several of its super heroes (Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Green Arrow, and Green Lantern, with Batman and the Joker being caught up in the transfer by accident) to theirs in order to help them defeat the Regime.

Since NetherRealms refuses to show you what
Supes did to Joker...

Having arrived in this world, attempting to learn what has happened, Aquaman travels to Atlantis to research the archives while Green Lantern goes to recharge his ring. After discovering Raven and Cyborg torturing Deathstroke, Green Lantern faces Sinestro and his own counterpart under the identity of Yellow Lantern. He escapes with Wonder Woman and Green Arrow, subsequently meeting the Batman of this world. Learning that Atlantis has agreed to a treaty that puts Superman in near-total control of Atlantis' army, Aquaman rejects it, defeating the Flash, Shazam and his own counterpart before Ares appears. Acknowledging that he is weakened by the lack of conflict, Ares sends Aquaman to join the Insurgents, which includes a Lex Luthor who was never a criminal. Batman explains that he has a kryptonite weapon that can defeat Superman in the Batcave, but it requires DNA samples from the other four heroes to unlock, as Batman wanted to ensure he could not make the decision to stop Superman by himself. The heroes from the other universe became required when Green Arrow died and the other three aligned with Superman.

Accidentally transported to this world along with the other heroes, Batman is captured by the Regime and the Joker allies himself with the Harley Quinn of this world. After Harley's gang is attacked by Regime forces led by Nightwing and Hawkgirl, they are rescued by the heroes, who travel to the Batcave to recover the weapon. Meanwhile, Superman, the Flash and Cyborg attempt to recover their comrades, but their attempt accidentally sends Cyborg to the alternate reality. Cyborg overhears Lex Luthor and Deathstroke discussing plans to defeat Superman, prompting a brief clash before the other displaced heroes explain the situation to him.

With Cyborg and Deathstroke having taken control of the teleportation system on the Watchtower, the heroes stage a break-in on Stryker's Island and rescue the displaced Batman from his planned execution, but Luthor's attempt to use the kryptonite weapon against Superman fails, resulting in his death. Overhearing humanity's newfound fear of him, Superman decides to destroy Gotham City and Metropolis to demonstrate the chaos that would arise in his absence, but when he kills Shazam for questioning him, the Flash realizes that the heroes have gone too far and defects to the Insurgents. With the kryptonite weapon useless, the dimensionally-displaced heroes suggest recruiting the Superman of their world to stop this one, only to be interrupted by a Regime attack on their hideout.

During the fight, Wonder Woman is contacted by Ares after she is teleported to Themyscira, who reveals that Superman's plan will be carried out by an army of Amazons. He desires to stop this plan, as Superman's victory will mean an end to the conflict that empowers him. Accepting his advice, Wonder Woman defeats Raven and her other self before convincing the Amazons to return to their former role as protectors rather than conquerors. As the battle begins, Batman convinces his counterpart to have faith in their Superman just as he had faith in the other displaced heroes. Superman arrives in this world in time to defeat several members of the Regime while Wonder Woman's Amazons hold back the armies of Atlantis.

After defeating Doomsday in the Fortress of Solitude and trapping him in the Phantom Zone, Superman faces his counterpart, rejecting his other self's attempt to defend his actions as enforcing authority over an unworthy humanity and informing him that Lois would be afraid and disgusted at what he has become.
With the other Superman's defeat, the rest of the Regime are either rounded up or turn themselves in, and the other Superman is placed in a prison where he is exposed to red sun radiation, negating his powers. The displaced Superman acknowledges that he could have become his counterpart under the same circumstances, but Batman merely grimly notes that he hopes Superman never has to learn what he could be capable of while vowing to be there if Superman ever falls that far. The final scene shows a close up of the other Superman in his prison cell, his eyes glowing indicating he still has some degree of his power.

