Injustice: Gods Among Us - "Lowdown on the Showdown"

There's no doubt that a lot of us had high expectations for NetherRealm's latest fighting game, "Injustice: Gods Among Us". In fact I had so much confidence in the game I pre-ordered it, and even bought the season pass. Upon picking it up, and getting into it though my optimistic opinions of the game began to slowly diminish over time. The more I played it the more I found wrong with it. Whether, or not you are a fan of this game I think we can all agree on the fact that the game is in need of some serious patching. Certain characters need to be nerfed/buffed, and other online interactions need to be dealt with if the game is to succeed for the long run. Before I get too far ahead of myself though let me touch base on what this game offers the gamer.

Injustice is a game with a lot to offer. Like it's predecessor Mortal Kombat (2011) it features a complete interactive story with fights thrown in, so that the players can feel like they contributed to the outcome. As far as the story is concerned it is by far the best fighting game plot I have experienced in a very long time. Without ruining to much of it, the story follows an alternate world in which Superman was tricked by the Joker into committing murder. Superman's psyche is warped, and soon he becomes an unsympathetic dictator who is hellbent on delivering his own form of worldly justice. On the side, the Batman of this world has summoned Earth's heroes in an attempt to free his world of Superman's oppression. All in all the story was a solid experience worthy of it's own comic book series.

Aside from the main story of the game you'll find that Injustice has a lot of online, and offline features similar to that of the previously mentioned Mortal Kombat game. There's the usual modes of play including 1v1, and KotH (King of the Hill) as well as a training mode. You'll even find a Krypt-like "Archive" menu system in which you can use earned keys to unlock unlockables (costumes, art, music ...). Even with all the similarities to other Netherrealm game releases there are some new features hidden within Injustice's menu system that will likely catch your attention. For example you can now bookmark combos in the practice mode to make learning them an easier task. Each bookmarked combo, or special move will be shown on the playing screen for easy, on the go access. There are even some new modes of play that weren't previously in any MK game. The "Battle" menu for example offers arcade style ladder matches in which you must meet certain requirements in order to progress onto the next match. The requirements include everything from simply defeating the series of CPU/AI opponent to things like beating them with reduced health, or poison attributes. Along with the added Battle mode you'll also find that the game offers a new offline/online competitive mode called "Survivor". Survivor, in itself is a lot like "KotH" with the main difference being that the King does not start over with full health, but instead keeps only a little over what he/she won the previous match with. Of course health can be regained with each win, but only for the player who maintains the "King" position.

Another interesting feature is the ability to wager, and earn XP based on your performance in the "KotH" online matches. While it isn't anywhere as extravagant in appearance as what Mortal Kombat had to offer this KotH feature does maintain it's purpose, and functions quite well. Being able to spectate as players duke it out online is always a nice feature to have, and NetherRealm Studios has kept that in mind for this iteration of their DC fighting game franchise. Looking back on the Injustice experience as a whole I'd have to say that what it has to offer is a mixture of CoD (Call of Duty), and Mortal Kombat. The developer has basically mashed together an XP system that is not unlike that of the CoD series along with the fighting game features that the Mortal Kombat series is known for. The fact that there's everything from background cards, icons, and bio images that can be used to add personality to your gamertag/PSN ID only further points to inspiration from games like CoD. In essence the pictorial perks, and XP offerings definitely mirror that of the CoD experience while the vague MK style fighting mechanics and features lean more towards what fighting game fans are accustomed to.

Now onto the fighting game offerings ...

I've been talking with my friends for some time now about the various similarities that Injustice has in common with the latest release of Mortal Kombat. Some of them say that the game is a lot like MK while others like myself see the game as an entirely unique experience. The only similarities I really see are the input motions for specials. They definitely mirror that of MK. With that being said though there's something about Injustice that makes it seem entirely different.

By now most of you already now about the game's inclusion of a super meter for super moves as well as the character specific bonus moves that have limited use. These additions alone change how the game is played significantly, but aren't the main problem I have with the game. I'd have to say that the stage transitions, and interactable objects in Injustice are by far this game's "game changer". Being able to punish your opponent with various objects located on each stage, and being able to bash them into another completely different area while dishing out unblockable damage adds an arcade style atmosphere that usually isn't associated with the core fighting game genre. In fact I'd go so far as to say that it cheapens the experience, and I know of a lot of players who would agree. The only good point to this argument though is that interactables, and transitions can be turned off before a fight, if both players are willing to agree to it. Of course therein lies the problem. You'll find that most online players enjoy bashing the hell out of each other with these features in the cheapest way possible just to score a win. To further this thorn in the side there are certain stages that are heavy on the inclusion of interactables.

During my time with the online portion of this game I have discovered several flaws that add to my overall frustration. One thing in particular is the fact that there are some definite lag issues, and input delays that complicate achieving a win. Sometimes when pressing the motions, and buttons required to perform a characters special, or super I would only get an unresponsive reaction from my onscreen character which usually results in a loss of life meter compliments of the opposing player. It honestly seems to me that Netherrealm Studios has made it so that each special attack input can only be applied in a certain stance (crouching, standing ...), and that it cannot be performed during a transition phase/animation between the stances. These precise input requirements make the game seem more stiff as my friend @passthemstickss so rightfully put it. Aside from these complaints I've also found that the hit detection is off in some instances. For example I once threw an interactable object directly into an opposing AI/CPU opponent without it doing any damage at all. It literally passed right through the character. Keep in mind I did have the AI set to the stationary position.

The fact is I could go on a good bit longer about Injustice's flaws, but what really upsets me is not these imperfections, or features. What really bothers me is the character roster, and how the online community has adapted to exploiting their certain moves. Usually in a fighting game you will find one, or maybe two characters who are considered to be cheap. In Injustice however nearly the entire character roster can be spammed in the cheapest ways possible. You'll even find that a lot of the characters have zoning attacks that can be exploited to keep the opposing player at bay, indefinitely. Through experience I have narrowed down the list of cheap characters (Doomsday, Deathstroke, Aquaman, Harley Quin, Joker, Superman, Shazam, Black Adam, Raven, Green Lantern, Sinestro, and Grundy), but I'm sure as time goes on other character specific tactics will be discovered that will make other non-cheap characters cheap.

Now onto the verdict ...

While Injustice does offer a solid story mode, and interesting gameplay features it fails to live up to the hype. The character roster is unbalanced to the point that online players will choose the cheapest characters just to secure a win, or choose a cheap character just to avoid being beat by someone choosing such a character. There's an underlying fear among the online community of ending up in a match with a cheating/cheap gamer, and it definitely shows. Often times when in the "Join Room" lobbies players will avoid anyone with a significantly high win ratio, because they are in fear of being defeated by a spammer, or someone who uses cheap tactics. The sad thing is that often times this "fear" is justified. Choosing to go for a "Ranked Match" blindly is not usually a good option either since there is no way to avoid the match once it has been found.

The cheap players, and cheap characters definitely seem to ruin the overall gaming experience in Injustice, but it's mainly due to the fact that online players will not turn off the transitions/interactables. If it weren't for the excessive amount of zoning characters, and use of unblockable damage dealing interactables/transitions this game might actually be halfway decent. There's also the fact that Injustice is in dire need of some balancing adjustments, and tweaks. As of now I cannot recommend buying this game, and may not be able to do so in the months, or years to follow. In the end it's just another half-assed game release from a popular developer.