INJUSTICE: GODS AMONG US
Playstation 3


I was admittedly excited about Injustice the moment I heard about it. A DC themed fighting game crossing some of the biggest characters throughout the DC universe, developed by NetherRealm Studios? Given I considered Mortal Kombat 9 among the greatest fighters I've ever experienced, I had no reason not to be extremely interested. However... MK vs. DC was a fairly big disappointment, and fighting games tend to have a rough time holding my attention for long. So I decided to rent.

The Gameplay - Initially, Injustice feels exactly like Mortal Kombat 9. The combat feels just as smooth and performs very similarly, but maintains a sense of its own originality. On closer observation, however... the game definitely plays a bit differently.

-----The Good: As mentioned previous, it plays very similarly to MK9, and odds are if you liked how MK9 performed you won't be too disappointed here. The combo system is very similar, the physics seem nearly identical, and the combat is ultimately very satisfying. One of the best features about the combat is the addition of the "Character Power" button. Each character has a unique ability that activates when you press a certain button. Some characters gain temporary buffs or use a unique sort of move, while others switch combat styles each time the button is pressed. This offers a good deal of variety and helps make the game feel more respective of the DC universe, separating it further from 'standard' fighter standards. Supers, although nowhere near a new thing, also help add some strategy and intensity.

-----The Bad: Sadly, the differences between MK9 and Injustice are usually in the form of things Injustice simply... lacks. For example, many combos don't feel very fluid and some inputs are so picky that they just don't work most of the time. There are no finishers of any kind, including a lack of MK vs. DC's "heroic brutalities" feature. This isn't really a requirement for fighters, but for something of this scale it strangely felt disappointingly absent.

---Another difference between MK9 and Injustice comes in the form of 'Clashes' or 'Wagers'. These are activated when both players are down to their second life-bar and one player activates it during a combo. It forces the two characters to 'clash' against each other, and the only control players have over the outcome is wagering gauges of the Super Meter. If the initiator wins the clash, the defender will lose an amount of health equal to the difference in waged Super Meter between players. If the defender wins, they heal by that amount. This was a good idea on paper, but often results in players using their super to take down the opponent's health a good deal, only to have the opponent use the entirety of their Super Meter right after by initiating a clash (and since you just used your Super, they are guaranteed to win with the highest impact possible) to inflict massive amounts of damage to you. This is further worsened by how easy it is to accidentally initiate a clash yourself, which can frequently provide the opponent with a massive health boost just because the input is far too sensitive.

---The only other issue is that the Supers, while often fun, intense, and rewarding, can tend to get a little repetitive and simply last too long. The game could have benefited from a 'short animations' option that would cut them down. Sadly, this isn't present.


The Characters - Likely the biggest reason most people first have interest in this game, the roster is a cross of an initial twenty-four characters (half heroes, half villains) from across the DC universe with four DLC characters planned for the future. While twenty-four isn't the most sizable roster, the characters perform diversely enough to feel far more satisfying than many larger fighter rosters where many characters simply fight like slight variations.

-----The Good: Almost all the most important, significant, and popular DC characters are already present on disc, and the promise of four-plus new DLC characters only adds to that satisfaction. The characters all feel completely unique from one another, nobody feeling remotely like a clone or variation of another, and none of them feeling hopelessly underpowered or monstrously overpowered. There are a few minor imbalances, but the game mostly feels incredibly well evened out. Everyone is useful and potentially very effective, and nobody feels worthless.

---Another of the more rewarding features of the roster is the decent variety of costumes, along with the promise of MANY future DLC costumes. Judging by MK9, I'm inclined to believe these promises, though I'll admit the idea of literally over one-hundred is a lot to take in. But Ed Boon delivered very reliably on MK9 with just about every promise (at least at first), so it's fairly safe to have some higher hopes here as well.

-----The Bad: While the roster is very satisfying and diverse, I've noticed that some extremely significant characters are bizarrely missing. While I understand the inclusion of Hawk Girl over Hawkman (they were invented at the same time, they fight very similarly, and the game needs more girls), the distinct lack of Martian Manhunter and, especially, Black Manta is concerning. There are six Batman characters on the roster, three (arguably four) Superman characters, and no villain to represent Aquaman, the Flash, Hawk Girl, or Green Arrow. This could feasibly be solved through DLC, so this is only such a big problem... but it is a disappointment. I'm glad Bizarro and Zoom aren't present, however, as they would fight nearly identically to their rivals... but it would be nice if they were alternate costumes in the future.

---I also have a slight issue with certain characters even being on the roster. I'm not against obscure characters in the slightest... but you need to get the most important and relevant characters in there first. I can accept Captain Marvel and Black Adam since they've had some more relevance in recent years, but Cyborg and Killer Frost (even though I adore her) feel completely random and entirely unnecessary as on-disc inclusions.


The Stages - Like any good fighter, you need a reasonably diverse selection of arenas to battle in, and a game crossing the DC universe's various worlds has limitless possibilities for them.

-----The Good: Many of the more significant locations from the DC universe are present, and quite a few of them are very well designed. With the exception of two or three stages, every stage has the ability to transition from one section to another by knocking the opponent through a wall or down some steps. The ability to select whichever section of a stage you want to start in offers a good deal of arenas to the game, and the interactive environments help make them feel more immersive and larger.

