by Jayden Leggett, Editor

It has been many a moon since I have even played, let alone been excited over a one-on-one beat-em-up game. That’s not because I don’t like the genre, I quite enjoy a bit of biffo. No, the unfortunate thing for me is that I tend to suck a lot of noodle when it comes to fighters. So when I say that Injustice: Gods Among Us  (now available to own on PS3) is a ridiculously awesome and entertaining fighting game, you had better believe that there is something very special about it.

Quite frankly, there should be no way that you haven’t heard about this game by now. We have been strongly voicing our anticipation for it since first experiencing the game for ourselves at Sydney’s EB Games Expo last year. There have been advertisements for it all over magazines, the internet and so on. A promotional video featuring Kevin Smith and Jason Mewes has been doing the rounds on YouTube. Hell, DC Comics has even brought out an incredibly successful series of comic books based on the story of the events. The bottom line is: this game has been massively hyped up since it’s inception. However, unlike so many examples throughout history of so many movies/games/comics being all talk and no show, this game is more than worthy of the pre-release attention it has garnered so far.

For the sake of argument, let’s just pretend that you have no idea what this game is about. Injustice: Gods Among Us is a fighting game in the vein of Street Fighter or Mortal Kombat (it was even developed by Netherrealm Studios, the guys responsible for the Mortal Kombat series). What makes this particular game so special is that it has the full blessing of Warner Bros Games and DC Comics to use everybody’s favourite superheroes. Finally, a game where we get to decide who would win in a proper fight between Batman and Superman.

Now I can already hear you shouting “Superman is way too overpowered for a mere mortal like Batman to ever beat him, kryptonite be damned!” Well, that’s where the Story mode comes in to explain how the other heroes could stand a chance against the Man of Steel, and more importantly, how they would ever wind up in this sort of predicament in the first place. Set in an alternate universe inhabited by alternate versions of our beloved heroes, the game appropriately begins with a quote from Lex Luthor: “I can say without a doubt that there are an infinite number of universes. Some are just like our own… but for one or two significant events, exactly the same”.

If you have read the comic book series, fear not, those merely serve as the prelude to the events that take place within the game. To cut the story right down to fit inside a nutshell (while avoiding as many spoilers as possible), the tale features two realities colliding after a series of devastating events result in one world knowing all too well the answer to the question: “What if our greatest heroes became our greatest threat?” What takes place is unlikely alliances being formed in an epic battle for the ultimate fate of the world (seriously!)

“Epic” is the perfect word for describing the game. The story plays out like a CG animated movie, complete with epic superhero clashes and intriguing plot developments. Along the way the playable fights seamlessly take place without any loading screens, making this an incredibly immersive and super fun experience. And my god, as sweet as it is discovering exactly how former weaklings like the Joker are able to lay the smack-down on skilled fighters like Nightwing, this is nothing compared to the sheer joy experienced when you get to take the reigns of the action yourself. This game is completely off the hook!

In addition to your standard fighting staples of combo moves and special moves, there is a stack of awesome features designed for two reasons: one – to utterly destroy your opponent, and two – to leave you uncontrollably laughing out loud over the incredible awesomeness of it all. First off, we have environmental attacks. Upon first playing Injustice: Gods Among Us, players will be sure to notice the insane amount of detail packed into the background scenery. What makes the backgrounds feel even more like character’s themselves is the way that you can interact with so much of your environment. Hit R1 next to a dumpster or fire hydrant and your player will rip it out and hurl it at your opponent. Jump up to a steam pipe and you can wrench it loose, spraying burning steam on your hapless foe. Different characters perform different actions. An acrobatic prankster like Harley Quinn will flip off of a car, planting an explosive while she does so, where as a heavyweight like Bane will simply smoosh you with the entire car itself. In addition to the staggering amount of interactive sections of the environment, activating a power attack in certain parts of a level will see your opponent being launched out of that playable area and into a new one, colliding with numerous vehicles, walls and obstacles as they do so, resulting in lots of damage being done (and a huge goofy grin on this editor’s face).

