So I think that this is the first game review that I've done so please bare with me :P As the title of this post suggests today I will be looking at is Injustice: Gods Among Us. I recently completed the main storyline and played a lot of other aspects offline (due to not being able to afford Xbox Live :/ ) Anywho, we shall begin.
Today I will be looking at a number of different aspects of the game including: Story lines/plot, characters, locations ,Graphics ,move-sets and length of game-play
Storyline/plot
So when playing through the story mode you get a real sense of what you are getting into. Watching the opening scene when Joker threatens to release a nuclear bomb in Metropolis really gives you, the player, the sense that some ass really does need kicking. From the play-through you see the melt down of Superman in alternative universe where he accidently causes the destruction of the whole of Metropolis. From then on the current team from our universe help the Insurgency.
The plot is great as to see what would happen if someone regarded as the ultimate hero loses everything he loves, blinded by rage, and vows to dedicate his life to rebuilding it. It's really interesting to see the change of roles throughout the game. Heroes become your enemies and your enemies become someone you would trust your life with (still wary of The Joker of course..)
7/10
Characters
There are a total of 24 playable characters within the game including both heroes and villains such as Batman, Joker, Superman, Doomsday, Flash, Black Adam etc. During the main story mode, you get to play as the majority of heroes but you also get to play as some of the villains as well including Joker, Harley Quinn and Deathstroke. However, cool it is being a superhero and kicking butt, it's always more bad ass when you're playing as a villain.
Also currently there are 2 DLC characters which can be purchased, Lobo, who is classed as a power character, and Batgirl,who is a gadget user. Unfortunately I haven't played these characters due to the fact that I do not have Xbox Live.
Each character has at least two costumes which you need to unlock (usually done by completing the classic battle mode) which is good as it helps tweak the hero/villain to how the player wants.
The variety of characters from the DC universe allow for the player to choose their favourite, perfect their skills, and destroy their enemy be it online or offline
https://www.injustice.com/en/characters
9/10
Locations
The locations used throughout the game are great. They range literally from the streets or Gotham all the way to the space station of Lex Luthor and everywhere in between . Throughout Gotham you can fight in a number of different places such as The Wayne Mansion (Day and Night), the Batcave, and the streets of Gotham (I think it's Crime Alley). Even in these locations, there are a number of different areas which you can battle in. It's truly awesome. The variety of locations is pretty good although I think that a couple more could have been added in the main game so that it gives a lot more variety. Maybe not near the level of Super Smash Bros, but the quality and details of each of the stages are great. To be honest I think that the fact that there are many different locations of each stage really adds to the game.
8/10
Graphics
As touched previously in the locations, the graphics are pretty spectacular throughout the game, both with the stages you play in as well as the actual heroes and villains that you can play. The attention to detail for some of the more famous locations such as Arkham Asylum are great and with the added possibility of a destructible environment really shows how the developers nailed it on the head. This said however, the transition between locations on some of the stages do lose a little bit of that quality. It's hard to spot because everything moves so fast during this time but you can definitely see it if you pay attention. This is not a problem for each of the characters though. Each hero/villain looks perfect, the art team really nailed each individual not just with their biological features but there outfits as well. For example, the picture of Deathstroke above, if enlarged, you can really see all of the effort that went into his costume. Even when playing the game, features such as capes and gadgets that the character may possess move realistically with each movement really giving us, the player, the sense that it could actually all be real.
9/10
Move-sets
Obviously as this is a fighting game the move-set is really quite important. Each character has his/her own supermove which is visually epic as well as knocking off a third of your opponents health which really helps. You also get special moves which are tailored to each individual such as Superman's laser eyes or using Green Lantern mini-gun. But after these sets of moves you do get the familiar punches and kicks with very little variety between the characters. Because of this I found myself resorting to a bit of button-mashing which appears really quite effective in close quarters. To be honest I don't think that this was what the developers had in mind when making the game.
Also there are sequences that appear out a battle which you, the player, can select how much of your special meter you want to use. By either being the fighter who is attacking or defending, you can either dish out a 30% damage to your opponent or gain 30% health. At this current stage of playing I don't really know how this sequence is initiated or how it is determined who is attacking or defending. I think that they just appear every 35-40 in order to get the fight moving on a bit however this is also makes the player think tactically. Do you use a full metre to perform your supermove or do you the same amount of metre to regain up to 30% of your health.
7/10
Length
When playing the game and skipping all of the cut-scenes (which I do not recommend. They are pretty awesome time to time) you can complete the main story mode in about 6 hours of solid continuous game play with a couple of retries along the way. Watching the trailers though adds up to nearly two extra hours which is actually worth it as it emerges you into the whole experience. If you don't have the game yet and want to watch some of these cut-scenes there are a lot of channels where they show them all as a kind of movie like this one--->
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCyhEbqmDEo
Although this isn't the longest story mode ever to grace video games there is a ton of extra stuff to do such as Battle mode where you can face your enemy in a number of different scenarios (fighting whilst slowly losing health because you are poisoned is a good one). Also after completing Classic Battle with a character you get to see a little insight into that character post-story mode which is pretty good. There is also S.T.A.R labs which is like a little sideline story mode, only focusing on one character for approximately 10 battles, each with certain requirements you need to do before advancing onto the next stage.
Finally, there are a lot of things to unlock such as different outfits for your characters, the concept art for the game, the soundtrack used in game-play and different battle modes. These are acquired by using tokens that you collect through levelling up (I'm currently on Level 40 and still have a long-way to go) but this adds re-playability to the game which is always good.
8/10
Overall I feel like this is a great game for any comic fans as well as any fans of games like Tekken or Mortal Combat. Whilst it may not have the move-set like those games it is still really fun to punch or kick your opponent through a cave wall or using the Supermoves to punch your enemy up to space and then slam him/her back down. It is quite easy to see why E3 awarded it with Best Fighting game of 2012
Overall : 8/10
Another pretty cool looking thing is the revamped detective mode. Shown in a number of first look videos is how Batman can recreate events such as the helicopter crash and then being able to piece it all together. As someone who is training to be a Forensic scientist that will be a very useful feature to have! However cool this maybe it does kind of take away the realism that the Arkham series has had the majority of the time. Saying this however, it will still be fun as fuck tracking down the bad guys whilst piecing all of the clues together.
