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(Above is a video of chapters 1-9 of the Injustice Single Player Campaign without commentary)

Superman Loses His Shit: A Game Review

Superman goes dark and kills a bunch of people and becomes a dictator over the known world. In this game you will play through that story arc and his descent into madness. Below I have a more parsed out sectioning off of game aspects. Including the gameplay, multiplayer options, graphics, and more!

Gameplay: Combo Based Kombat-like with a few twists

The gameplay in injustice is similar to Mortal Kombat and all of it's incarnations. You hit buttons and move on the gamepad in sequence to perform combos and attacks. The game itself looks rather pretty, not as sleek as Injustice II, but still has some eyecandy factor. Combos, button mashing, or a combination of both are typical (like in all fighters of this type). As you can see in my playthru I didn't even finish the tutorial and went right to the campaign. Only after this first play through did I even think to pause to check move combinations (during the joker match). The combos were there all that time and I had just been cheesing my way through, Delightful. I tried to que for multiplayer at the start of this session but did not want to wait over 15 minutes to start playing so decided to go to single player.

I enjoy the gameplay and characters presented, and the injustice timeline (see next section) even though not exact to the comics is fun to see brought to life via the campaign. However, the campaign is repetitive as far as gameplay is concerned. Essentially ai matches against the roster of villains as the hero roster and visa versa. You use the environment to cheese your opponent etc. until the ultimate stages. The campaign has been a cinematic experience more than anything. I got to over 50 percent point in the single player campaign without finishing the tutorial in roughly 2 hours. The whole campaign in about double that.

The Twists: Environments/Transitions

The twist on the normal gameplay experience here are the stages and their 2.5 interaction with the environment for maneuvering and attacks. These interactions are based on whether your character is "nimble" or "large". Both character types interact with the environment differently.

For example in the screenshot below nimble characters like the flash would use the orb to traverse the map. In this case, a large or "strength" characters like aquaman is interacting with the orb and destroys it to damage the enemy.

whereas when in a similar situation "nimble" characters wouldn't destroy the interactable and use it for platforming interaction.

There are also stage transitions that deal massive damage and transition the match to an alternate stage with different interactables (as shown below between the Joker and Batman).

Wager: Place Your Bets

The "wager" mechanic where you can burn meter ticks in a "wager" that results in healing or damage depending on who expends more meters. This mechanic is a fun little addition to the gameplay and adds a bit of depth to burning meter in games of this sort.

The interactables are massive chunks of damage and a core consideration when traversing the map, not just part of the background. Wagers add a fun twist to meter burning. The gameplay itself is fun overall, but a tad boring vs ai. This is not the ai's fault, this game is meant to be played with a human opponent at it's core. As of this review I have not played an online match due to impatience at the 15 minute plus quetime to only be met with an error thereafter. This review is purely based on it as a local multiplayer versus and the single player campaign. The single player campaign is fun, but not as fun as a match between friends or online. (I will edit this review after having played an online match to include additional info thereafter if such an event ever occurs).

The Lore: One for the Comicbooks

The lore here, while not exact to the original work, is fun to see get some limelight even if it is in a bit more "bright" manner than the comic portrayal. Not trying to spoil in the comics for ya. In this telling you are fast tracked through the years of Superman's dictatorial reign etc. in the comics you get to see Superman fall farther and farther. A fun read for DC fans.

(the cover of Injustice Year One taken from here and on sale here and free with Kindle unlimited)

There are various other differences dotting the landscape a bit more PG than others. Including little things like the censorship of the word "Fuck" in the graffiti on the wall.

The comics area fun read and a darker portrayal of this story arc, but this is still a fun watch. I recommend giving them a read if you get the chance as I don't want to necessarily have this be a comic book/ video game lore dissection more a general broad comparison. The video game is dark but not as pitch black as the text. Despite that it's still a fun story and adds a thorough cinematic element to the campaign. However the campaign itself is a series of fights vs ai with some button hitting cutscenes thrown in there, not the most replayable aside from the cinematic experience of it.

Most Fun Local or with Friends, Recommended BUT...

Online matches are a bit of a wait, but in theory as fun if they ever happen. Ideally you play this with an online bud or in-person with a person. The ai gets a bit stale, but luckily the single player campaign makes those matches an engaging cinematic. So here's the quick breakdown... (fun side note the "yellow" lantern that is the lantern aligned with superman has a different ultimate move)

TLDR: How many stars dammit?

For this I give a bit of a split review, I would say that if you have friends to play it with locally or online this game is 4 stars. If you are looking for an online multiplayer or a single player in depth experience expect roughly a 5/5 hour campaign (enjoyable enough) and as far as online there are insane que times that may or may not amount to a match.

Without friends I would give this 3 or 2.5/5 stars, not worth the money if you don't have people to play it with at full price. However playerbase issues are to be expected with Injustice II hitting the shelves already. Plus it's never a bad thing to see Aquaman attacking with a horde of crustaceans either.

I myself needed this because it's been requested a few times by friends of mine and I did not have it. It's been a fun time in a local multiplayer setting. Perhaps a nice title to add to the shelves of your library to bring Injustice to a Kombat-like, but imo not worth the full price on it's own without friends (like many games of this nature you need a consistent human opponent for it to hold depth of replay, regardless of where it's encountered). It's also why I give this the addage "Recommended, BUT.." Injustice II review coming soon.

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