Yesterday, news of Injustice: Gods Among Us broke. Basically, it's Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe without the Mortal Kombat. That is, it's a fighting game from Mortal Kombat co-creator Ed Boon and developer NetherRealm Studios pitting superheroes (Superman, Batman) and supervillains (Solomon Grundy, Harley Quinn) from the DC Universe against each other in knockdown, drag-out brawls.
I've seen Injustice: Gods Among Us and while it was nowhere near its 2013 release date, I'm not impressed. Yes, it's a cool trailer, but the fighting itself seems a few years behind the curve.
Last year's Mortal Kombat marked a return to greatness for the franchise and for NetherRealm -- the game corrected the problems of Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe. Bones exploded in grotesque x-rays, blood gushed, and the action looked fluid. The snippet of Injustice I saw did none of that and really looked like a step backward. Wonder Woman lifelessly rocked back and forth, heat vision didn't seem all that damning, and the few matches I saw seemed predictable.
See, each Injustice arena has two or three sections for fighters to transition between -- you can go from the main floor of the Batcave to the boat dock below or kick an opponent through a city building to a different part of town. But these didn't seem like spur of the moment events. You have to have a build up to it and then watch the animation play out as an elevator slowly rises and we see it shaking and hear sound effects. Similarly, there are objects in the environments that you can use against your opponent, but you have to be in the exact right spot to grab the car and slam it on the foe. It all seems stiff -- like you'd tell your friend "Ooo, come over here and let me do this move!" They seem like forgettable gimmicks you'll rarely really use; kind of like button-tapping "Free Fall Kombat" in Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe.
And then there are super moves. A lot of people got hung up on why Superman could be hurt by Batman in Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, but as a comic fan it never bothered me. He was worn down by magic -- explained, move on. However, Superman's Injustice supermove has him throw the opponent into space, fly up and slam the bad guy or gal back to the arena. How is anyone supposed to contend with that? Of course, according to Boon, "We're obviously going to have a pretty elaborate story," so maybe I'll eat my words.
But perhaps I'm being too hard on Injustice -- this is the first time it's ever been seen, I didn't play it, and there are cool aspects to the game. For the starters, everyone's costume seems darker, making me think we're in a parallel world without justice -- Crime Syndicate style. Wonder Woman can switch between lasso attack and sword/shield stuff, Solomon Grundy yanks knives from his back for attacks, and even though I wasn't impressed with environmental moves, they do vary by character (Batman will slam your head into the car, Wonder Woman will slam the car onto you).
I miss Smallville.
Still, Boon told me back in 2010, "While [Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe] performed well, it certainly created a hunger or a lust for a little bit more bloodshed and a little bit more of what Mortal Kombat has been notorious for." Although this isn't a Mortal Kombat game, it seems to me like it's going to leave people in the exact same spot. This is a T-rated fighter that looks a lot like Mortal Kombat, but it's lacking the brutality that makes that game standout.
But again, maybe Boon will make me eat my words.
"To be honest, it's going to have more blood than we had in there today," he said. "Our environments are going to be damaged, but the characters will also have damage on them as well. It's going to be a pretty brutal experience. Our goal is to push the envelope of what we can do."
Source : http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/06/01/injustice-supermanbatman-as-a-step-backward
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