Injustice: Gods among us

[Thunder]

In the latest trailer we get to see some alternate costumes for Nightwing and Deathstroke. at the 1:49 mark we see Hawkgirl fighting Luthor.  At least one of the Hawks made it in! 

http://www.dccomics.com/videos/injustice-gods-among-us-the-line

[captmorgan72]

That was Hawkwoman you saw. Boon tweeted just because characters are in the game doesn't mean they are playable.

[BentonGrey]

That was Hawkwoman you saw. Boon tweeted just because characters are in the game doesn't mean they are playable.

That's retarded, why put the character in if you can't play them?

[Tomato]

Necessary for story mode,  intended for dlc, just a fan service cameo, too lazy to animate... etc.etc.

I'm gonna be honest, I am not excited for this game AT ALL. I actually wish it would go away, because DC is spending waaay too much money promoting it. The designs are horrible (I have never seen designs that bad before. Even with MUA2.)and the gameplay doesn't strike me as even remotely engaging. I don't understand why they're riding this so hard.

[BentonGrey]

Haha, yeah, I know what you mean 'Mato.  I'm not a huge fan of fighting games in the first place.  I don't know why DC can't put out a decent MUA style game, and I'd prefer that 1000 times to this overblown outing.  You're right about the costumes, they are pretty ridiculously stupid looking. 

[Glitch Girl]

There was a JLA MUA style game for the PS2, but unfortunately it didn't do well due to a variety of reasons.

Review in spoiler

Spoiler

Going by memory here, so I may have missed some stuff...

Justice League Heroes isn't without potential, but it's obviously unfinished. There's a line at one point that refers to something additional happening that never pays off.  I suspect it was rushed out the door too fast.

Gameplay supports a max of two players, but otherwise plays much like MUA and X-men Legends.  You and your buddy travel the map dispatching mooks and dealing with light puzzle solving.  The game uses the Bauldur's Gate engine which makes for some nice effects and contains destructible pieces so you can get some satisfaction breaking things.  Later in the game though, these destructible items get less and less, another hint at unfinished. For a little over half the game, your team is chosen for you, which is for story purposes, but is a bit annoying.   

Your characters start out with two powers and can unlock a few more using orbs that are dropped during gameplay.  These orbs are a bit like gems in Diablo in that they have varying levels of power and can be fused to make more powerful orbs.  The orbs come in several types and can be "socketed" onto powers for various effects (more damage, longer duration, greater range, etc)  It's actually a nice system and allows you to customize your powers for each character quite a bit.  The characters themselves also offer a variety of gameplay since nobody plays quite like each other (with two exceptions).  You start off with 7 heroes (Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, Green Lantern (Stewart), Flash, Martian Manhunter, and Zatana) and can unlock a few more (Aquaman, Hawkgirl, Huntress, Green Arrow, and two more Green Lanterns (Hal and Kyle)).  Sadly, those two GLs I mentioned play EXACTLY like your initial GL down to the animations.  Another reason I think this game was rushed and unfinished.  The base characters also get a few costumes you can unlock which give you bonuses and penalties that seem to balance out pretty well. 

Plot is decent, involving a ton of villains and eventually Darkseid.  There is at least one point where it feels like something's missing, but again, I attribute that to the inherent "unfinished" vibe I get from the game.  Prerendered cutscenes are not bad, but the character modeling looks off.  The voice acting is pretty solid all around at least.  Sometimes the characters will talk to each other as they're moving around the map, and who you have picked will dictate the interaction which is a nice touch (yes, this includes the unlockable ones have some cute exchanges).  At a few points in the game, you have two missions that are going on "simultaneously", which means you set up multiple teams, and then the story cuts back and forth between them as you hit checkpoints.  Later in the game, things get more patchy, but earlier on it's pretty good. 

IIRC you cannot replay a level once you beat it.  If you beat the game, you can play it again at any difficulty level, but keep all your bonuses and unlocks.

I really wanted to like this game more - there is so much potential here that was never reached.  Marketing apparently felt the same way, because after a certain point, I don't remember ANY marketing for this game.  I suspect it was rushed out to try to beat one of the Marvel games to press, and the result was something lacking.  Sadly, because of this games reception, I think WB/DC game division has decided not to do any more like this.  Pity, because the squad-based tactical game is probably the best way to showcase a property like this. 

I admit, I can't get too excited about this one either.  The whole MK/DC pairing never really worked for me - DC trying to be all grim and gritty with ALL their flagship characters just feels like their missing the point (plus look!  Lois gets fridged again!  Geez, what do they have against her lately?). 

Plus I never really clicked with the MK control scheme (I'm more of a SF/VF person) even when it was just for MK.

