Injustice 2

I’m not going to beat around the bush here: Injustice 2 is the best fighting game I have ever played now. Period. Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 has finally been dethroned.

In 2011, Netherrealm studios and WB Interactive put out Mortal Kombat (technically, this was Mortal Kombat 9). This served as not only a reboot of the Mortal Kombat franchise, but also as a rebirth of the franchise after previous entires during the mid to late 2000s were received poorly. I mean, Mortal Kombat vs DC was a pretty bad game. But the thing out of this Mortal Kombat reboot that no one was expecting was how good the story mode turned out to be. While fighting games aren’t usually known for deep and methodical storytelling, Mortal Kombat told a grand tale, and it really put together something in the 3-5 hour timeframe the story takes to complete. I was intrigued, so when WB and Netherrealm announced they were once again diving into super hero territory by making a DC only fighting game, I was more than skeptical. Then I read the prequel comic to the game, and the story immediately hooked me. Part of the fun of the Injustice franchise is that we’ve gotten to see all of these characters in a different light; in ways that you wouldn’t normally see them. And while yes, recently we’ve had quite a dose of Batman v Superman (no pun intended), no one has told a better story involving them at odds against each other than the story we’ve been getting out of the Injustice franchise. And yes, I think the story of why they are at war against each other here is far more interesting then when they fight each other in The Dark Knight Returns.

Flash forward for years, and in that time we had a next-gen (now current gen) Mortal Kombat sequel, “Mortal Kombat X”, which while I enjoyed, I didn’t enjoy it nearly as much as the previous installment. The story felt off, and I just didn’t connect with the characters the same way that I connected with them in the previous outing. From this point on, I got very concerned about Injustice 2. I kept up with the comic story that takes place between Injustice 1 and 2 (yes, all 5 years of it) and it had its ups and downs but the ups far outweigh the downs. Then besides an announcement trailer, I kind of stayed clear of Injustice 2 marketing, because I just wanted to play the game for myself. And while, I was bummed at Joker’s new look in this game (it’s almost Leto hideous), I’m surprised how great this game actually is.

The best thing that Injustice 2 has going for it would be in it’s storytelling. In fact, I like the story of this game so much, I think that all comic-book movies should take a que from this games’ story. That includes recent Marvel movies as well as the DCEU, or “murderverse” as the fans have called it lately. Thanks to gorgeous cutscenes and graphics, and hands-down the best facial animation and motion capture I’ve ever seen in a video game, the story really comes to life here. And if there’s one thing I’ll praise more than anything else here, is thank God someone made a decent villain. Brainiac is not only handled the best he’s ever been handled in this game, he truly feels like a villain to be feared. He’s not looking for money, wealth, or fame. He’s out for knowledge. He conquers worlds by killing other lifeforms and storing their knowledge on his ship. Think of him as a knowledge vampire essentially.

Injustice has always been about embracing the darker side of the DCU and this game is no different than its predecessor on that part. In the opening hour of the story mode, Robin (Damian) kills Victor Zassz by slitting his throat to prove his allegiance to Superman and in a way, he does this to tell Batman that he’s ok with killing. (Damian has always been ok with killing to be fair). It’s a dark and haunting moment in this brilliant story.

And that’s kind of all I want to say about the story mode. I don’t want to spoil any of the surprises for you, because it is totally worth your time to check it out. Putting that aside, the big thing that makes Injustice 2 stand out from the rest of the fighting games out on the market would be in its loot system. Yes, there are loot boxes (mother boxes here, appropriately), and yes, if you really want to you can use currency to buy them. However, I never once felt pressured to do so. And unlike MKX in where the micro transactions seemed very heavily forced on, they seem very relaxed in this game. I never once felt like I needed to spend money on getting a loot box here, as the rate you unlock free ones in the game is pretty swift.

Then there’s the Multiverse. Essentially, it’s an ever changing, never ending mode where you can fight and earn more loot and gear for each fighter. There are daily challenges, but the mode is consistently changing. It’s never the same. This is something I have a huge interest in as I’m not a big fighting game guy, and especially not an online fighting game person.

Finally, the game does offer online and offline competitive matchmaking. It’s good, it’s actually really good. But it isn’t really my scene either.

Overall Injustice 2 feels like a complete package, and considering the only other two really major fighting games to come out this generation (I mean big ones, not smaller ones like Guilty Gear), Mortal Kombat X, and Street Fighter V, have both kind of just faded, Injustice 2 feels like a real breath of fresh air for fighting games in general. If I’ve said it once I’ll say it again that I don’t really care for fighting games, but this is such a damn good experience it’s worth it. Highly recommended.