Game-Review: Injustice 2(PS4) - We all are Gods here

 Overview

• 1. Foreword
• 2. The story
• 3. What is justice?
• 4. Story weaknesses
• 5. A character game
• 6. Technical specs
• 7. Content & extras
• 8. Conclusion

1. Foreword - More than a brawler

2013, Netherrealm Studios, the studio which operates under Warner Brothers, published 'Injustice - Gods among us, an iconic fighting game success based on the DC comic of the same name, showing the broader public the dark side of well-known superheroes. The comic and the game relate to the multiverses of the DC world, so Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Aquaman and many other long-established comic heroes as well as lesser-known characters were combined in one story and revealed moral abysses. Injustice's concept remained unique, both in the fighting game genre and the rest of the video game world, nowhere else would you have seen the license of western superheroes, which in Marvel's interest mostly stand for colorful costumes and ironic one-liners, used as impressively and grim as it was done in Injustice. The title shared and shares many similarities with the studio's other main brand, Mortal Kombat. Both series have an unmistakable style and such high quality in parts that you won't find them in Street Fighter, Tekken or Dead or Alive.

The reason is that Injustice is only secondarily a fighting game, and primarily a story game. I know that now. But I didn't know it beforehand, and I expected only mediocre fighting action from the brand. That's why I got the newer title, Injustice 2. As a burning Mortal Kombat fan since Mortal Kombat X, I had a certain basic trust in the studio, but I wasn't sure what to think of Injustice.

Now after Part 2, I can say with a clear conscience that it was one of the best fighting game experiences I've ever had. I am really, honestly completely enthusiastic. Fighting games are my absolute favorite genre even before RPGs, and although the fighting mechanics of Injustice (And Mortal Kombat) are not that good, both brands convince with something else - the fantastic world and story.

A long foreword, but necessary to be able to understand what the deal with Injustice 2 was for me. 

For many, it is undoubtedly 'just' a really good comic book brawler. For me it was more. 

2. Dark Gods in Colorful Pants - The Story

I never had much interest in western comics and superheroes. Until my teenage years, I was firmly convinced that all of that silly kid's stuff and US comics were just the undemanding version of japanese manga, which had to be superior visually, in terms of content and style. Fortunately, that has changed in the meantime and I am fully aware that most comic readers are probably grown up. I know the variety of complex, adult, dark and interesting stories in the comic cosmos that can at least keep up with the manga culture, if not more.

Still, I wasn't interested in it. Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight-movies are among my all-time favorites, but they were deliberately as grim as possible. If anything, the X-Men-movies got me because I found the older films good and the newer films excellent. But with them too there was no particular interest in further comic reading from my side.

With that in mind, it's interesting to know that 2/3 of Injustice 2's character lineup is made up of relatively small, unknown characters that probably no horse outside the comic community knows. I myself had never heard of about 50%. And the big names? Superman, probably the most silly, boring comic book jacket ever. Flash, the guy who can literally run faster. Aquaman. AQUAMAN. So I expected the story to be of manageable quality. 

I was wrong. Like Mortal Kombat and Gods among Us, Part 2 does not focus on gameplay, but on everything around it, the story, the world and the DC heroes. Story modes in fighting games can be summed up in one word in 99% of all sad cases: Alibi. If you allow a second: Nonsens. High Class-fighters such as Tekken or Dead or Alive are known for having stories and characters so stupid that at some point they no longer took themselves seriously. I am currently playing Soul Calibur 6 parallel to Injustice 2, and holy imaginary God is it a multiverse of difference. You can tell with Fighting Games that there is rarely anyone in the mood for the story and that nobody is hired for it. Technician Ikaru has five minutes after lunch? Continue writing the story. Caretaker Konogawa wants to finally get creative? Develop us a character concept.

 Pleasant exceptions like BlazBlue with its complex anime world are niches. The bridge between niche and mainstream is Mortal Kombat. And so is Injustice (2).

The story mode is extremely fleshed out here in a cinematic style with rock solid to excellent graphics and can actually be taken seriously, here you don't hear any dialogues that could have been written by a six-year-old with a damaged grammar center, here the actors are not parodies of themselves, here you can feel like watching a highly rated, animated comic series from an extremely dark and dramatic world.