[captmorgan72]

Wow, I guess I am in the minority here. I am super excited for this game. I agree about the designs though, but Boon also tweeted there will be many different costumes for each character. I saw that Batman's Arkham Asylum costume will be one of his alts and Superman has his 52 (Man of Steel like) costume and possibly classic too. I really like the story as dark as it is. I always wondered what would happen if someone pushed Supes over the edge. It reminds me of when Thor decided to become king of earth for earth's own good. Also Glitch Girl, I still have Justice League Heroes for the Xbox and play it all the way through at least once a year. Its a fun game and the closest DC ever got to MUA.

[Tomato]

I guess for me it's more that they're putting so much into promoting this one game that they've stopped promoting other stuff. Mattel has completely stopped doing regular or new 52 figures in favor of these designs, and dc collectibles is derailing their brand new 3.75" line to do the same thing.  Neither toy line is doing that well anyway, and when this game bombs (or doesn't do well enough to justify wasting money of 2 figure lines) it's just going to drag both companies down with it.

[Talavar]

Ugh, things that I never need to exist: Dark Superman.

[captmorgan72]

Batman vs Bane. Place your bets. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWEfLRFCPHs

[BWPS]

This looks pretty sweet to me. the $100 version comes with some cool stuff including new 52 skins for batman, superman, and ww. I hope they have them for everyone. I wish Batgirl was in this since she's the best New 52 I've read other than batman. But Aquaman with a trident is very cool.

[captmorgan72]

My favorite character is in, hell yes!!! http://www.eventhubs.com/images/2013/feb/05/shazam-spotted-injustice-gods-among-us-website-01/

[captmorgan72]

Man, I can't believe how quiet this community is about this game. This game is looking so freaking amazing. Anyway, BentonGrey should be made aware that his favorite hero has been confirmed. http://www.superherohype.com/news/articles/175027-aquaman-confirmed-for-injustice-gods-among-us

[Talavar]

I can't speak for everyone, but I know why I'm not super-excited: I'm not that big a fan of fighting games, and I don't like the story set-up of why the characters are fighting.  If it sounds good upon release I might check it out down the road.

[captmorgan72]

Yeah, I see some people here saying that, but isn't the Freedom Reborn Marvel/DC/etc rumble room mods like a fighting game? I mean you fight each other in the rumble room, so how is that different? What do you want to see your superheroes and villains doing? I guess I don't get it. The story is what really is hooking me. What an awesome idea. What would Superman do if he faced real tragedy? He never has before and always fell back on what the Kents taught him. What Joker did to him was just, wow. Anyone would break under that kind of tragedy and watching it happen to the man of steel is unbelievably interesting.

[Talavar]

Freedom Force, its Rumble room & various mods may let you pit various characters against each other, but they don't play like a fighting game; they also let you tweak and customize characters until they play or 'feel' accurate to the end user, which was always my primary interest.

As to the story, well, to me it seems like the worst excesses of '90s grim & gritty comics combined with the sort of fan fixation on how cool Batman would be if he'd just use guns and kill people (a la certain fan films). 

Re: Superman, depending on the iteration of the character, has faced various tragedies - his adoptive father's death and the destruction of his entire race being 2 common ones.  He was also made to think, by a psychic, that Lois was murdered in one storyline a few years back (and still wouldn't kill), and Lois was also killed in the Elseworlds 'Kingdom Come' (in which Superman still wouldn't kill).  Dark Superman as a concept does nothing for me.  A Superman pushed past his moral breaking point can be done in an interesting fashion, but only in contrast with "real" Superman and his bedrock morals (as seen in a couple of episodes of Superman TAS & Justice League).  Without that contrast it's just gratuitous. 

And that's not even getting into the fridging of Lois Lane....

[Tomato]

What would Superman do if he faced real tragedy? He never has before and always fell back on what the Kents taught him. What Joker did to him was just, wow. Anyone would break under that kind of tragedy and watching it happen to the man of steel is unbelievably interesting.

Err... since when? Superman's faced a lot of tragedy over the years... he might not be as prone to it as Batman or Spiderman, but his whole species died, his adopted father has died in various versions of canon, his friends have died and come back (some more than once) and there are numerous elseworlds stories that deal with him losing lois/jimmy/perry to some psycho villain. But invariably he rises above it and stays true to himself and his code of honor. This notion that he'd suddenly become a ruthless dictator just because Joker kills Lois... it's a mockery of who the character is supposed to be.

