Shaun Munro reviews Injustice 2…
The fighting game is a genre forever at battle with itself; appeal too desperately to the casual crowd and the hardcore lot will deem it “dumbed down”, but targeting the competitive scene too aggressively risks losing mainstream appeal (looking at you, Street Fighter V).
Injustice 2, then, is one of the genre’s best arguments in years that fighting games should and indeed can appeal to frantic button-bashers and technical savants alike. With a plump platter of content on offer and terrific production values, this is an ambitious step up from 2013’s acclaimed original, Injustice: Gods Among Us.
Like all good sequels, NetherRealm Studios’ second DC-themed beat ’em up is a bigger beast that builds on that initial success, beefing up the presentation, making movement marginally faster, upping the ludicrousness of the environmental attacks and Super Moves, and crucially allowing players to burn their meter in order to get an offensive advantage. These are just a few of the fixes that cumulatively make Injustice 2 feel like a more complete do-over of the flawed-but-fun original.
If getting to beat the snot out of Superman as Harley Quinn with a comically oversized mallet isn’t enough of an incentive pick the game up, read on. Fighting games generally have a not-unearned reputation for being disappointingly understocked when it comes to features justifying a AAA price tag, but not this time. More than any beat ’em up I’ve played in years, Injustice 2 is a deep, rich experience with a shockingly high volume of content for players regardless of their play preferences.
Arguably the game’s strongest overall asset is its broad appeal; casuals can pick this up and have a whale of a time just trotting out the most basic attacks in order to fill their super meter, then pressing the trigger buttons together to pull off a comically over-the-top Super Move; Batman, for instance, will hurl enemies into the sky using his Batwing – complete with an amusing celestial nod to Tim Burton’s 1989 Batman – before sending his adversary plummeting back to Earth while firing a hail of bullets at them. Despite all the pains made to appeal to the mainstream lot, more skilled players will find Injustice 2 to be a deceptively technical outing, yet it’s a testament to NetherRealm’s careful engineering that you could sink tens of hours into the game without ever once pulling off a bounce cancel, even while elite players might swear by it.
The overall package is headlined, of course, by the story mode, a 5-hour cinematic sprint that manages to tie the game’s base roster of 29 heroes and villains together in surprisingly coherent – and more importantly, ferociously entertaining – fashion. After Superman’s totalitarian regime was scuppered at the end of Gods Among Us, Batman finds himself reluctantly turning to the Man of Steel for help as the tyrannical Brainiac arrives on earth with a faction of supervillains referred to as The Society.
A superhero civil war of sorts emerges, with allegiances shifting at the drop of a hat, and honestly, it’s a good deal more entertaining than most of the DC Extended Universe’s recent cinematic fare. With gorgeously-rendered cut-scenes and remarkable vocal performances – from a top-drawer cast including Kevin Conroy as Batman, Alan Tudyk as Green Arrow and Tara Strong as Harley Quinn – sitting through lengthy cinematics is a genuine delight. There’s little motivation to skip them to get straight to the action, even though you’ll spend more time watching than actually playing. There’s also some solid added value by replaying chapters with alternate characters – some chapters let you choose between one of two heroes – which will in turn unlock a secret extra chapter.
And that’s just one chunk of what Injustice 2 has to offer; the other main mode is Multiverse, a superhero spin on Mortal Kombat X‘s Living Towers which has players traveling to various alternate universes in order to complete challenges that typically involve defeating sets of enemies under set stipulations, such as with the screen turned upside down, health and death potions being thrown into the arena periodically, or the floor becoming electrified on occasion.
It’s gimmicky and daft, yes, but the limited time window in which events can be completed (typically a day or two) should ensure a steady revolving door of new challenges to take on. Bizarrely hidden within Multiverse is Battle Simulator, which essentially serves as the game’s version of arcade mode, with players fighting through a host of enemies in order to unlock a minute-long animated painting end-sequence per character. Sure, a full-fat cut-scene would’ve been nice, but at least the paintings are gorgeous enough to be highly compelling all the same.
In terms of solo content, there’s also the obligatory vs. mode and plenty of tutorial material, while beyond that there is, of course, Injustice 2‘s multiplayer suite. Local multiplayer with a pal is a given for the genre – and when that stops being standard, you can start getting worried – while it’s a pleasure to report that the online netcode has proven thoroughly robust during play-testing, with little signs of lag or collision detection issues. That doesn’t mean you won’t get thoroughly schooled all the same, though.
Finally, there’s also a rather eccentric mode called AI Battle Simulator, which allows players to simulate a 3v3 battle against another player’s pre-set trio of leveled-up fighters. Mercifully, you can watch these battles unfold at 2x or 4x speed, and while a fun addition for those who lack the confidence to fight online for themselves, it’s hard to imagine many getting much mileage out of it.
These various gameplay modes are all designed with one thing in mind; to keep you grinding away, further incentivised by the lure of loot, which is dropped in various forms for pretty much everything you do in the game. Most prominently, you’ll amass Mother Boxes, essentially RNG loot crates which contain random pieces of gear for your fighters, allowing players a great deal of customisation for the cosmetically-minded and otherwise.
It’s a genuinely compelling loop that, while ultimately unnecessary, doesn’t feel quite as much of a cynical cash-grab as you might expect, even if the game does contain micro transactions for the game’s currency, source crystals, which are largely used to purchase cosmetic items. The crystals can, however, also be used to level your fighters up to the level cap of 20 (but only after you’ve already leveled one player up to 20), which may rub some the wrong way. Still, considering the far more craven quests to rinse players’ wallets made by other AAA franchises, Injustice 2 is mostly successful at balancing a desire to monetise with a necessity not to encroach upon the core experience.
Injustice 2‘s feature-rich gameplay suite is matched by an impressive technical display throughout; facial animations are especially diverting during the story mode, helping convincingly sell the oft-absurd plot machinations, and render many of these heroes arguably better than they ever have in just about any medium. Mileage is likely to vary, though, on the game’s depiction of The Joker, which feels rather like an all-too-late attempt to cash-in on Suicide Squad‘s Hot Topic-inspired reinvention of the character. The overall art style, environments and texture quality, meanwhile, are largely top of their class for the genre and for a general game in 2017, and impressively, loading times are kept to a minimum of just a few seconds a-piece.
Unless you’re indecently opposed to hoovering up loot and gear or are singularly interested in the game for its competitive potential (which may provide some disappointment, because it’s incredibly casual-friendly), there’s little reason not to pick up this marvelous fighter. Respectful of its player base by touting an abundance of content while refusing to skimp on AAA production values through and through, Injustice 2 is the brawler to beat right now, and it’s hard to imagine anyone else serving up such a comprehensive and satisfying effort for quite some time.
Pros:
+ Story mode is highly compelling and immensely entertaining
+ Excellent visuals and strong presentation
+ An incredible amount of content
+ Caters well to casual and non-competitive players
Cons:
– The focus on loot grinding may turn some players off
– Serious players could find multiplayer too casual-friendly
Rating: 9/10
Reviewed for PS4 (also available on Xbox One)
Shaun Munro – Follow me on Twitter for more video game rambling.