The concept of Injustice is that Joker tricked Superman in part 1 into killing his own wife and thereby blowing up the world city Metropolis. For this, Superman finally made Joker kicking the bucket and got corrupted by him, so that he founded an absolute regime of justice and wanted to subdue the world. Batman and a few other Chads prevented that, Superman ended up in jail and we are in Part 2. The world collector and space monarch Brainiac comes to Earth to kill Superman and take over the planet from his collection after he failed a long time ago when he blew up the kryptonians along with the rest of the planet Krypton. To prevent this, Superman and Batman, good and bad heroes, have to work together again. Hmmm, where have  I heard that...  ... well , no matter.

That doesn’t sound half-bad, but the big win is due to how everything of that is staged. As I said, the story mode is of high quality and exciting to watch, as someone who didn't associate anything with most of these characters due the lack of knowledge from part 1, I was still soon very invested in their problems, ethnic views and in the great conflict

'Merciless Justice' vs. 'Moral Compass'. The characters and dialogues are all so wonderfully coherent that even without any prior knowledge of comics you are drawn very quickly into this dark, atmospheric comic world full of gray areas and difficult decisions. Which superhero served under Superman in the regime because he believed he was doing the right thing? Which superhero regrets his past deeds and is now trying to find forgiveness? Which one has switched to serving under the megalomaniac Brainiac to earn his own benefits?

And will Kara, also known as Supergirl, Superman's overpowered cousine, side at the end of the story with her cousin, who sees the only possible justice in killing all evil, or rather with Batman, after learning about Superman's past actions?

All of these intertwined plots and more play a role in the story and influence each other, most of them credibly written, so that you soon get thrilled for more and dive into the world - just like in a good show. The fights, which flow smoothly from cutscenes within the story thanks to the good graphics, could almost be an annoying factor when watching the sequences, if they were not so sensibly and convincingly inserted into the conflicts of the actors.

Making Batman an exciting character is only moderately difficult: at least since Nolan's trilogy, the dark knight of the night has been the adult counterpart to the flying smurf with the S on the chest. Yes, but exactly THAT SMURF is the much more interesting and complex figure in Injustice 2 with the moral coldness that the Joker has released in him. Even comic reliefs like Harley Quinn, who switched to the good side in injustice, or - yes, I say it - Aquaman offer depth here and are simply entertaining characters that you like to watch and believe in them having their own convictions and motivations. 

There is little, very little that I have to complain about regarding the story mode of Injustice 2, and these weak points almost all result from how good the story actually is.

3. What is justice? - A thought game. 

Merciless Justice against Humanity and Reason. 

It is an old conflict, we know the trope:

L against Kira, to name one of the best known examples. Can you kill criminals just because they show no regret and won't change? Can you murder evil to make the world a supposedly better place?

Superman says yes. Batman says no. Kira says yes. L says no. Many viewers of the Death Note anime and just as many Injustice players can of course be found on Batman's side: 

Whoever kills monsters becomes a monster himself. Stare into the abyss long enough and the abyss stares back. Vigilante justice is not the answer to injustice.

I am against the death penalty, which is still carried out in the United States and other countries such as Japan. I was always against it. I find it wrong to keep people in prisons waiting to be executed. In Europe, the focus is on resocialization, in the United States it’s on punishment and revenge. The former seems more righteous to me, while the organized killing of convicts, who are often innocent, strikes to me as utterly wrong.

It would make little sense to mention all of this if I would now proceed to write that I agree with the consensus and stand on the Batman side of the story. I don't. I may be crossing a thin line here, but without prior knowledge I was completely behind Superman's mindset from the start, understood what he meant and agreed to it. It stayed that way until the end. 

We know from all media that the joker is an absolutely irreversible figure. He just wants to see the whole world burn. People have always shaken their heads a little at the fact that Batman, according to his policy, never kills the psychopathic mass murderer but captures him over and over again instead of blowing out his lights, even though Joker keeps taking countless lives. Superman has freed the fictional world from this cancer  and I should think of that as bad?

