Review: Injustice: Gods Among Us

Injustice: Gods Among Us… From the early days of the crossover fighting games such as Tatsunoko vs. Capcom, Super Smash Bros, or more recently PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale, there’s always been a fear of killing one license identity for the others. Sadly, it has been proven over the years, especially with Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, and fighting game are never really about the story, fighters or anything other than a perfect alteration of fighting mechanics with a solid character balance.

The Japanese studios have realized that, and the different Capcom, Namco Bandai and Tecmo Koei franchises have become legendary, almost like a real fighting simulation. With the arrival of NetherRealm Sudio‘s new title, we ask ourselves: where does this fighting game stand? An arcade fighter? A comic adaptation? Or a true brawl simulation? Here’s our review of Injustice: Gods Among Us.

Following a complete overhaul of its engines, NetherRealm Studios led by legendary Mortal Kombat creator Ed Boon, knows what it takes to raise the bar dramatically and unexpectedly. The latest installment worthy to rival the great Street Fighter IV, released in 2011, is a success, and more surprisingly, Injustice: Gods Among Us could even beat the great Japanese titan.

Even if Marvel heroes have become the popular choice in comic fans, especially with the latest release of The Avengers, Injustice: Gods Among Us will show the true value of DC heroes and discover that Batman is not the only lead in his class but one among many… Except maybe, Aquaman.

Injustice Gods Among Us is a great fighting game that lives up to the DC Comics

Even if we admit that these fighters have a strong popularity and are set with a game system involving destructible scenery and crazy powers, in such a context, Superman will seem much less wanted among the DC Comics fans.

Nothing is more enjoyable than seeing a title dedicated to a particular license and not trying so hard to please the community. In the Story Mode, close enough to the latest Mortal Kombat, you will embody the main characters during fights that show the influence of various DC authors. The result is fun and educational, and offers a many fun and shocking situations. Although the cast is already known by now, some surprise guests reinforce the tales’ immersion.

The desire to give a dramatic and epic sense of a fight is quite enforced in the combat system. No rounds here, just a double life bar. The difference seems tenuous; however, the strategies have nothing to do with it: even if you grab a perfect first round, you will be left with what you lost, in comparison to a regeneration at each Mortal Kombat round. The environments, all inspired by the famous spots of the DC Universe can be destroyed, and a variety of elements that can be turned into projectiles, but also they can spread over several floors, with a cinematic Dead or Alive-like scene. These add so much excitement and absorption into the fight, making it a transition worth a true Hollywood movie.

Unfortunately, the rest of the fighting system is a bit inspired from Mortal Kombat, allowing to combine short combos via movements threads as links. Combo hits, a lot of “juggling” topped by special moves, which can also sometimes end with a super-hit. Each character also have a “secondary” power, activated by just pressing [B] (or [O] on the PlayStation 3), giving you for example a boost of power for Clark Kent, a shield for Lex Luthor or hovering batarangs for the Black Knight.

The result is a hard feat of surprising combo techniques, except to when it comes to the wager match. When one hero’s life is in the red spot, the victim of a combo can trigger this mode, leading to a bet an amount of his special gauge. The winner of this clash – although visually astounding – wins back some of its health, and its adversary losing a large chunk. This system is technically a good way to flip the course of the match – watch it in action in the video above, around minute 2:14 – but it’s an unfair tactic against those who are veteran combo artists. Hopefully a rebalancing patch will be on its way soon. And of course we have the ultimate attacks, which are rather… Well I’m pretty speechless when it comes to this, but check it out for yourself below and you’ll get my point.