[captmorgan72]

It wasn't Joker who killed Lois, it was Superman himself. He was tricked into doing it and not just Lois but their unborn child. Not only that but a nuclear bomb detonated and killed most of Metropolis.  I'm pretty sure that's what you meant though. Losing his home world and his race is tragic yes, but he never knew any of them and he never had the chance to know his parents and his world. Yes he has the holographic memories that Jor'El made for him, but that's not the same thing. It also isn't like Superman is pulling a Black Adam and going on a mass killing spree to avenge her death. He just decided that humankind needs to be ruled by him to be peaceful. In other words, the criminals of earth, meta human or not can not be punished by humans. It doesn't work because they keep getting out and committing their crimes. If you are a law abiding citizen, there are no problems. If you are a criminal, there will be no mercy for you. Sounds pretty awesome to me. I think the only person he kills (or thinks he kills) is Joker and that is totally understandable. Imagine if Superman was real and he become king of the Earth and ruled over all humankind making sure that evil people would never harm an innocent again. You wouldn't want that?

[BentonGrey]

There was a JLA MUA style game for the PS2, but unfortunately it didn't do well due to a variety of reasons.

Review in spoiler

Spoiler

Going by memory here, so I may have missed some stuff...

Justice League Heroes isn't without potential, but it's obviously unfinished. There's a line at one point that refers to something additional happening that never pays off.  I suspect it was rushed out the door too fast.

Gameplay supports a max of two players, but otherwise plays much like MUA and X-men Legends.  You and your buddy travel the map dispatching mooks and dealing with light puzzle solving.  The game uses the Bauldur's Gate engine which makes for some nice effects and contains destructible pieces so you can get some satisfaction breaking things.  Later in the game though, these destructible items get less and less, another hint at unfinished. For a little over half the game, your team is chosen for you, which is for story purposes, but is a bit annoying.   

Your characters start out with two powers and can unlock a few more using orbs that are dropped during gameplay.  These orbs are a bit like gems in Diablo in that they have varying levels of power and can be fused to make more powerful orbs.  The orbs come in several types and can be "socketed" onto powers for various effects (more damage, longer duration, greater range, etc)  It's actually a nice system and allows you to customize your powers for each character quite a bit.  The characters themselves also offer a variety of gameplay since nobody plays quite like each other (with two exceptions).  You start off with 7 heroes (Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, Green Lantern (Stewart), Flash, Martian Manhunter, and Zatana) and can unlock a few more (Aquaman, Hawkgirl, Huntress, Green Arrow, and two more Green Lanterns (Hal and Kyle)).  Sadly, those two GLs I mentioned play EXACTLY like your initial GL down to the animations.  Another reason I think this game was rushed and unfinished.  The base characters also get a few costumes you can unlock which give you bonuses and penalties that seem to balance out pretty well. 

Plot is decent, involving a ton of villains and eventually Darkseid.  There is at least one point where it feels like something's missing, but again, I attribute that to the inherent "unfinished" vibe I get from the game.  Prerendered cutscenes are not bad, but the character modeling looks off.  The voice acting is pretty solid all around at least.  Sometimes the characters will talk to each other as they're moving around the map, and who you have picked will dictate the interaction which is a nice touch (yes, this includes the unlockable ones have some cute exchanges).  At a few points in the game, you have two missions that are going on "simultaneously", which means you set up multiple teams, and then the story cuts back and forth between them as you hit checkpoints.  Later in the game, things get more patchy, but earlier on it's pretty good. 

IIRC you cannot replay a level once you beat it.  If you beat the game, you can play it again at any difficulty level, but keep all your bonuses and unlocks.

I really wanted to like this game more - there is so much potential here that was never reached.  Marketing apparently felt the same way, because after a certain point, I don't remember ANY marketing for this game.  I suspect it was rushed out to try to beat one of the Marvel games to press, and the result was something lacking.  Sadly, because of this games reception, I think WB/DC game division has decided not to do any more like this.  Pity, because the squad-based tactical game is probably the best way to showcase a property like this. 

Yeah GG, your review is pretty much spot on, it's unfinished, unpolished, an all-around just not quite as good as it should have been.  Comments following:

Spoiler

It's not a bad game, it just should have been much better.  There is no real reason it shouldn't have been four players, and it suffers pretty terribly from comparison to MUA, a much better game.  JLA was washed out and bland, MUA was colorful and diverse.  JLA was unfinished, MUA was well polished, etc, etc.  I enjoyed playing it, but at the same time it was always a frustrating experience, because I kept wanting more out of it than I was getting.

I'll go you one better GG, I think squad-based tactical games are pretty much the ONLY good way to capture a property like this, which is not to say that MUA is the be-all-end-all of superhero games, FF is.   Seriously though, these types of games can give you a group of superheroes to play with, actually getting the whole 'team thing'.  When done properly they can capture the feel of the characters, making them play like they 'should.'  That's something a fighting game is never going to get.  It forces everyone into a flat field, with Superman no more powerful than Robin.  It's too limiting to really capture the breadth of power levels a super hero universe fields. 


