Injustice 2 Review
Alright Nerds! This is more or less the reason I started this site. So I could eventually review this game. I am going to try and be as unbiased as possible so bear with me. If you're not a DC fan please take this review with a small grain of salt. I will be talking about mechanics, content and future DLC plans, but this game does instantly get a fairly large boost in the "enjoyment" category simply because it's DC related. And god knows, we don't have enough great DC content.
So let's get into it..
INJUSTICE 2 - What is it?
Injustice 2 is a fighting game created by NetherRealm studios, the creators of Mortal Kombat and published by Warner Bro's Interactive Entertainment. Events of this game take place after Injustice: Gods Among Us, so prior knowledge of the Injustice universe is needed to understand the story of the game. That being said, there is plenty hear to enjoy if you haven't touched the previous iteration.
STORY
Injustice 2 long before the events of the first game, we see the famous origins of Kara (Supergirl) and by extension Kal-El (Superman). We witness the destruction of Krypton at the hands of Brainiac, and as we witness both Kara and Kal-El escape Krypton we have the simple basis for the Injustice 2 plot. Stop Brainiac.
fast forward to where we are in the current Injustice time line and Superman is being held prisoner by Batman for the crimes he has committed in the first game. Other members of The Regime (Superman's rogue group from God's Among Us) trying desperately to break Superman out of prison. With the incoming threat of Brainiac's arrival to Earth, Bruce struggles with his decision to keep Clark locked up. Knowing Superman would be vital to stopping Brainiac but not wanting to risk Superman killing more people and regrouping with the Regime.
Without spoiling the story, we have three sides at war. Batman and his group of freedom fighters, Superman with his Regime, and Brainiac, who has recruited Gorilla Grodd to help prep Earth to be collected.
I don't want to say much more about alliances because that is where the fun of the story lies. Knowing who is backstabbing who, and seeing foes become allies. That is what you have to look forward to in the giant scope of this story.
While the story is nothing mind-blowing, it is still fantastic and rivals a lot of decent arcs happening in the current DC Comics catalogue at the moment.
I will spoil one scene which is quite possibly my favourite Batman/Superman scene to date. The inevitable showdown between the two giants starts with the two of them reflecting on how great of friends they used to be, and how they miss the days when they would fight happily side by side. Moments later throwing down in one of the hardest fights in the game.
GAMEPLAY
The bread and butter of any game. Without it, this game would just be a 3 hour long DC movie better than anything has put out to date (Live Action wise). And even that is worth the price of admission. Lucky for us though, the gameplay is the best I have seen in a fighting game yet. smooth, responsive, and let us not forget the gear system. This is the heart of the game, you level up each individual character and as you do, you will earn gear for that character (and others) to equip and raise their stats. This blows customization wide open. I can create a Bane that is not only a shotgun who blast through opponents by equipping gear that gives him strength upgrades, but also a walking Tank that will give his a major increase in Defence making him a pain in the ass to K.O.
The gear system should be familiar to anyone who is used to playing Diablo or even Destiny. Different tiers, grey is common, blue is rare, and yellow is epic. There are also Epic pieces of gear that act as set pieces. Collect all pieces of the set and gain a major bonus for the states of said character.
The gear system also allows you to change what your character looks like. You want a super armoured Batman? Done. Do you want Hal Jordan to dress as a Black Lantern? Done. Just grind for the gear and create your favourite iteration of that hero/villain. There are even Premier Shaders that act as skins for certain characters. This can allow one character to become a completely different character with the same move set. For example, John Stewart is an alt skin for Hal Jordan, Mr Freeze is an alt for Capt Cold, Powergirl for Supergirl, Vixen for Cheetah and my favourite, Reverse Flash for the Flash.
New to the game is Multiverse Mode. If you are familiar with Mortal Kombat X, think of it like Living Towers. This mode grants you access to different worlds, from 5 to 6 different choices. Each world will have multiple missions on them like towers in MKX. These worlds are only available for a certain amount of time. Once the timer runs out the missions there (and rewards) expire and are replaced with another world. Worlds can stay active anywhere from a week, right down to a few hours. This is to ensure that there is always something new to do in Injustice 2.