-----The Bad: Unfortunately, there are nowhere near enough stages properly reflecting the DC universe to give a majority of the roster any sort of representative stage. The Flash, Green Lantern, Green Arrow, Hawk Girl, the Teen Titans, and quite a few others have absolutely no arena representation from their respective universes, and this feels very... very disappointing. What makes it worse is that in a game with a roster of twenty-four, there are only fifteen stages total, and two of those are just slight aesthetic variations of two others. This would be acceptable, however, if it wasn't for the fact that Ed Boon himself said there are no current plans for -any- DLC stages in the future, meaning what we've got is likely all we'll ever have.


The Story - After the miraculously lengthy and involved storyline featured in Mortal Kombat 9, and coming from the DC universe, it wouldn't be surprising if people have high hopes for Injustice's story mode. True, that's the last thing most people should expect or even think about when it comes to a fighter... but many factors have come together to change expectations for this particular title.

-----The Good: Much like MK9, there is a reasonably involved and well voice acted storyline to be found here. It's fully animated and full of dialogue and action heavy cutscenes that effectively and smoothly blend the scenes with the battles. The story follows multiple chapters that each follow a different character through their course in the story, and it does a good job to introduce you to the more popular characters from the roster... at least the heroes.

-----The Bad: Sadly, the story mode is fairly short when compared to MK9's, and only allows you to play as eleven of the twenty-four on-disc characters. This was a bit of a letdown, especially considering many of the characters have poor or just brief representation in the story. Many of the characters imply feel thrown in, and the story itself feels somewhat lazy. It's yet another 'alternate dimension' storyline, and many of the characters behave in ways that they never would in the comics. Superman, in particular, simply feels completely out of place. The entire plot feels very 'fan-fictiony', and not particularly well written. Still, the plot serves its purpose, and was interesting enough to get you through it. It just wasn't anything special.


The Music - The soundtrack comes from a large variety of the DC universe, but much like the stages it ultimately feels a tad limited. The biggest issue with the soundtrack is, while the tracks themselves are well done and enjoyable, they often fade too far into the background and are almost impossible to notice. This makes the memorability of the tracks, unfortunately, lacking. As hard as I try, and as much as I've played... I can only recall the main theme.

The Content - The game features a good variety of costumes and various other unlockables to keep you busy. Sadly, most of them tend to be unlocked through excessively tedious, or just plain obscure methods that simply aren't worth it. This is worsened by a majority of the 'extra' modes in the game feeling very annoying and lacking fun, the most notable offender being STAR Labs, which serve as a very poor duplication of the Challenge Tower in MK9.

---Where MK9's tower offered a variety to the gameplay and often felt rewarding and challenging... STAR Labs simply feels tedious, forcive, and frustrating. More than once I found myself facing a mission that I repeatedly failed simply because the controls were questionable or downright poorly programmed. Down+Square to crush barrels, Down, Back+Square to beam rocks... so why when I come nowhere near "Back" does he shoot eye lasers? Little things like this get very irritating, and quickly make you want to abandon these grueling challenges.


The Rating - A subject I normally don't address, I felt the need to approach it here. Now first and foremost I want to stress that this doesn't really have any impact on my feelings for the game... it's just something I feel worth mentioning.

---The game is rated T for Teen, implying minor language, minor sexuality, reasonable levels of violence, and very minor violence/blood. And by these standards... Injustice should NOT be rated T. With every impact there is a splatter of blood. Several specials and supers involve impalement and exit wounds from guns. When characters take damage, over time, they lose segments and gashes of flesh, exposing bloody wounds and muscle. The graphics are very realistically depicted, so the gore is as well. Deathstroke's Super in particular stands out as particular dark, involving a character being impaled graphically with a sword before being shot through repeatedly with a machine gun (showing the bloody, graphic exit wounds from each bullet.)

---The game also says "Sh*t" twice, in the same scene, and offers a variety of lesser (but frequent) language. There isn't much to be spoken of in terms of sexuality, but the language and violence alone feel they warrant an incredibly hard "T", or a mild M. The most significant example, however, comes in the form of a specific character's death in the storyline, which involves flesh being frozen dry and then beams being fired directly into the eyes to fry the brain before burning through the back of the skull. This alone shocked me for a T game, and I'm honestly still unsure how they got away with the rating.

---But none of this hurts or helps the game for me, it's just something I felt worthy of noting. About the only way it does impact the game for me is that the T rating is likely why we didn't get any form of finishers, even though they didn't really follow the Teen rating anywhere else in the game. They might have simply not wanted finishers, so I can't judge it... but if it is why we didn't get them, I feel a bit irritated by it.


Overall - In the end, Injustice is a very enjoyable and intense fighting experience that offers smooth combat, a good roster, and an overall nice presentation. Unfortunately, the game does have the same issues many fighters have in being a bit... repetitive after a while, and unless you have a very reliable source of multiplayer experiences it probably isn't worth buying any time soon. I recommend renting it. If you're going to get bored with it, you'll get bored within a rental. If you aren't bored by that point, you'll likely be fine for a purchase.

---As is, the game is worth about $30 in my opinion, and this value could go up by as much as $10 ($5 for inclusion, $5 for the character) for any exceptional DLC character additions in the future.