Gameplay:

The gameplay for Injustice: Gods Among Us involves one-on-one matches within a two-dimensional plane, although characters and backgrounds are rendered in a three-dimensional fashion. Each match consists of one round; however, each player has two health bars. The game uses a four-button control layout of light, medium, and heavy attacks, alongside a "character trait" button that activates a unique ability or attack designed to showcase each character. For instance, Superman's trait provides a temporary stat boost, while Batman's trait summons a swarm of robotic bats. Ed Boon, the creative director of NetherRealm Studios, stated that characters roughly fall into two categories: power characters, who rely on brute strength and innate abilities, and gadget characters, who use weapons, items, and other external mechanisms to win.

This NEVER gets old...

The stages, based on locations such as the Batcave, Watchtower, and Fortress of Solitude, feature interactive environments and multiple tiers. Successfully connecting a heavy attack near the edges of the stage will launch the opponent into another part of the level. Each arena contains objects that the characters utilize differently depending on their class. For example, a gadget character like Batman can attach a bomb to a car to cause an explosion, while a power character like Superman can pick up the same car and smash his enemies with it. Players have the option to turn off interactive elements.

During combat, players charge their character's super meter by performing combos or getting hit by the opponent. Portions of the super meter can be used for performing enhanced special moves or countering enemy moves. With a full meter, players can unleash their strongest special attack, dubbed a Super Move. Players may also expend meter to compete in wager battles, dubbed the Clash system, which combines individualized cutscene cinematics with the process of betting meter. A clash may be used to interrupt an opponent during a combo, and each player can only use it once after losing their first health bar. During the sequence, both players commit portions of their meter in secret, with the highest bidder winning the clash.

The story mode is split into several chapters. As the narrative plays out, the player swaps between different characters. Minigames are also incorporated into the story. The outcome of minigames can impact an upcoming battle, such as giving the player a health advantage over the CPU opponent. Additional features include Battle Mode, Versus Mode, Training Mode, and S.T.A.R. Labs, which includes 240 character-specific challenges of varying difficulty. Online multiplayer modes include King of the Hill, a setup that allows up to eight players to spectate a match while waiting for their turn to fight, and Survivor, which carries over the current winner's health bar and character selection over each match. Playing through any of the game's modes, including online matches with optional goal objectives, will net the player experience points that may be used to unlock alternate costumes, music, concept art, and other rewards.

Downloadable Content: 

Additional Characters: 

The additional characters to this game are free as long as you have purchased the Season Pass ($14.99 extra, but does NOT include all of alternate costume DLC), but you can purchase them separately. The Season Pass includes 4 DLC characters free of charge and the Flashpoint alternate costumes for Aquaman, Deathstroke, and Wonder Woman.

These are the first two released so far, with NetherRealms saying with more on the way. 

Lobo

Batgirl

Alternate Costumes: 

Red Son (Superman, Solomon Grundy, Wonder Woman)

Flashpoint (Batman)

The Red Hood (The Joker)

The Killing Joke (The Joker)

Bad Girls (Catwoman, Harley Quinn, Wonder Woman)

Blackest Night Zombies (Batman, Wonder Woman, Superman, Harley Quinn)

Teen Titans (Deathstroke, Cyborg, Raven)

Arkham City Skins (Pre-Order Bonus Exclusive to Wal-Mart/Currently Available as DLC on Xbox 360 for 240 MS pts.)

Time to lock and load...

The Verdict:

If you asked me my opinion of this game after the first weekend of renting this, I would have told you that I absolutely hated it. This is coming from a guy who hasn't even touched Mortal Kombat 9, but only watched tournament footage of it from EVO and various other majors in the past two years. After some considerable advice and tips from a friend who is much more seasoned at NRS's work than myself, I began to enjoy this title more and finally felt like I could write a fair and honest review on this game.

Guns are ready, sword is sharpened...