Completing these missions in Multiverse and completing the story will grant you Motherboxes. If you are unfamiliar with this, think of it as Loot Boxes from Overwatch. You earn them very frequently and they grant you gear, abilities and shaders for you characters.
Lastly there are guilds. These are pretty self explanatory. You and up to 50 other people join a guild and work towards completing guild quests and missions, in doing so your guild will rank up, earn trophies and you will earn Guild Motherboxes for further character progression. Inside each guild is the ability to communicate with other via a chat system, check out your roster and if there enough guild members active at a time you can gain a boost for levelling.
ONLINE
Online functionality is very smooth, I have hardly encountered any hiccups in my online experience. There is a function to turn Gear bonuses off so that you can have a fair match against anyone online regardless as to how many hours they placed into grinding set bonuses. Familiar to old Injustice players and MK players there are different lobbies you may join and compete with others. There is a lobby for everyone, beginners, moderate players, expert players, and those who simply love DC and want to hang out and fight with their favourite characters regardless of the meta.
FUTURE
As of right now we know a total of nine more characters will be added to the already large roster. We know that three of them are going to be as follows; Red Hood, Starfire and Sub Zero. Who the remaining six are, we have to wait and see. We did however get a small tease showing the silhouette of the remaining six. These I am sure may change because Ed Boon (Director of the game) has been known to be a giant tease. Will there be more characters beyond the nine coming to the game? I sure as hell hope so. With the entire DC universe to pull from I hope they take full advantage and add a second expansion fighters pack to the game.
To sum everything up, I give this game a solid 9/10. Loses one point because It wasn't longer and not having Red Hood in the main roster meant that they had to keep ol' Jason Todd out of the story. Shame on you NetherRealm.
Even if you are not a DC fan, you should not pass this one up. This game may reinvent how fighting games are made with the revolutionary gear system. Don't miss out!
Let me know what you think in the comments below!
So let's get into it..
INJUSTICE 2 - What is it?
Injustice 2 is a fighting game created by NetherRealm studios, the creators of Mortal Kombat and published by Warner Bro's Interactive Entertainment. Events of this game take place after Injustice: Gods Among Us, so prior knowledge of the Injustice universe is needed to understand the story of the game. That being said, there is plenty hear to enjoy if you haven't touched the previous iteration.
STORY
Injustice 2 long before the events of the first game, we see the famous origins of Kara (Supergirl) and by extension Kal-El (Superman). We witness the destruction of Krypton at the hands of Brainiac, and as we witness both Kara and Kal-El escape Krypton we have the simple basis for the Injustice 2 plot. Stop Brainiac.
fast forward to where we are in the current Injustice time line and Superman is being held prisoner by Batman for the crimes he has committed in the first game. Other members of The Regime (Superman's rogue group from God's Among Us) trying desperately to break Superman out of prison. With the incoming threat of Brainiac's arrival to Earth, Bruce struggles with his decision to keep Clark locked up. Knowing Superman would be vital to stopping Brainiac but not wanting to risk Superman killing more people and regrouping with the Regime.
Without spoiling the story, we have three sides at war. Batman and his group of freedom fighters, Superman with his Regime, and Brainiac, who has recruited Gorilla Grodd to help prep Earth to be collected.
I don't want to say much more about alliances because that is where the fun of the story lies. Knowing who is backstabbing who, and seeing foes become allies. That is what you have to look forward to in the giant scope of this story.
While the story is nothing mind-blowing, it is still fantastic and rivals a lot of decent arcs happening in the current DC Comics catalogue at the moment.
I will spoil one scene which is quite possibly my favourite Batman/Superman scene to date. The inevitable showdown between the two giants starts with the two of them reflecting on how great of friends they used to be, and how they miss the days when they would fight happily side by side. Moments later throwing down in one of the hardest fights in the game.
