Game Reviews

Black Adam streaks towards Earth, wreathed in golden-hued lighting. He touches down on the streets of downtown Metropolis with a simple proclamation: "I have returned." Cut to its guardian, the son of Jor-El, tearing his suit off to reveal the iconic “S” beneath it. After being slammed through a skyscraper, Black Adam rears up and shouts, “SHAZAM!” rending Superman with a massive thunderbolt. Supes responds by punching Black Adam into the atmosphere, flying up past him, and sending him crashing back down to Earth with a towering overhead smash.

It's exactly the kind of glorious fight you expect from the DC Universe's mightiest, and  Injustice: Gods Among Us makes it almost as fun and rewarding to watch as it is to play. NetherRealm’s follow-up to Mortal Kombat is both a very good brawler and a big old sloppy love letter to fans. And while it buckles just a bit under the weight of all it tries to do, Injustice definitely earns its spot on the shelf of fighting aficionados, whether they dig comics or not.

For its first trick, Injustice does something that few fighting games ever even attempt to do: tell an interesting story. What if Superman lost faith in humanity and, with his near-infinite power, decided it was time to stop protecting and start ruling? Without ruining anything, you've rarely seen Supes quite like this before. We've seen him “retire” in Kingdom Come, and watched him wreck shop whilst being mind controlled a few billion times, but this is a far darker spin than all that. This isn't about a mopey alien who just wants somewhere to belong, its about a god who's decided his subjects no longer deserve free will.

As heavy as it sounds, Injustice still finds time for the same kind of action, adventure, and humor that made the Justice League animated series such a treat. In fact,much of the original JL voice cast is in action here, including the inimitable Kevin Conroy as the Dark Knight himself and George Newbern as Superman. The story mode’s primary fault is that  its reach exceeds Injustice's graphical grasp. Closeups on main characters look good, but when the in-engine cutscenes attempt to depict clashing armies or sweeping cityscapes, bland textures and shoddily modeled buildings erode the visual impact a bit.

It's only because the in-fight graphics usually have such a sheen to them that this dip in visual quality seems so stark. During battle, Injustice makes the unreal look simultaneously believable and unhinged, a great combination for capturing the godlike abilities of DC's finest. The cast is varied, interesting, and thankfully devoid of ninja lookalikes – more than I can say for Mortal Kombat 9 at its launch. NetherRealm took 24 characters, many of whom have never been seen in a video game, and translated their abilities and personas over beautifully. Even more so than the impressive whiz-bang effects, this is Injustice's greatest feat. There's reverence for the DC Universe in each menu screen and every matchup-specific line of dialogue.

As for the over-the-top stage changes, I have mixed feelings. Sure, it's badass when Doomsday backhands Superman clean through a pair of skyscrapers in downtown Metropolis... but when mere mortal heroes like Batman or Green Arrow do the same exact thing, it just looks plain silly. I'm not trying to go nerd police here, but such moments undermine all the effort that clearly went into making these characters move and play like you'd imagine they should. Between that, and animations that look great one moment and jerky the next, the illusion of two superheroes clashing can crumble at times. It never keeps the fighting from being fun, but Injustice is so effective when it maintains that spell that I hate to see it broken.

So Injustice mostly stays faithful enough to its comic book roots, but how true does it stay to its Mortal Kombat ones? The short answer is: only as much as it needed too. All the best things about MK are present in spades. Beefy, high-impact hits that sound as brutal as they look, and long, satisfying juggle combos still abound, but so much more has changed for the better. Traditional direction-based blocking replaces the block button, making actual cross-ups possible. Throws are no longer a pure 50/50 mix-up like they are in MK9, thanks to a universal tech input. Combo breakers (renamed “clashes”) are only possible once per match now, and are part of a wider variety of useful ways to spend meter that make the decision to save it for an emergency a more meaningful one. This broadens the tactical possibilities for players at every level.

Two other new systems help further differentiate Injustice from its ancestor. The subtler of the two is the character-power system. Each fighter possesses a unique mechanic based on their super-power that truly makes their style distinct. Solomon Grundy, for instance, gets a series of chain throws, each of which buffs a different attribute of his for the remainder of the match. The Flash, on the other hand, can call upon the Speed Force to effectively slow opponents to a crawl. NetherRealm got pretty creative with these, and learning how to leverage them properly adds another level of technical nuance and variety.

Also new, but potentially more troublesome, are the interactive environments. Each setting is jam-packed with heavy objects to pick up and throw, or bounce your opponent off of, and landing certain attacks at the right spots triggers a stage change, sending your enemy careening spectacularly through a series of obstacles. Now, I'd be lying if I said all the wanton destruction wasn't great fun, because it totally is. I just don't know how balanced it'll prove to be. Environmental attacks are completely unblockable, and either shear off sizable chunks of life or leave you open to eat a full combo - and sometimes both. I've already seen people execute 100% combos on certain stages, and that's potentially gamebreaking for high-level players. NetherRealm appears to be concerned about them as well, since it's included the option to turn them off. Regardless, I’d rather not have to.

Finally, I'd be doing Injustice an injustice if I didn't mention just how much content is included. NetherRealm has once again spoiled us with things to do and a mountain of costumes, art, and music to unlock. STAR Labs is the new challenge tower, offering hundreds of fights to complete under special conditions. If you just feel like jumping into a series of matches, you can unlock and fight in a number of battle ladders, each with different stipulations like heroes only (no villains) or surviving on one health bar. Training mode has been significantly beefed up too, with frame data and detailed move descriptions built right in. Online lobbies have also improved, with the ability to bet XP on who will win the next match – and even issue challenges for how they'll win it. It helps keep lobbies fun and interactive, even when you're last in line to fight.