First things first, let's talk about the Story Mode. Even though I'm a Marvel guy any day of the week over anything DC Comics-related, unless it deals with the Bat Family (Batman and his fellowship of friends, allies, and villains), I had to admit I enjoyed what was offered here. My biggest issue with the story is that as much as they drive the point home that Evil Superman is so corrupt and rogue, why don't they allow us to see how violent he has become? I know DC Comics are trying to go for PG rating here, but seriously, why are you having the MK creators do your damn game for you if you DON'T want to show violence and gore? I think the story would have been cooler if they didn't go with the alternate reality/parallel universe plot. DC Comics seems to be doing that angle almost every other week nowadays. Plus, if you have seen the Justice League Unlimited/Justice League cartoon, the plot is essentially the Justice Lords storyline with a few extra swerves and curve balls. Nothing really original or shocking to blow comic book fans out of their seats. It's your typical Superman goes rogue worst case scenario and of course, Batman has a plan to stop him. NetherRealms does get mad props for investing a lot of time into the single player campaign though as it is VERY rare that we see this much effort go into a fighting game storyline. I have been told that they gave MK's revival the similar treatment. 

Someone really needs to take NRS over to Capcom and teach them how to weave a narrative. Not everyone is going to drop into Training Mode and do FADC to Ultra on Day 1. I wish Capcom could have done an in-depth story like this for MvC3/UMvC3 but I suppose that's a topic for another day...

Okay, I'll admit it... Deathstroke is F'N awesome
in this game!

Battles mode is pretty much this game's answer to your typical Arcade Mode of previous Mortal Kombat games and other fighting games. Clearing Classic Battle unlocks individual character endings, while a multitude of other Battle variations can be unlocked via the Archives with different stipulations, handicaps, and various difficulties. In typical Mortal Kombat fashion, it starts off easy but the difficulty really spikes up as the CPU can defeat you in mere seconds tops if you don't know what you're doing. 

Let's talk about STAR Labs mode. This mode has to be hands down some of the stupidest shit I have seen in a fighting game in recent memory. The mode is set-up as a series of spin-off stories for the in-game roster, but what it turns into is series of retarded matches and minigames that range from insanely easily to so difficult  that you toss your controller against the wall in frustration. For what it's worth, the tutorials on characters in the first few missions is pretty reliable to get the grasp of each of the individual characters' strengths, learning a few basic combos, and how to use their traits properly, but it fails to cement those skills into the player's head as playing cheap or lame rewards players more than style and skill in this mode.

I found it to be rather idiotic that NetherRealms forces you to play these missions in sequential order, instead of allowing you to skip around and try out the characters you were most interested in first. Instead, you are tasked with playing these out in the order the game wants you do. Plus, the next set doesn't unlock until you finish roughly all of the ones prior to the set of 10 missions per character. I had to endure this mode up to about 50 missions in for Green Arrow, then to the 70's for Deathstroke, and finally a whooping 200+ missions before I got to try out Wonder Woman's missions.

This mode does get props for the array of cameos and appearances from other villains and heroes from DC Universe, such as Isis (Catwoman's pet feline), The Atom, Atrocitus (Red Lantern), Two-Face, Penguin, The Riddler, and Trigon (Raven's demonic father) to name a few.

Very stupid and lazy game design here as the later missions lose the originality of the earlier missions as the objectives and goals are recycled over and over. How many times do I have to fight Lex Luthor with an one-hit KO satellite laser/shield that reflects damage back at me? How many times do I have to mindlessly knock down incoming rocks being tossed at me from offscreen? How many times do I have to fight Aquaman underwater? It's just so damn repetitive and stale. The worst of the bunch are the gauntlets against Doomsday, Grundy, and Bane back to back though as the CPU spams their super armor special moves and untechable command throws.

While we are on the topic of bad game design, I must frown upon NRS using some recycled animations from Mortal Kombat. I can understand that this is their first truly original title that is stepping out of the box from what we have all come to know from MK, but at the same time, they don't have to recycle those same animations. It's really noticeable when you defeat an opponent and they fly across the screen and fall down, only to stand back up and fall back down as if they were waiting on you to perform a Fatality.

Regardless of how much this mode pissed me off, I managed to clear all 240 of these missions, with my only reward being Kryptonite Suit Lex Luthor... That was pretty damn weak. Yeah, yeah. I know Elseworld Flash is the reward for getting 3 Stars on all 240 of these missions, but you got to be high to unlock that. Most casual players will more likely stop playing this game before they do.