As I understand it, the Injustice 2 ethnic conflict is about killing unteachable criminals who continue to harm and are beyond salvation. When we talk about characters like Joker, I don’t see anything wrong with that. Or better said: I understand why Superman, Wonder Woman, Cyborg and some more do it after they have lost important people to them through Joker - because Batman has granted Joker the right to do so. At the end of the story - spoilers! - the big question is whether the defeated Brainiac, who will certainly not stop destroying entire worlds and people, should be killed or not. Superman says yes. Batman says no. The conflict breaks out and Superman stands there as the bad guy because he wants to get rid of a world-destroying space psychopath. And I’m supposed to disagree with him?

I’m with the regime. I know that this conflict is not about individual cases like Brainiac or Joker, but about the basic line - you must not kill, otherwise you are guilty yourself. But if these evil meta-humans keep killing everyone they can and actively make the world considerably worse, and you can only stop them by locking them up again and again (unsuccessfully), why not take the only way out and switch them off? Punishment already happens the moment they are locked up - they are no longer free, but decay in isolation. Until they break out again. Why not end that? 

Just so that Batman can maintain his own moral code and sleep peacefully at night? I don't know.

It may seem hypocritical considering my firm aversion against the death penalty, but this fictional story cannot be compared to reality simply because there are no crazy meta-humans like Joker in our world who break out every two weeks, set cities on fire and kill hundreds of people in the process before going to the fun cell again without any consequence. And even with 'normal' killers like the woman slaughterer Victor Zsasz there are conditions and means in reality which would prevent him from continuing to murder. Apparently not in the comic world though. 122 dead women. Good riddance. It’s enough. He had his chance. You have to consider something else too: In reality, as I said, there are no super humans. If we lock up our murderers and terrorists, they usually stay in prison, can no longer harm anyone, and serve their sentences. There is simply no need to take their lives. This is not the case in DC's fiction: The prisons and institutions simply have no effect here and the bad guys keep breaking out and going on. Killing them is literally the only way to prevent that.

I can't quite differentiate why I am against the death penalty in reality but not in fiction myself. Maybe I'm a hypocrite. This may be. But I never sided with Batman. Just the fact that I’m doing all this thinking and engage myself with the morals of Injustice 2 shows how grand the story mode is and that it is even more convincing than Mortal Kombat and that it could be considered the best story mode of all fighting games right now.

4. Story weaknesses - A kingdom for a choice

It may not have been a problem for most players because their moral compass was clearly Batman's, but I find it to be criticisable that, within the story, I really never have a choice. I cannot decide which side to take, Batmans or Supermans, but I am always automatically forced onto the former. Only at the very end can I choose to get one of two ends, and that was very satisfying. Nevertheless, I would have liked to have had more options here to be able to consider and support both perspectives extensively. 

I also found it a shame that Supergirl, who takes on the role of the third protagonist in the story and fluctuates between Batman and Superman, simply tips over completely at the end of the story after she learns that her cousin actually kills criminals, along with a judgmental look and 'HOW COULD YOU?' Attitude. I know, I know, she's right and I'm the bastard here, but I was disappointed by how quickly she turned against her cousin without any regard of his believes, whom she previously supported so convincingly, and ended up sending him into eternal exile together with Batman. Blood is thicker than water, girl.

The decisions you have in the story are limited to which of two characters you choose to fight against a certain opponent, along with their own scenes and dialogues. A nice detail, but not much more. 

Another downside is that the story isn't really long, and I would have loved to see much, much more of it. But given the quality of the cutscenes, the marginal length is all too understandable. 

5. A character game

Injustice 2 lives, in my opinion even more than Mortal Kombat or Blazblue, completely from its comic characters, which it forms in its own, unique way. 

Who the hell is deadshot? Who is atrocious? Captain Who? Red Hood, Little Red Riding Hood or what? Black Manta, what? CheeTah? Cheater? Dr .... Fate Stay Night?

I didn't know any of this third division of superheroes. Didn't matter at all, because these B-Heroes are authentically filled with personality and their own goals, integrated into the story and filled with dialogues, so that I could soon understand them, like or dislike them, take them serious. Try to do that with a cast of 38(!!) characters. 

