Review: Injustice: Gods Among Us is so good it’ll make you fall in love with Aquaman

In addition to special powers, combos and attacks, each character has a unique Super Move. Super Moves are over-the-top cinematic attacks that deal a ton of damage while providing some quality entertainment. I would say that they’re similar to the X-Ray attacks in Mortal Kombat, just on a much larger scale. One example is Superman hitting his opponent through Earth’s atmosphere and into space before slamming them back down to the crust. They’re really insane, entertaining and cinematic. The Super Moves require a full super meter, which can then be activated by pressing the Left and Right Triggers. Getting hit and landing attacks both add to your super meter.

However, another thing the super meter is used for is a new mechanic called clashes — which are epic. When clashes occur, both players wager a portion of their super meter. Each character says a little something, and the two fly at each other, resulting in impact so great that it lights up the screen. Whoever wagers more wins, either being healed a certain amount (depending on how much more you wagered) or dealing more damage, while the loser takes that damage.

The stages are fully interactive and act as a living set. Your actions will wreak destruction down upon the stage — whether in the streets of Gotham or in the Fortress of Solitude. Each stage has elements that act as weapons. By pressing the Right Bumper, you can kick your opponent into the helicopter that’s hovering in the background. See that missile launcher next to you? Press Right Bumper and it’ll fire off a missile at your opponent. While you can dodge environmental attacks like this, you can’t block them. Against a pro player, this could potentially ruin your experience. I’ve already witnessed people not be able to get a hit in from combos off of the environment. Thankfully, you can turn off environmental attacks in the options.

Stages are also multi-tiered. At certain areas, you can hurl your opponents through buildings, launch them off cliffs, or kick them into an elevator where the brawl continues to the second floor. Once again, they’re seamless in execution and totally meet the expectations of what you would expect an epic fight between superheroes to look like.

Each character interacts with the environment differently. A power character like Bane might pick up that car to swing at you, but a smaller, quicker character like Flash will use it to jump off of and reposition himself. It all fits in with each character’s playstyle. Luckily, characters are pretty well-balanced, all while feeling unique in their special moves and combos. While every character has the same basic attacks, like a sweep and uppercut, the way you play them are drastically different. Once players really learn each fighter, balancing might need some tweaking, but thus far, I haven’t had a match-up that feels completely one-sided. Even Aquaman feels completely badass.

A game that features superheroes and villains battling it out in epic proportions should have a soundtrack to match it, and Injustice does not fail in that regard.

The details in the environment and character models are superb, but some textures look a little aged and muddy at points. Like other games on the Xbox 360 I’ve been reviewing, I attribute this to the age of the console and its limitations. Make no mistake, though, Injustice is easy on the eyes.

To call Injustice: Gods Among Us a Mortal Kombat game with a DC Comics skin wouldn’t necessarily be wrong. The two games are similar in a lot of aspects, and I think Injustice is a hair shy of being as great of a fighting game as Mortal Kombat. That said, there’s enough unique about Injustice to make it its own game. It has its own identity. Coupled with a really great story that could spawn a comic book series, this is the DC Comics game that fans have been waiting for. Ultimately, Injustice: Gods Among Us is a very impressive fighting game that comes close to surpassing the bar set by Mortal Kombat.

[Reviewed on Xbox 360]

You can follow Senior Editor Lance Liebl on Twitter @Lance_GZ. He likes talking sports, video games, movies, and the stupidity of celebrities. Email at LLiebl@GameZone.com

Here at GameZone, there isn’t a week that goes by without someone debating how good of a superhero Batman is. The biggest debate is who would win a fight between Batman and Superman. Half of the staff are Batman fanboys, so of course we hear nothing but, “Batman is the greatest detective ever!” and “He knows everyone’s weakness!” They feel Batman would win because he’s smarter and knows how to defeat anyone; also, Superman’s morals keep him in check.

Injustice: Gods Among Us helps answer some of these questions. Developed by NetherRealm Studios — the team behind the very impressive Mortal Kombat — Injustice pits some of the greatest heroes and villains of the DC Comics Universe against each other in grand spectacle. With powers and moves fitting for super humans and a custom story mode that’s as good as Mortal Kombat’s, it’s one of the better fighting games of the past few years.

