Can’t do Injustice 2 Justice

There was something very disturbing and satisfying ripping an opponents head and spine out in Mortal Kombat. It was a fun arcade based past time when you put in a quarter and beat the snot out of your friend. I also fondly remember emptying my bank account (at an actual bank, for cash. Had to stand in line, talk to a human being, everything!) and running to the local gaming store to buy my Super Nintendo, arcade-joystick emulator, and Street Fighter. Running home and playing for 12 hours straight against Darryl, a friend of mine. Oh, the glory days of youth and fighting games. I did not remember the last one I played until I bought Injustice 2.

Ps4 still sucks for sharing screenshots so borrowed this from Digital Spy

I was on the fence about it. I read overwhelmingly positive reviews about it. I never played the original Injustice, I have always preferred Marvel over DC and memorizing complex combos that had to be executed flawlessly and twitch-quickly hasn’t been my cup of tea for years. Still, my newfound interest in Green Lantern coupled with my newfound love for Wonder Woman, with a dash of a discovered $80 Best Buy card lead me to the purchase choice. And let me tell you, I am not disappointed. Quite the opposite, elated!

The graphics and gameplay are really fun. The heroes are varied, interesting, and exciting. The differences between them are immense but how you play them is not always – for example, L1 is a grab move (for everyone). Of course, everyone’s grab move is completely different. This gives some consistency on how to execute moves and the variety between superheroes keeps it fresh. The PVE mode (which is all I have played) is really great. First, there is a story mode. Yes, a fighting game story mode and quite surprisingly the story is pretty good. I am not even half way through the story mode and each chapter has you using new superheroes and learning them as fighters first, but some flavor and attitude as well. The second PVE mode is the Multiverse – these are small, PVE challenges that change based on which earth your are visiting and they are extremely varied and most that I have done have been incredibly fun.

I haven’t played against any human beings yet. I am going to finish the Story Mode first as this has introduced me slowly to all sorts of heroes allowing me to understand various strengths and weaknesses of each. I fully expect to get destroyed online by leet chillins.

It has been a fresh revisit to a gaming category I thought I was done with. The best part is the incremental growth nature of it – you get a lot of “Mother Boxes” by doing your favorite activities and each reward 1-4 pieces of gear of varying rarity. This is a complete crap shoot (I have 12 pieces for Catwoman, someone I have only played in the Story Mode) but each piece has a unique look and unique stats and this allows you to mix and match your costumes for both maximum efficiency AND maximum coolness. Bonus points is that you can transmogrify a look into a higher piece so if you find something you absolutely love you can carry it with you. Only downside to this system is that the gear is level locked regardless of what level you get it, and you have to wait to use some of them until you are the appropriate level.

I’m smitten. It’s a fantastic game and comes highly recommended for anyone who loves the genre, but also for someone who wants to try something out of their comfort zone – or revisit some old (but new) stomping grounds of a genre of misspent youth.

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