The unlockables in the Archives are a bit of hit or miss, with concept art, music, backgrounds, and alternate costumes available for purchase. I'm possibly in the minority here, but I found a lot of the concept art and sketches for characters to be better than the costumes and attires chosen for the final result in this game. 

Call me spoiled from the Marvel-themed Capcom games, but I thought NetherRealms could have done a LOT better for this game's character models. I get that they are going for that dark and edgy vibe since it's Superman's spiral into darkness, but come on. Compare DC Universe Online's character models to this game's own:

DC Universe Online's character models...

Injustice: Gods Among Us' character models look
like this... Yuck. 

Yeah... Raven looks like a damn dude with that man-shaped jawline. At least in DCUO, I can tell that Power Girl is supposed to be a woman. With Raven in this game? Not so much. She looks like The Shade in drag honestly. Wonder Woman's jaw is a bit manly too, but it's nowhere near as frightening as Raven's face. I get they are going that she's been taken over by her father's demonic power but at least let her somewhat resemble a woman. Sheesh. For the sequels (as I'm sure they are going to do another one), I humbly suggest that NetherRealms get Jim Lee and his team from DCUO onboard for designing the character models.

The online netcode is decent for the most part. I experienced little to no lag while playing against several friends and randoms online. Ranked Match's matchmaking leaves a lot to be desired though. It takes forever for the game to find you an opponent as it seems that most people are not even touching this mode at all. I'm sure most people will be sticking with Player Matches as a result unless the community decides otherwise.

Last but not least, let's talk about the overall gameplay. Roughly everyone has the same inputs for most of their basic combos, so if you feel comfortable with one character, you're going to do fine while handling others for the most part. The game offers the option to toggle between traditional MK-style inputs or Street Fighter-oriented inputs for special moves and combos, but I found myself reverting back to the MK inputs after realizing it's much more work on your thumbs doing SF inputs. 

Interactive objects in the environments never get old, but I wish NRS put a little more balance on that for the gadget users. While it's cool that superpowered characters like Superman can toss cars and other objects with ease, it would have made sense to allow non-powered characters like Batman use a projectile to blow up the car or other object before it's used against them to devastating results. As it stands, it's either hit or miss with the usefulness to environmental objects being useful to your character of choice.

This game could use an indicator to gauge how far you have to be before you can get launched into a stage transition. There were moments against the CPU where they would launch me from at least 1/3 of the screen's length from the corner and it would still trigger a transition.

I wish this game had the option to skip the damn long as fuck victory animations at the end of every battle. It gets really repetitive to see Batman say, "Stay down." Then camera cut to him perching on a building for about a minute before the Next Match/Mission, Rematch/Retry, or Quit options show up. I know that this is a minor issue but it slows down the pacing of bouts between friends.

Despite all of these faults, this game still manages to be fun. It's very simplistic and easy to pick up. Newbies to the genre will be able to jump right in while veterans of the genre (especially those familiar with NRS's work) will find enough depth for the long haul with the diverse roster of characters. Plus, with regular patches and updates, NetherRealms aims to keep this game alive for the long haul, much like their treatment of Mortal Kombat 9. I only suggest buying the DLC content if you really can't wait (or regularly attending and competing in tournaments for this game), as I'm positive that NRS is going to do a "complete" edition of this game, much like they did with MK9 with all of the DLC and costumes. So I wouldn't stress myself out if you can't acquire the pre-order bonuses and iOS unlockables as NRS are striving to make that content available to the masses at a later date.

Here's the moment that you guys have been waiting for. I'll admit, I have been straying away farther and farther from fighting games as of late, but despite of the rocky start, I really did have fun with my two week rental of Injustice. I'm giving this a solid 8.25 out of 10.

There's more than enough content here to keep single player fighting fans busy and even more for multiplayer chaos online and offline. Capcom, please take notes - this is how you satisfy both sides of your customers' interests.

NetherRealm Studios have managed to remedy the previous mistakes that made MK vs. DCU a flop and have renewed interest for DC's heroes and villains in the fighting genre. I'm anxious to see what's next for this franchise.