Injustice 2 Review
Robert Knuckles
“Best DC Game Ever”
It’s been four years since the last Injustice game. It feels like it's been forever but are these four years worth the wait? I’m going to say it does.
Injustice 2 is the sequel to the first Injustice that was released in 2013. It was developed by Netherrealm Studios the same people that made the Mortal Kombat series.
Injustice 2 is a fighting game that features DC heroes and villains. Classic characters such as Batman, Superman, Harley Quinn, Green Lantern and others return. New characters features Superman’s protector Supergirl, screamer Black Canary, paid gunman Deadshot and so much more are in the game. The character roster starts off with 28 characters. Last Injustice featured a total of 30 characters including the DLC characters.
Now one of the questions coming into Injustice 2 is what are the new changes? A frustrating thing that the first Injustice game had was zoning due to the huge space between characters. There were a lot of people that would pick Superman or Green Lantern and just keep zoning. One of the new changes is the evasive forward roll. This move allowed players to do an invincibility forward roll that requires players to use one portion of their meter. This forward roll definitely helps fighting opponents that like to zone and keep their opponents at bay. This definitely helps me because I like using Catwoman who’s a bit of a mid-distance fighter and has some good close range combos and using the evasive forward roll can turn the table on these zoning characters. Another new feature is the Air Recovery. This allows players to escape a character's combo in the air but it does make you vulnerable. Another new feature that isn’t talked about is that the gameplay is faster than the last Injustice. I believe that they wanted to make the game faster so there will be less zoning.
Other than that the gameplay is about the same. Players still have meter and can perform super moves and use meter to enhance them. Super special moves are still usable. The Clash system returns and it's still the same. The character traits return and some of the returning have different character traits for example Harley Quinn in the last game had a mystery box that would give Harley a power up or regain health. In Injustice 2 Harley now sends her pet hyenas to attack their opponents. Some of the returning characters play the same. Harley and Batman have a lot of the same combos from the first game. Catwoman is my main and she plays about the same but the biggest change is that her character trait can be enhanced with some meter with some bigger damage. I’m a fan of some of the new characters such as Black Canary. I like her close combos and the ability to parry and her character trait with her canary cry that leaves her opponent wide open for a limited time for a huge follow up combo. Canary plays like how she should after watching her on television all these years.
Let’s get down to the story. The story takes five after the fall of Superman’s Regime and REAL peace has come to the world. Bruce Wayne aka Batman has called his friends Black Canary and Green Arrow from the other dimension to help fight Gorilla Grodd’s new super villain group The Society. Also helping Batman is a new Harley Quinn. The reason why I said new is because Harley Quinn is a good person. She learned her lesson from being with the Joker and seeing her as a good person is pretty awesome. Batman has trusted someone that used to be a villain. Things do take a quick turn when the superheroes come to find out that The Society is only a small fraction of the real threat and that's the super intelligent android Brainiac. I don’t want to give too much of the story but we do see some surprising decisions that are made throughout the game. Now some characters don’t serve a huge role in the story but new characters Supergirl and Gorilla Grodd do serve a role just as Ed Boon said. A cool feature is that some chapters in the story have you choosing between two characters of who you want to play as. I liked how the story stays in one dimension and it's a story that we haven’t seen before unlike in the first Injustice where we’ve seen a similar version before but also this story does make you think. Should we kill people and be the law or still let them live like normal human beings.
Online was another issue with the first Injustice was the online and boy was it bad. The Online in Injustice 2 runs better. Now it’s not the best but it's pretty decent. Mortal Kombat 9, Injustice, and Mortal Kombat X all had rough online at their release. Mortal Kombat X online did improve over time. Players still have Ranked and Player Match and can still create their rooms.
One of the newest additions is the new gear system. The gear allows players to add new items on their character. Now at first when I saw it I wasn’t really excited but after seeing more of the equipment I started to enjoy it. As you level up you unlock new gear. Some gear gives characters certain power ups, defense, agility and health but some of the gear can decrease these four factors.
You can get new gear by buying it with the money you’ve earned through playing the game, playing Story Mode or by completing missions in the new Multiverse Mode. It’s similar to Mortal Kombat X’s Living Tower. Players have to travel through parallel worlds and defeat opponents under situations either helping you or giving your opponents the upper hand. Certain missions require players to play as a certain character at a certain level. When playing online or against other people players do have the option to take off the power up effects.
Not only can players unlock new gear but they can also unlock new moves for their character. It add to the variations that Mortal Kombat X featured. Unlocking new moves can be extremely useful fighting against opponents that have a certain advantage over you.
In the end Injustice 2 is a great fighting game. The presentation is amazing, texture of characters look good but the only time they look funny are during their win poses.The tutorial in this game is okay. I like that it gives description of how to play as characters but only just a little bit of description could’ve add more. Story mode is great, gameplay is about the same but it's still good and especially with the new evasive roll. Developers were listening from last game’s problems with the zoning. The online is decent and off to a good start. There is so much to do in this game especially if you’re not an online player. The gear system gives players so much creative ideas. The roster is good and it's still not done. Injustice 2 is getting nine DLC characters and the first three are Titan’s Starfire, shooter Red Hood and Mortal Kombat’s own Sub-Zero. Be sure to be on the lookout for these characters coming soon.
The voice acting in this game is great. Kevin Conroy returns to voice act Batman and you have the lovely talented Tara Strong returning as well to voice Harley Quinn. Every voice actor has done a great job with this game.
If you are a fan of super heroes or a fan of DC comics or a fighting game fan in general Injustice 2 is the game for you. I truly believe this game has to be the best DC game ever made. I give Injustice 2 a 9 out of 10.
