Injustice: Let the Button-Mashing Resume

Via Wikipedia

I gave up console gaming years ago, for all sorts of practical reasons starting with moving out and not having a console and ending with having a perfectly good gaming laptop. PC gaming had already won my heart years before, with pitiable addictions to The Sims and any MMORPG with good graphics and snarky teammates. Somehow, after guiding Nightwing to a victory over Shazam by the very last blinking sliver of a health bar, I remembered how much fun it was to kick your friend's butt in a fighting game.

Do not be fooled, Injustice: Gods Among Us is an unrepentant button-masher. It's a genre I've had some good times with, pinning opponents in the corner of the screen in Street Fighter and using Chun-Li's Lightning Kick ten times a match, throwing Scorpion's spear in Mortal Kombat, and so on. There was a tipping point in the genre somewhere that lost me - somewhere when button-mashing would always lose to those who studied combo moves and intricate play patterns. I would much rather enjoy playing the game than wait for the right moment to pull off that kind of event.

When invited over for Injustice and wine, I thought I'd watch instead of play. I've loved watching video games my whole life, the benefit of having an older brother who was not big on two-player mode. I took my turn with Injustice and I was hooked. Forget complicated button moves to make a simple combo and horror-film gore for shock value. Welcome back to good old fashioned button-mashing fun.



First things first, the game looks great. Not only is it a pretty world, but each character is distinct. Catwoman holds herself differently than Harley Quinn, and Bane and Solomon Grundy do not become the same "big guy" once gameplay starts. Each stage had interactive elements and the non-interactive backgrounds crumble as matches progress. The backgrounds crumble and fall apart splendidly as the matches wear on and character size and scale changed their interaction with objects. All of these things were not only fun but also wonderfully smart. Naturally, the interactivity brings some downsides - the car keeps returning to the same spot to be thrown again on the streets of Metropolis like endlessly reappearing interactive items. These begin to feel like cheap shots after the first few uses. The best area-interactive is the hanging pig carcass in the Asylum kitchen, which led to my favorite win in the game yet. It's possible to knock opponents through from one stage to the next in entertaining sequences that give the play a more grounded sense of place, but it's hardly a favorite feature. Each character's Super Move is easy to pull off, does a reasonable amount of damage, and for the most part looks pretty darn cool (if sometimes a little nonsensical.)

I brought over my friend Megan to give the game a good Noob-test. After a few rounds, she notched her first win, and then giggled like crazy while watching an Aries vs. Aries kneeing-only match (think Monty Python's  Silly Walk  bits). I won that match by a knee. Her verdict?

"It was fun! I liked being able to choose a hero or a villain, and the difference in skill sets each character displayed. The best part was the Green Lantern’s special move (where the opponent got hit by two trucks). It’s very experimental…you have to test out what works, and then remember exactly how you did it as far as pushing buttons goes. The other best part is the Ares walk…both hilarious and effective."

There, sounds like we can't stop gushing over this game, right? Well, now let's get down to brass tacks.

Harley Quinn and Hawkgirl are both terrible. Hawkgirl just isn't much good, but Harley Quinn just might be unplayable. This is only a big complaint because I really wanted to enjoy Harley. The whole character-cast is Bat-mythos heavy, more so now that Batgirl was added to the game. Thankfully, both Batgirl and Lobo are strong additions to balance out the roster. Shazam, Black Adam, and Sinestro are far too strong, and the oft-mocked Aquaman might be the best/most overpowered character in the game.

Also storymode.

All of storymode. Seriously.

The premise is overambitious maybe, starting with a Joker-motivated ploy that has Superman kill Lois Lane and his unborn child. Things develop into an alternate reality which allows for some hero and villain alignment-swapping, and chatty cutscenes. Amazing, maybe not, but good enough. About the time the Atlanteans and Amazons join in, I'm done. That was the moment where the storymode went from "Okay, I'll go along" to "I just can't pretend to care anymore." GameSpot's Maxwell McGee wrote the story premise "so ridiculous it borders on parody," and that is very hard to argue with. The silliness almost reached So Bad It's Good, but doesn't quite get there. All that being said, I'd play storymode again. The computer opponents are good but not impossible, and it gives a nice variety of opponents and zones. The cutscenes are also awesome/awful and enjoyably mockable.

IGN's Vince Ingenito labeled the game as "both a very good brawler and a big old sloppy love letter to fans." That last bit is the most apt. I'm less a DC fangirl than any other label, but it was nice to remember Green Arrow is great fun and Lex Luther can be pretty kick-butt. The stages are full of people you know, shoutouts to things you like and the whole world has the right Mortal Kombat level of ridiculousness to keep the game from being gory or taking itself too seriously.

Play it, you'll have fun. You might even defeat an opponent with a swinging pig carcass.