As for the story of this game, ehh, it's JLU's Justice Lords (and other adaptations have done this as well), which is cool.  It's been done, and done well and in an interesting way.  It's not what I'd choose, but there might be an interesting game in there.  Some of this looks cool, I'm glad Aquaman is in it and getting respect, but it's still a fighting game, and that is just far too limited of a medium for my tastes.

[BWPS]

It wasn't Joker who killed Lois, it was Superman himself. He was tricked into doing it and not just Lois but their unborn child. Not only that but a nuclear bomb detonated and killed most of Metropolis.  I'm pretty sure that's what you meant though. Losing his home world and his race is tragic yes, but he never knew any of them and he never had the chance to know his parents and his world. Yes he has the holographic memories that Jor'El made for him, but that's not the same thing. It also isn't like Superman is pulling a Black Adam and going on a mass killing spree to avenge her death. He just decided that humankind needs to be ruled by him to be peaceful. In other words, the criminals of earth, meta human or not can not be punished by humans. It doesn't work because they keep getting out and committing their crimes. If you are a law abiding citizen, there are no problems. If you are a criminal, there will be no mercy for you. Sounds pretty awesome to me. I think the only person he kills (or thinks he kills) is Joker and that is totally understandable. Imagine if Superman was real and he become king of the Earth and ruled over all humankind making sure that evil people would never harm an innocent again. You wouldn't want that?

Well that's depressing. I would've been fine with "HEY ALL THOSE CHARACTERS YOU LIKE ARE FIGHTING NOW. GO."

Still a cool idea for a VIDEO GAME.

[captmorgan72]

Next up Shazam vs Flash and Lex vs Joker, place your bets.   http://www.superherohype.com/news/articles/175075-joker-and-lex-luthor-fight-in-new-injustice-gods-among-us-video.

[BentonGrey]

Urg, that Luthor/Joker fight is a pretty perfect example of the problem I have with superheroes of all power levels in a fighting game.  Lex hits Joker with a car, and then knocks him through about 12 floors....yeah, a fight between Superman and Bizarro would look like that, but Joker would be a thin red paste after the car.  I know that's not the point of the game, but it bugs the tar out of me.  On a positive note, the designs for both of those characters look nice, and the animations are excellent.

[Tomato]

On a positive note, the designs for both of those characters look nice, and the animations are excellent.

I beg to differ

[captmorgan72]

Urg, that Luthor/Joker fight is a pretty perfect example of the problem I have with superheroes of all power levels in a fighting game.  Lex hits Joker with a car, and then knocks him through about 12 floors....yeah, a fight between Superman and Bizarro would look like that, but Joker would be a thin red paste after the car.  I know that's not the point of the game, but it bugs the tar out of me.  On a positive note, the designs for both of those characters look nice, and the animations are excellent.

I know exactly what you mean Benton. Boon promised that he would have an explanation in the game why someone like Joker would be able to fight someone like Superman. In MK vs DC magic was the answer why Joker was able to take on Supes and company, I can't wait to see what his explanation is this time. I suppose we can't hold this certain level of realism when we are dealing with comic book characters though, especially in a fighting game, its all for fun.

[BentonGrey]

Link is broken, 'Mato. 

Yeah Cap, if folks can enjoy it and not be troubled by such issues, that's fine.  It just bugs me.

[Tomato]

Added a different link. If that has issues too, just google "mattel joker injustice" and you'll find it. In short: they have a figure based on his in game appearance, and it looks like dog vomit.

[BentonGrey]

Haha, that is awful.  Why in the world would they hide Joker's signature purple coat?  Anyway, the toy has a different design than the character in the game, which is equally baffling. 

[captmorgan72]

That maybe one of Joker's alts Benton. Each character will have at least two alts but probably more from what I've read. Its interesting the reactions people are having about the costumes. If you go on the Injustice forums, half of them hate it and half of them love it.

[Cyber Burn]

I won't be buying this simply because I don't have a system to play it on. That said, a superhero fighting game would be pretty cool to play (I used to love the MK and SF games), even if the characters are not portrayed the best that they could be (Meaning realistically in the comic book sense).

And I agree, that Joker toy is awful.

[captmorgan72]

This Friday's matches are Aquaman vs Cyborg and Green Lantern vs Solomon Grundy. It looks like one of Aquaman's abilities is to summon the ocean to him. It looks incredible, the whole stage becomes the bottom of the ocean. I think it's one of his super moves. Whether he is doing that with his own power or using the power of Poseidon's trident is unclear. Either way, it looks amazing. Even if you guys think this game will be garbage, vote for these fights. You have all week to vote and then get to watch the fight on Friday. https://injustice.dccomics.com/tournaments/superfight3