In Injustice: Gods Among Us, we are introduced to a Superman that just had his world rocked. Tricked by the Joker, Superman resorts to killing the Joker after the Joker destroyed Metropolis with nuclear weapons and killed Lois and their child. This leads Superman down a dark path — one where he sets up a regime, which happens to kill anyone who opposes it. Superman has convinced the other heroes and villains to join him — because he has the power to protect everyone and create stability and peace — and the ones that don’t must be eliminated.

Batman leads the insurgents against Superman, trying to foil the regime and bring Superman down. To help defeat Superman, heroes and villains from an alternate universe (one where the bomb didn’t go off) are pulled into the other one (where the bomb did go off). This helps explain how characters can fight against their alternate selves. Now, the two sides are fighting to stop each other.

There’s a lot to the story, and I would say it’s right on par with the one in Mortal Kombat. NetherRealm, with the help of some DC Comics writers — the same ones who wrote Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe — have created an excellent story in a fighting game. That doesn’t happen often. The story mode has you play through the characters, doing a couple of fights before moving on to the next character. There are cutscenes in between that advance the story, and the transitions to the fights are seamless. That’s really one of the most impressive parts — how the fights feel totally organic. Aside from the story being great — with BioShock Infinite-esque elements of string theory in there — it’s a nice way for you two get your hands on all of the characters in an entertaining way. And it’ll only last around five to six hours.

There are also some nice minigames in the story mode, like Batman having to block attacks from Green Arrow in a button input minigame, or Green Arrow having to shoot Grundy away from charging him, while shooting down projectiles.

Outside of the story mode, players can test their skills in Battles and S.T.A.R. Labs Missions. Battles are themed fights where you progress through 11 different enemies, kind of like an Arcade mode. Some of the options are a survivor battle, where your health carries over from each fight, or fighting exclusively villains or heroes, with more options to unlock.

The S.T.A.R. Labs Missions mode is the equivalent to the Challenge Tower in Mortal Kombat. In it, there are 240 single-player challenges with specific tasks for specific characters. Each mission has three objectives, with you earning a star for each completed objective. It adds more challenge and replay value to the game, as the challenges ramp up in difficulty. It also provides a means of earning more Access and Armor Cards (you get them in story mode, too), which you use to unlock new costumes, concept art, etc.

Online play was smooth sailing as well. Connection to stable servers is a breeze, gameplay in the matches are smooth, and I didn’t experience any lag. Online multiplayer matches consist of 1v1 ranked or unranked matches, Survivor, or King of the Hill. What’s King of the Hill, you ask? You and up to eight players battle it out in a ladder-type match where players move up a ladder through winning, trying to take the King’s spot, or get knocked down to the bottom. If you’re not the one fighting, you can spectate the match.

Since it’s a fighting game, it also comes with local multiplayer, of course. Through the single-player and multiplayer, you share an experience bar. Performing good attacks and combos, winning, and other tasks give you more experience, leveling you up. Leveling up unlocks pictures and objects for your Hero Card — which is like your player card in Call of Duty.

Enough about modes; this is a fighting game! Let’s talk about the combat!

The best way I can describe the combat in Injustice: Gods Among Us is to say that it’s like a cousin of Mortal Kombat. They look and feel familiar, but there’s enough difference to make Injustice unique. Timing with frames is more forgiving with Injustice than it is with, let’s say, one of the 45 Street Fighter games released in the past two years. While it’s easier for a newcomer to pick up and play, there’s a lot of depth to the fighting system — something better players will appreciate.

Aside from light, medium and heavy attacks, each character has a power move that gives them a boost. For instance, when you press ‘B’ as Batman, you gain three Batarangs that hover around you, which you can then use in a few different attacks against the opponent. Wonder Woman, on the other hand, switches from her lasso to a sword and shield, gaining new attacks. And Superman gains increased damage for a short period of time. Combining button and directional inputs will result in combos and special power attacks. Simple combos are easy to pull off, but there are some more intricate ones that’ll only be mastered by playing with that superhero enough.

One major difference from Mortal Kombat is that there is no dedicated block button now. Simply pressing back or down will block most attacks.