Injustice: Gods Among Mortal Kombat

A new Mortal Kombat game with DC skins?! How can you say no to that?!

Well, let me start with no.  This game is not a mere reskinning of the great MK9 of 2011 by the NetherRealm Studios.  It’s actually quite the opposite; it’s a fighting game that’s remarkably different than what you’d expect from the guys who made Mortal Kombat.  And way better than MK vs DC game from years back.

Allow me to clear some of this up.  Injustice: Gods Among Us is a fighting game based loosely around the heroes and villains of the DC universe.  It’s actually really cool; especially if you’re a super hero nerd like myself – it gives me an opportunity to show everyone that Batman WOULD kick Superman’s ass.  So besides of the pure novelty of the game; is it fun?  I’d like to think so.

The campaign plays out in a very cool, dumb, fun way.  It sets up with Joker about to set off a nuke in Metropolis (Superman’s city), and crazy time travel happens.  Select members of the Justice League are transported to a different dimension where Joker did blow up Metropolis, made Supes kill Louis Lane and their baby via Joker drugs, and Superman lost his shit.  I’m talkin ‘bout Superman KILLED the Joker, and then proceeded to rule the world!  This no longer the goody-two-shoes boyscout with superpowers that we’ve gotten to know; this is a fully-fledged supervillain.  Basically the story mode is split up into twelve chapters where you play as a character throughout the entire chapter – very similar to MK9’s story mode.  The remarkable thing about the story mode is how freaking cinematic it is.  By this I mean it feels like you’re watching a movie, and when it comes to fighting you’re in control.  There’s a seamless feel to it, and they pulled it off.  It’s really fun, and they do some really crazy things with the story that I enjoyed. As someone that actively hates Superman I displayed immense joy when I finally got to whoop on villainous Supes.

I:GAU is stocked full of content; it’s pretty overwhelming.

Along with the story mode you have this thing called S.T.A.R. Labs which contains over 200 battles/missions/minigames to do.  Most of them are repetitive after you do some of them, but they’re really silly.  Each character gets ten or so missions; there are some special ones you get for pre-ordering and I’m certain they’ll release more as DLC.  Some of my favorites are Red Sun missions which are reimagining of Superman if he landed in Russia instead of America.  It’s ridiculous; especially the Grundy missions.  You have to brainwash him to be zombie of Mother Russia.  They give you just ridiculous situations and you have to play along; it’s like when you’re a kid playing with your superhero figures.  You do crazy awesome shit with them, and that’s what this game feels like – especially in this mode. 

Just like in classic Mortal Kombat there’s an arcade-lite mode called Battles.  You face off a series of random characters with Superman at the end.  When you finish off your enemies you’re treated to a cut scene with how that character’s ending should be.  Most of them are pretty zany, and are treated as if it was like that hero/villain got the best ending ever.  It’s like in Mortal Kombat, and even if they’re a bit ridiculous it’s cool to see some of the endings.  Take Harley Quinn’s for example; she takes the Joker from our dimension and they rule the world or some shit.  They decide to get married, and at the wedding the Joker throws a chunk of the cake at Harley.  Something snaps in Harley and she slits Joker’s throat with the ceremonial cake cutting knife.  Nucking futs right?

Like any good fighting game it supports multiplayer.  There’s local and online.  My biggest beef with MK9 was the lag.  It was pretty rough most of the time and the lag made online brawls inoperable. They remedied this situation in Injustice, and added a couple of cool features.  They have this King of the Hill mode that’s pretty fun.  Basically it’s a room of players that take turns taking on the “king” who was the last victor of the match.  The cool thing about this is as a watcher you get to place on bets on the peeps playing like King is going to win or rival is going to win with 40% health.  If you get your bet right you get bonus experience.  It’s also a great way to learn some tricks by watching.  Now if I had actual friends I think this would be a treat to have; it would be really cool to smack talk your friends and then reap benefits.  There’s also standard one versus one and such.  It’s pretty solid online play. 

