In a previous blog post, we looked at Marvel Contest of Champions. The mobile fighting game featuring the majority of the Marvel Universe. There also happens to be a DC Universe fighting game out right now as well. Injustice 2 was released May of this year. And is doing quite well on the sales charts. It was the sequel to Injustice: Gods Among Us, a NetherRealm Studios title from 2013. The game features a very dark take on the DC Universe. It is a bit darker than even the recent live-action Warner Bros. films. The original game for example featured Superman becoming a global dictator after accidentally killing Lois Lane and leveling Metropolis with a nuclear bomb. In the game the members of the Justice League were recruited to put an end to his regime. The game doesn’t technically take place in the DC Universe we know and love but instead a parallel dimension where the heroes sometimes do questionable things.
The precedent for an evil Justice League, a Crime Syndicate, had been explored for decades in the comic books. The most recent retelling of an alternate universe evil Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman was seen in the direct-to-DVD release Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths. The story by Dwayne McDuffie introduced audiences to the idea of multiple dimensions, and specifically Earth Prime, which was the foundation of all of the universes. Destroying that dimension would undo reality as we know it. The film was dark and violent and geared towards mature fans of the comics. In a similar vein Injustice 2 was designed for fans of violent arcade fighting games. In particular the Mortal Combat series. The developer was actually founded by Ed Boon, co-creator of the Mortal Kombat franchise. It stood to reason that Injustice 2 would be every bit as over-the-top as anything the studio had ever created. The standard punches and kicks from a traditional fighting game gave way to super powers, laser eye beams, green lantern blasts and psychic shockwaves. Attacks were brutal and could send characters tumbling through a subway car or falling down a skyscraper.
This game expanded on the elements in the original title and allowed players to unlock armor upgrades depending on whom they beat. For example players could mix and match pieces of armor taken from Batman, Robin and Aquaman and gain additional attack or defensive strengths from them. The library of characters has almost doubled and includes the standard Justice League stars and now includes Supergirl and Black Canary which audiences might be familiar with from the Supergirl and Arrow TV shows. The new villains include Captain Cold and Gorilla Grodd, which audiences might know from the Flash TV series as well. Given the level of violence in the title it stands to reason that the villains are really the scene stealers in this game. Atrocitus the Red Lantern (think of a bloodthirsty version of the Green Lantern) makes his debut. He is joined by Braniac also as a new character and Harley Quinn as a returning villain.
Injustice 2 is not meant for everyone, especially not the people that are looking for the sanitized encounters from television. The violence in the game is very over-the-top, I’m talking about bone-breaking, throat-slashing, head shooting, shark-chomping fatal-levels of violence. Fans of the Mortal Kombat and Killer Instinct titles know what to expect. It certainly is not recommended for younger audiences. Those looking for something more PG might want to wait for Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite later this year or stay with Marvel Contest of Champions on their phone. Injustice 2 is available at your local game retailer for about $60. Figures from this game are in toy stores now as well.