I really fell in love with many characters, be it the Tritagonist Supergirl, Harley Quinn who is a little bit less hungry for murder by now, the asskicking mother and wife Black Canary or the lively, good-natured Starfire... wait, I just noticed a pattern here. Whatever, let’s move on. I like all these characters and many more so much, I’m so interested in them that I almost want to reach for the comics in which they are relevant. Just because of this game. But I won't, because I already have enough financial burdens. Still, the interest is there.

How did that work? In addition to the extensive story mode, the real magic of the characters lies elsewhere, namely in the extensive dialog lines that they have stored for each other. Ever since Mortal Kombat, Netherrealm Studios has been known to give every character for every other character an individual battle greeting. For example, with 38 characters, that would be 37 different messages for Supergirl at the beginning of a fight. Now in Mortal Kombat and Injustice 2 there is not just one message per character - there are four to five. With 38 characters, that's roughly 150 messages for Supergirl at the beginning of a fight, adapted to her specific opponent. Since each character has these messages, there are roughly 5600 of them in the game. 5600 individual messages, synchronized and well thought out. Sure, some of the characters' statements are repeating and are obviously made of standard-samples, but the sheer number is still absurd. Individual fighting messages happen very rarely and hesitantly in other fighting games due to the high effort with large cadres, but the extensiveness of Injustice 2 regarding this fanservice is unprecedented. 

Oh no, right. We can’t forget - with certain costumes, characters become other characters. So Supergirl can become Powergirl, Captain Cold turns to Mr. Freeze, Flash to Shazam and so on. And yes, of course: These costumes also have individual messages for all characters and vice versa. There was really no effort spared here. 

But it doesn't even stop there. In combat there are so-called clash events that can be triggered and where you as a player have to press a few buttons to win them. For these clash events, each character has 4-5 individual messages for each character. So about 200 in total. 

Then there is the arcade mode, in which you can defeat five opponents in a row. Afterwards, there is an illustrated story ending for each character. So 38 additional ends.

Unfortunately there are no individual winning slogans, but who would seriously complain about that with this overwhelming complexity? This design is more than fan service, much of the storytelling happens through these short conversations, because characters establish their relationships here, reveal themselves, draw old references, explain more about each other to us as viewers and and and. The reason that I was able to put myself in so many characters and fell in love with some of them is that they have so many dialogues.

These individual dialogues go so far that they alone offer enough attraction to fight with as many different characters as possible against as many opponents - other fighting games fail to create this appeal once you have found your three mains. 

But since it is almost impossible to play so much, Youtube is FULL with long Compilation videos showing hundreds of greetings and clash dialogues from Injustice 2 characters. You can spend hours with that I should know. And it's still entertaining. The developers didn’t have to do that, or even only a fraction of it, but they chose to record well over five thousand voice samples for the fights. That deserves respect and was obviously worth it.

Alone the moments when characters like Starfire and Cyborg, which I both know from teen titans, throw lines and phrases at each other, nostalgia blooms inside me. It's just so wholesome. The fight dialogues are sometimes funny, in-depth, referencial, sad, bitter, uncomfortable, cool, romantic - storytelling through battle  greetings. Let that sink in

6. The TECHNIQUE - Graphics, Sound & Combat System 

Now that I have babbled you through endless pages with the whole consistency of the world of Injustice 2, let’s get to the cold, hard facts.

The graphics are for my taste, even in 2020, still outstanding in the fighting game genre. No Tekken 7 or Dead or Alive can reach that, Street Fighter has always been a comic style brawler and I’d prefer not to talk about Soul Calibur at all. 

Whether cutscene or fight, the characters look detailed and realistic, the stages are full of lively effects and very interactive, so that you can hurl your opponent through different levels of the stage or throw objects at him.

An important point of the combat system in Mortal Kombat are the fatalities and super moves, which are packed in small, elaborate films, rewarding the player. In Injustice 2 there is unfortunately 'only' one special move per character, and overall these are much less spectacular than in Mortal Kombat. Of course, they are still very vivid, funny and entertaining, far more than anything the competition can hope to achieve.

 All in all, Injustice 2 is visually a stunner, still a reference for the genre and leaves all the competition far behind. I would not have expected this.