The gameplay is actually quite different than MK, and that’s a good thing.  First off there aren’t rounds.  You have two health bars instead, and the first to lose both health bars is the loser. There are no fatalities (unfortunately).  I’m pretty sure DC didn’t want that, so whatever.  There are things like the X-ray moves from MK9; you pull it off by building up your power meter completely and pressing both triggers.  Most of these are really cool and ultra-violent.  Some of my favorites include Bane doing the break the Bat move, Flash’s running around the world uppercut, and Aquaman making you get eaten by a Great White Shark.  It’s hands down the coolest thing ever.  The best part is you can do this regardless if you’re not in water.  So do it in the WatchTower that’s in space.  Yup.  That’s a Great White eatin’ yo ass!  So I mean this game made Aquaman fucking awesome.  That’s a feat in of itself.  You can also boost your special attacks by burning a chunk of your power meter thing which is really helpful in pulling off slick ass combos.  So the fighting of itself requires you to be more tactful, and to be good you have to be decent in juggling your opponent.  A really cool addition that’s a throwback to the old Mortal Kombat games is interactive environments.  Do you remember how in MK3 you could uppercut dudes and they’d fly off into another area?  You can do that in this game, but it is so much cooler.  Most levels have 2-3 sections to it, and like I said earlier it makes you feel immersed in the game by simulating that you’re in a large area.  I mean when I think of Superman fighting baddies he typically throws them through buildings anyways.  Arkham Asylum has the coolest level transitions; most involve the inmates – Scarecrow’s is the coolest especially for fans of Arkham Asylum series.

The question that I know that you’re burning for an answer: How’s the character roster?  It’s good, but it’s really the only fault with the game in my eyes.  The cool thing about the DC universe is there’s a massive roster of characters that have been made over the years.  Some of the choices in this game make me scratch my head and ask simply why?  The chief offender is Killer Frost.  I mean who IS this?  I’ve never heard of Killer Frost.  I wikipedia’d her, and found out she’s a foe of the superhero of Firestorm who isn’t even in this game.  Yeah, so I’m thinking they really wanted some weird, wide variety.  I don’t think anyone would’ve missed KF.  Clearly Mr. Freeze would’ve been a great replacement if you want someone with ice powers. Another problem I have is some of the ladies of Injustice.  Wonder Woman and Raven are gross.  I don’t know why, but they pretty much a man with huge boobs.  It’s pretty gross.  On top of that she’s one of the blandest and lamest characters in the game.  Raven, on the other hand, plays fine and dandy but is even grosser. She suffers from man-jaw-itus and the worst sounding voice for a woman (granted it’s demonic sounding) that I’ve ever heard.  Every time I’m forced  to fight her I’m like “Ewww! Ewww!  Let’s get this over with!”  It’s a shame because she was one of the cooler Teen Titan characters.  This leads to another issue, there’s a lot of heroes that are a part of groups like Justice League, Teen Titans, or even Legion of Doom that could’ve used a couple of additions to complete.  This is a pretty minor problem, but I mean they were one away with completing the founders of Justice League (Superman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Batman, Aquaman, and Green Lantern).   Why couldn’t have they added Martian Manhunter?  Ugh.  I mean they have stupid Shazam instead of MM.  That’s so dumb!

Ok I need to make this clear; I’m a huge fan of Batman and his villains not so much of the rest of DC heroes except for the likes of Green Arrow.  Justice League is cool I guess, same with Teen Titans.  So I obviously think they should’ve included more Batman villains/side characters.  Now I’m not saying Robin should be in the game or anything, but I mean they could’ve added some more.  I’m probably going to sound Batman crazy considering Batman, Nightwing, Catwoman, Joker, Harley Quinn, Bane, and Solomon Grundy (I don’t know why they put this zombie in this game) are in the game.  But I mean, Poison Ivy, Mr. Freeze, Killer Croc, Scarecrow (would be really fucking cool), and Clayface would all make really cool and unique additions to the roster.

I guess I should mention that there is an IOS app for this game that you can play on your iPhone or iPad.  It's really boring; you merely tap the screen to perform attacks and on occasion swipe.  The only thing worthwhile about that is that you can unlock costumes like Batman Beyond or the Knightfall Bane for your console. 

There are really not any huge problems with Injustice except for some characters, but I think if you’re a fan of DC characters you’ll have a lot of fun with this fighting title.  Most problems I have with buying a fighting game (specifically a new one) is that I’ll play it for a week and not really play it again unless I’m hanging out with some friends.  Injustice conquers this problem; it has a buttload of things to do, and it’ll keep you busy especially if you are a completionist.  Now go show your friends who is the best superhero!