Another cool feature is the inclusion of “Character Powers”. Pressing the circle button activates certain abilities specific to your chosen character. Nightwing and Wonder Woman will alternate between their various weapons (Nightwing switches between Escrima sticks and his staff while Wonder Woman uses either her fists or a sword and shield). Batman will summon robotic bat drones, while other characters like Bane, Luthor and Doomsday will activate shields or enhanced strength. Green Arrow’s character power was probably my most favorite to use. Pressing circle will fire an arrow straight at your opponent, but those who utilise tactics can use circle in conjunction with a directional combo to load your quiver with ice, electric or explosive arrows. Good times indeed.

I could spend more time describing even more of the gameplay features like “Wager” or the various “Boosts”, “Cancels” and so on, but all you need to know about to be sold on this game are the incredible and ridiculously over-the-top “Super Moves”. Upon filling up your Super Meter, hitting L2 + R2 together will activate your signature super attack. These are truly a spectacle to behold. Batman will stun his enemy, pummel them with a barrage of gadgets and then finally summon his Batmobile for the knockout blow. The Flash does a complete lap of the Earth before finishing his opponent with a super-charged uppercut, while Superman will smash his opponent up in to space before applying a two-handed hammer punch to send them back down to Earth. I really must resist describing even more of these jaw-dropping attacks as much of the joy of this game comes from discovering the various attacks yourself for the very first time. However I will give special mentions to Aquaman’s super move that packs a lot of “bite”, and the Joker’s attack that begins with a pie in the face had me in stitches of laughter.

A wealth of other gameplay modes are on offer. “Battles” are a standard tournament style mode, and “Versus” is the obligatory two-player bout to settle differences between friends. One particular game mode that I spent quite a bit of time playing was “S.T.A.R. Labs”. In this, numerous goal orientated missions are available, and the coolest part is that they are all character specific. Superman must do things like fight Bane while recharging his health in beams of sunlight, utilize only two special moves to stop a barrage of debris from injuring a civilian and so on. I also played through the Batman and Catwoman missions, and so far Catwoman’s were easily the most diverse. One section had me controlling her cat Isis to avoid security lasers and steal something from the museum, then another mission has Catwoman invading the Batcave and having to destroy the incoming waves of bat drones without getting hit five times. Achievement hunters will be sure to replay these missions to achieve a three star score on each. I know I was definitely becoming addicted to S.T.A.R. Labs.

Speaking of addictive, during my in-depth play-test I also gave multiplayer a crack. As I was playing this game before the official release date, the online portion clearly didn’t have many users available at the time, and hence I wasn’t able to play modes such as “King Of The Hill” or “Survivor” due to a lack of opponents. I was lucky enough to play a few “Ranked Matches”, and these were incredibly compelling. Being able to try and get into the mind of your human opponent to formulate tactics and outwit them is great fun, and having your precious ranking on the line really meant that you don’t want to descend in to petty button mashing. Rest assured, I will be spending a lot of time in multiplayer mode, so keep an eye out if you ever come up against “JJDeathRock”, and try not to embarrass me too much, OK?

As with any game, there are a few minor quibbles that were only mildly annoying at their very worst. Constantly taking control of different playable characters during story mode means an essential trip to the moves list each time you begin a fight with a new character. Trying to start up some multiplayer matches that yielded no opponents often resulted in the game reverting back to the menu screen (but as I was playing before the official release date I completely understand that there will be unavoidable server and player availability issues). When failing a S.T.A.R. Labs mission as Superman, an unfortunate clipping issue resulted in his cape cutting through his body and looking like he was wearing a dress, and the only way to see how to get all three stars during the S.T.A.R. Labs missions is to go back to the mission select screen, as the pause button is apparently disabled within this game mode. Nevertheless, these are all very minor flaws in the grand scheme of just how brilliant Injustice: Gods Among Us is.

There are so many more things I could have raved about for hours concerning Injustice: Gods Among Us. The top-notch graphics, character and environment designs. The epic and triumphant orchestral music. The suitably loud and hard-hitting sound effects. The fun interactive mini-games during story mode. The array of bonus costumes, concept art and so on that is gradually unlocked as you play the different game modes. The fact that you can link your WBID account with the free iPhone and iPad version of the game to unlock extra bonuses for both versions. At the end of the day, Injustice: Gods Among Us isn’t perfect, but it is so damn close, and when a game is this ridiculously fun, minor annoyances such as the ones I listed previously are well and truly forgivable. Let the battle commence…

Rating:
ComicsOnline gives Injustice: Gods Among Us on PS3 4.5 out of 5 superheroes being punched in to orbit.

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