GAMEPLAY
The bread and butter of any game. Without it, this game would just be a 3 hour long DC movie better than anything has put out to date (Live Action wise). And even that is worth the price of admission. Lucky for us though, the gameplay is the best I have seen in a fighting game yet. smooth, responsive, and let us not forget the gear system. This is the heart of the game, you level up each individual character and as you do, you will earn gear for that character (and others) to equip and raise their stats. This blows customization wide open. I can create a Bane that is not only a shotgun who blast through opponents by equipping gear that gives him strength upgrades, but also a walking Tank that will give his a major increase in Defence making him a pain in the ass to K.O.
The gear system should be familiar to anyone who is used to playing Diablo or even Destiny. Different tiers, grey is common, blue is rare, and yellow is epic. There are also Epic pieces of gear that act as set pieces. Collect all pieces of the set and gain a major bonus for the states of said character.
The gear system also allows you to change what your character looks like. You want a super armoured Batman? Done. Do you want Hal Jordan to dress as a Black Lantern? Done. Just grind for the gear and create your favourite iteration of that hero/villain. There are even Premier Shaders that act as skins for certain characters. This can allow one character to become a completely different character with the same move set. For example, John Stewart is an alt skin for Hal Jordan, Mr Freeze is an alt for Capt Cold, Powergirl for Supergirl, Vixen for Cheetah and my favourite, Reverse Flash for the Flash.
New to the game is Multiverse Mode. If you are familiar with Mortal Kombat X, think of it like Living Towers. This mode grants you access to different worlds, from 5 to 6 different choices. Each world will have multiple missions on them like towers in MKX. These worlds are only available for a certain amount of time. Once the timer runs out the missions there (and rewards) expire and are replaced with another world. Worlds can stay active anywhere from a week, right down to a few hours. This is to ensure that there is always something new to do in Injustice 2.
Completing these missions in Multiverse and completing the story will grant you Motherboxes. If you are unfamiliar with this, think of it as Loot Boxes from Overwatch. You earn them very frequently and they grant you gear, abilities and shaders for you characters.
Lastly there are guilds. These are pretty self explanatory. You and up to 50 other people join a guild and work towards completing guild quests and missions, in doing so your guild will rank up, earn trophies and you will earn Guild Motherboxes for further character progression. Inside each guild is the ability to communicate with other via a chat system, check out your roster and if there enough guild members active at a time you can gain a boost for levelling.
ONLINE
Online functionality is very smooth, I have hardly encountered any hiccups in my online experience. There is a function to turn Gear bonuses off so that you can have a fair match against anyone online regardless as to how many hours they placed into grinding set bonuses. Familiar to old Injustice players and MK players there are different lobbies you may join and compete with others. There is a lobby for everyone, beginners, moderate players, expert players, and those who simply love DC and want to hang out and fight with their favourite characters regardless of the meta.
FUTURE
As of right now we know a total of nine more characters will be added to the already large roster. We know that three of them are going to be as follows; Red Hood, Starfire and Sub Zero. Who the remaining six are, we have to wait and see. We did however get a small tease showing the silhouette of the remaining six. These I am sure may change because Ed Boon (Director of the game) has been known to be a giant tease. Will there be more characters beyond the nine coming to the game? I sure as hell hope so. With the entire DC universe to pull from I hope they take full advantage and add a second expansion fighters pack to the game.
To sum everything up, I give this game a solid 9/10. Loses one point because It wasn't longer and not having Red Hood in the main roster meant that they had to keep ol' Jason Todd out of the story. Shame on you NetherRealm.
Even if you are not a DC fan, you should not pass this one up. This game may reinvent how fighting games are made with the revolutionary gear system. Don't miss out!
Let me know what you think in the comments below!
are DLC characters obtainable through real money payment only??
ReplyDeleteThe premium skins? Such as Grid, Powergirl, and John Stewart? You can earn the currency in game. However, it can take some time to earn. In 15 hours of gameplay I have earned 12000 points in said currency. To "purchase" one of these premium skins costs 6000 points. So it would be much faster to purchase the points with real money.
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