Injustice: Gods Among Us
Everyone remembers Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe from 2008. They may not be all that fond of it, but its existence led to Warner Bros. buying Mortal Kombat developer Netherrealm Studios and putting out Injustice: Gods Among Us in 2013. And to be fair, there’s nothing new about a fighting game featuring popular comic book characters. Just look at Marvel vs. Capcom and how that’s been doing for years. A superhero game about people in weird costumes beating the absolute mess out of each other is nothing new, but it hasn’t been done quite like Netherrealm has done it.
The equally great comics can fill in the backstory for you if you’re interested, but all you need to know about Injustice’s story going in is that Superman goes evil and all New World Order on the planet. His dark turn creates a divide between the Justice League and other big players in the DC universe, and the only way to end this five-year long conflict is to beat the crap out of each other. The Batman in the dark universe pulls the Justice League from the good dimension over to help him stop his Superman. What follows is a 12-chapter adventure of confusion, betrayals, and sacrifices that any DC reader has come to expect. And even if you aren’t big on comics, you’ll find that this surprisingly in-depth and rewarding story is the framework for an equally rewarding fighting game.
Even though it lacks the gore and X-Ray finishers of Netherrealm’s other fighter, the one-on-one brawls are still brutal thanks to special moves like Batman summoning his Batmobile to run his enemies over or Superman punching his opponent into orbit and then smashing them back where they last stood. DC’s heroes may not be able to kill, but you’ll have a hard time believing that with some of the Brutality attacks they’ve got under their sleeves. A fun and diverse set of characters helps nail the superhero brawl that we’ve all seen play out in comics and cartoons over the years, and the relative ease of its mechanics have helped elevate Injustice into one of the best fighting games of recent years. If nothing else, it’ll help settle arguments about if Batman could kick Lobo and Doomsday’s asses.
