Review: Injustice Gods Among Us

The moment has arrived.  I had reviewed the prequel comic previously, and now that the game is here, I am following up.  In the words of the Mortal Kombat announcer, “Excellent!”  Okay, it isn’t Mortal Kombat, but this is a damn good replacement for this year.  Netherrealm took the same engine as Mortal Kombat 9 and made it better.  This time, each character has their own unique set of abilities that make playing with each character different.  You literally need to learn individual characters, as button mashing won’t really help you here (much).

It is fun, the story is perfect, and the STAR LABS missions are a blast.  Let’s start with the bad….

The story, as I mentioned, was amazing.  It takes place in an alternate universe, where the main universe of DC is brought into it.  This works really well, BUUUT I feel it was anti-climatic.  The final boss fight with the Evil Superman seemed just like the others.  Doomsday was more of a threat, and I was hoping for some surprise boss  (ala Dark Kahn from MK vs DC).  I’m not saying that Dark Kahn would have been good, because he would never have fit.  What I’m saying is that the final battle should have been a tag battle or something.  Fighting Superman alone was easy.  They could have had Superman and Doomsday as a tag match or something.

The only other bad thing I can say is that in the STAR LABS missions, there are some near impossible levels that you have to hit the button combinations in a certain order really quickly.  I found my blood pressure getting up on more than one occasion with these.  I love a challenge, but when a game has me angry that I can’t do it, I get discouraged slightly.

…On with the good.   There is nothing else bad I can say about this game.  It has taken me away from playing Halo 4 online with my friends, and Bioshock Infinite.  I can’t get enough Injustice.  Other than the few impossible levels, STAR Labs is perhaps the highlight of this game.  In addition to the overall story mode, each character gets ten levels of their own separate story.  There are minigames gallore, and a replayability that seems to have no end.  It is well worth the money.

Even if you defeat story mode and ALL the Star Labs missions, you still have the battle matches.  Under the classic ladder, each character will be rewarded with their own story ending.  But there is more.  There are different types of ladder matches.  Also, like the classic Krypt from mortal Kombat, there is a reward system that allows you to gain character art, alternate costumes etc.

Design of the main and alternate costumes is fantastic, and while I hope they bring in the classic skins, it is more than enough for me the way it is.  Cameos gallore in the backgrounds, as well as some great DLC coming our way, you cannot miss out on this one.  If you are a DC comics fan, if you are a Mortal Kombat fan, or if you just like fighting games, this is the game for you.  Did I mention that the first coming DLC character is Lobo?  🙂  Can’t wait.

I give this game a 9 out of 10.  It was a near flawless victory.  Kudos to Netherrealm!