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| Injustice: Gods Among Us Wii U, PS3, Xbox 360 RRP: AU$79.95 ACB: MA15+ |
Injustice: Gods Among Us is a fighting game made by the guys who make the first good Mortal Kombat since Mortal Kombat Trilogy, NetherRealm Studios. That noise you just heard? That was the sound of millions of fanboys cheering. Before I get into how it plays, I'll go back to routine and start with the story.
The story is oozing with comic book writing juices... which is to say it's bat shit crazy! Comic book fans will get it while others will feel confused because "COMICS ARE WEIRD!" as quoted by Bob Chipman aka Movie Bob. The Joker tricks Superman to kill Lois Lane and his unborn child with some kind of drug and her death triggers a nuke that blows up Metropolis. Superman kills the Joker and the world's finest heroes... are... trying to stop the Joker nuking... Metropolis? WHAT?! Then Aquaman, Batman, Joker, Wonder Woman, Green Arrow and Green Lantern are caught in a huge burst of light and end up in Metropolis... only different. Then it just keeps getting confusing further in and I'm going to stop there before I'm responsible for giving you an aneurysm. The story is more or less targeted at comic book fans instead of movie or T.V fans of the characters then you'd expect.
As a fighting game, this one is classically designed. 2D fighting games have been perfected over the years and this one shares a bit with the 2011 Mortal Kombat game. All the special moves are simple to execute, but hard to master chaining them. Every button has a purpose and the starting tutorial covers them clear enough to help since game manuals have died off in recent years, even though there's this thing called recycled paper that exists and is easily available! >;(
The game has a beefy single player for a fighting game. The game has a 4-6 hour story mode(depending on how bad you play certain characters) to get you started. In the Battle menu there are a variety of modes with varying conditions to challenge yourself against the computer. There's a Single Fight option for just a quick fight against an opponent you select and makes a great training partner to learn how to react to certain moves. There is a Practice mode for you to use to get used to how the game plays and you can revisit the tutorial if you forget anything. Finally, Mortal Kombat 9's challenge tower returns as S.T.A.R Labs with a boat load of challenges to complete and some of them can be really frustrating.
There are only 24 characters in the game, all unlocked out of the box with more to come through penny pinching DLC. Each character has their own unique power to either power up a stat, change fighting styles or even damage an opponent. It does add a little variety to the combat but you'll quickly find your best character or default to a "top tier" character and ruin peoples time.
During combat you can interact with object in the stage... but this can be used to turn the tide of battle or abused by the more experienced players. Each type of character interacts with them differently, power characters will destroy objects while the others will leap of them or detonate a bomb on it with a small few they can throw. There are some background objects you can knock enemies too but they are hard to pick out. Each stage also has a transition sweet spot that you can sent an opponent to a different area of the stage and deals damage to them as they pass through. Pausing the game will also give you a quick guide with special moves so you don't need to wade through menus but combos and other stuff require the menu mining to find them.
Multiplayer menu is where you go to verse real people. Versus is your local couch fighting mode to play a friend or sibling. Unfortunately you can breeze through the 24 character roster pretty quickly so don't try and make a day of it. On the plus side, pausing the game shows the special move lists for both players.
The compulsory dick measuring online multiplayer is a whole other kettle of fish. There are ranked 1 Vs 1 matches for heavy chest pounding grunt competitions and player 1 Vs 1... that also gets rankings for some reason. As for the 2-8 player modes, there is a survival and king of the hill mode... that I can't seem to play properly due to the small population on Wii U, especially in Australia and constant disconnects. I've seen similar things on both the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions happening too but I haven't experienced it on them since I only have the Wii U version. One of the biggest problems is actually connecting to a game! Even if you do get one, after about 7 seconds the "Ending Game" screen comes up unless you get lucky enough to play someone in your country but good luck!
Ok... the mandatory comparison paragraph... yeah. What are the differences between the versions? First off is that visually, the PS3 version looks best with better shadowing, cutscene quality and colours. Loading is slightly better on the Wii U if that matters to you. PS3 & Xbox 360 actually have DLC. Wii U has the distinct advantage of play off T.V. mode if you need to go to the toilet or something. PS3 and Xbox 360 versions can connect to a WBID to unlock a New 52 Flash costume(this is good since the other costumes don't looks as good for the Flash). The PS3 and Xbox 360 has more then enough players to get a match online. PS3 has better controls since it has a segmented D.Pad which makes executing commands so much easier. Which is better? Neither really. Each is as good as each other unless you're big on pissing contests and if so, get the muddy looking Xbox 360 version since Xbox Live is the biggest hosts of wanking competitions.
So... buy or pass? Hmm... constant disconnects online aside, it's a good fighting game. If you're not a comic book fan it's still worth a look but this game is more for the people who spend more then $100 on comics a month and likes DC comics. It's a little more niche then mainstream but I'm sure there's a large enough audience to make it successful. I say buy it if you love DC comics and Mortal Kombat.
Score 4/5
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