The sound fits in harmoniously - I wouldn't have noticed any outstanding character themes or pieces of music, but in general the soundtrack is really good and never inappropriate, and also manages to convey a clear comic atmosphere like a DC cartoon or Wonder Woman, without missing a good beat behind it. Very atmospheric, that was the soundtrack, no question.

The English dub is fantastic and has been the best I've heard in the video game medium for a long time. That doesn't mean much at my playing speed, but every single character really got a great, expressive voice, which only strengthens and emphasizes their personalities all the more. 

Unfortunately, I only recently found out about the existence of the german synchro through YouTube, but I heard that it’s decent. After I have listened to it a little, I can half confirm that. It is ... acceptable. The recommendation is absolutely on the original dub.

The combat system is a pleasant sidequest here, which really draws its long-term appeal honestly and absolutely from all of the above factors - you want to see and hear more. In my opinion, the Mortal Kombat / Injustice combat system is not the most beginner-friendly and relies heavily on combos, if you don't deal intensively with it you quickly land on the mat, even on easy difficulty. A Soul Calibur gave itself the task of really bringing every player to the table, so that you can fire up impressive fireworks and combo chains with just a few buttons. Injustice 2 is down-to-earth both in terms of effects and fluidity of the fighting. The fighting system was undoubtedly fun for me and it's really not bad, but top dogs like Street Fighter and Tekken are a bit ahead. 

Injustice and Mortal Kombat are not for casual fighters in online battles and in depth.

But it's okay. Other aspects shine here. 

7. Content & Extras

To spice everything a bit up there are loot boxes which contain random equipment parts for all 38 characters. You can only earn these loot boxes with the generously distributed in-game money or by unlocking them through fights, so they are a pleasant bonus. Not really helpful, by the way, because with this large number of characters, you rarely get good equipment for your favorites, and they may not even yet have the level they need to carry it... so it's a gimmick. 

 Long-term motivation looks mixed in Injustice 2. There is no golden star in the homework book, but also no sad panda. The amount of content is perfectly fine. The story is moderately long, but it is cinesastically outstanding and exciting. For the 38 characters there is the arcade mode with the unlockable endings. Then the motivation to hear as many fight dialogues as possible. In the so-called multiverse mode, you can cope with endless, pre-generated worlds with combat tasks to level your characters, earn mother boxes and so on. This is certainly motivating if you spend a lot of time with Injustice 2. 

There are also the above-mentioned costumes to unlock, some of which change their character but mostly just look great. There are also micro-transactions for costumes that can be paid for with real money, but this only changes to the appearance and is a really fair deal considering the vast base game. 

Unfortunately, I couldn’t use the online mode due to the lack of Playstation +, but I would probably only have gotten my ass kicked through various universes anyway. There is also a guild mode, which I have not dealt with in more detail, but which also unlocks boxes and is relevant online.

if you take these two modes into account, the content of Injustice 2 is quite satisfying, and even without them. I paid € 15 for the game, that's basically for free. And even at full price, it would have been worth it.

A street fighter, Tekken, Soul Calibur or Dead or Alive don't do half as much for their players.

Conclusion - Absolutely go play it

Injustice 2 was one of those pleasant surprises from which you expected nothing and got everything. That happens rarely enough in times of the internet, all-accessible information and reviews, which is why I was very positively overwhelmed by injustice 2. If I hadn't had so many other things on my list, I would probably have put a lot more time into the story-heavy comic brawler, but I'm already looking forward to the predecessor 'Gods among Us', and should the third game be announced at some point, I'm the first to pre-order. What remains is a solid basic interest and a fascination with many of the comic characters, where previously there was only disinterest. With its extensive complexity and its truckloads of fan service, Injustice 2 has triggered the urge to learn more and more about the characters, even though they are actually only so interesting from the game.

Therefore Injustice 2 is ideal for beginners as well as for comic fans and professionals, because those who have less fun with the combat system will find enough joy in the world itself. As a fighting game veteran, I see a fantastic showpiece that really only makes a few mistakes, unlike all the releases of Street Fighter 5, Tekken 7, Soul Calibur VI or Dead or Alive 6 did. 

Great Game. A successful entry into the world of DC comics - if you want to. 

8/10 bats for Injustice 2

- Yoraiko