Injustice 2 (for PlayStation 4) - Review 2022

The Injustice franchise is relatively young, but it's making huge strides within the fighting game genre. NetherRealm Studios' newest title delivers an engaging plot that isn't bogged down past convoluted sequels, prequels, and rebooted timelines, and boasts a multitude of modes on day one. In fact, Injustice 2 has one of the greatest offline unmarried-player experiences ever seen in a fighting game. Factor in fun gameplay and rich combo mechanics, and Injustice ii is the new premier fighter for Sony PlayStation 4, besides every bit Xbox One.

The Injustice Universe

The Injustice 2 storyline, and its necktie-in comics, represent 1 of the best tales produced by DC Comics to date. The familiar faces living in Superman's dystopian alternate future are expertly developed, and the emotion is heightened past scenic cinematography. The character models are highly detailed and borderline realistic, as well, which is a meaning comeback from the original game's wonky-looking fighters. I would easily pay the going ticket charge per unit to watch the cutscenes edited together on the silverish screen.

In terms of plot, Injustice 2 picks upwardly seven years after the events in the original game, with Superman existence jailed for his harsh dictatorship, and Bruce Wayne beingness outed as Batman. The game'south viewed from Supergirl's perspective, and information technology's revealed that she's been in cryosleep since fleeing Krypton with Kal-El. She and other DC heroes combat Brainiac, Injustice 2's adversary, as he threatens to terraform Earth in his mad search for noesis. Injustice 2's story is robust, entertaining, and far superior to Street Fighter Five's Cinematic Story Style.

Mechanics and Gameplay

Injustice 2 utilizes a heavy, medium, and light assault layout, too equally a Trait button for unique grapheme attacks. The unique attacks include projectiles, speed boosts, forcefulness buffs, and teleportation. The grapheme models expect and motility hyper-realistically, and the combos and cinematic super moves are a joy to execute. Injustice 2'southward deep move list provides a full breakdown of frame data and assail damage, which is a peachy for people who want to meet which moves are the least punishable.

Injustice 2's gameplay is fast and corybantic—if you lot have the time to learn a character. The combat may feel disjointed if y'all simply randomly select a character without being familiar with its pacing and moveset. Every bit a result, yous'll come across a learning curve if you're making the leap from competing fighting games, such equally Street Fighter 5 or Tekken 7. Still, mastering a character is incredibly rewarding.

If you've played the original Injustice, yous'll find that most Injustice 2 characters play similarly to their original incarnations, just with a few bells and whistles added to their already established play style. Ane damning thing I noticed is that some characters feel like blatant ripoffs of fighters from Mortal Kombat X, another NeatherRealm Studios title. For example, Batman plays like Scorpion and Green Pointer plays like Reptile. That said, the developers expanded those play styles to give them comic book-authentic tweaks. In Injustice 2, Scorpion'south classic spear attack serves as the foundation for Batman'south grappling hook motion.

A new mechanic lets you spend super meter bars to roll, break combos, or rapidly recover from oncoming attacks. These aid turn the tide when you lot're getting relentlessly hammered by your opponent, and leave you lot with a take chances to take the advantage. It adds another layer of complexity to the gameplay, as y'all must determine whether or not information technology's worth sacrificing a portion of your meter for a quick save now versus a high-damage super move later.

The new Clash mechanic as well utilizes the super meter. Disharmonism tin can simply be initiated by a person controlling a grapheme that has had its health bar lowered from gray to reddish, and the winner is the person who'due south willing to sacrifice the most available meter. The Clash initiator inflicts a huge amount of harm to the defender should he or she win the standoff, just should the defender win, he or she receives a health bonus. This mini-game is another way to change the battle momentum, and is a fine new gameplay improver.

Multiverse Mode

The Multiverse manner is a spin on Mortal Kombat 10's Living Towers that uses the pop Infinite Crisis storyline from the comics equally its foundation. The Multiverse screen is comprised of several large planets that have their own names and backstories. You lot wheel through the planets to view the challenges that they hold. Some challenges crave yous to use three special attacks during a match, or achieve some other criteria during gameplay, which net you terrific rewards.

Each planet has a timer that counts down until the world is removed from rotation and the next planet takes its identify. All the while, you level upward your character by completing challenges. Leveling up fighters lets you equip characters with gear that increases their Strength, Defence, Health, and Ability stats. Y'all tin also equip specific abilities for each grapheme as rewards. Information technology'due south here that Injustice 2 truly shines, as this robust mode melds the fighting and part-playing genre to create something truly groundbreaking.

Yous also obtain gear from winning fights nether set conditions, and by winning bronze, silver, gold, and platinum Mother Boxes. The rarer the metallic, the rarer the rewards. You receive Mother Boxes by earning a high score in battle. In-game currency, earned by playing Multiverse Fashion, lets you buy Mother Boxes, too. And rare Source Crystals permit you lot color your grapheme'due south costume to match the new pieces, as to non compromise your outfit's aesthetic beauty.

Multiverse mode introduces grinding, annexation, and farming to the fighting game genre, terms and actions that are typically reserved for RPGs. And it works well in this new context. I spent hours improving my grapheme in this mode. Multiverse is a characteristic that I expect to run across copied in future fighting games due to its addictiveness and high replayability.

Online Features and Final Thoughts

Injustice 2'southward online versus mode lets you fight other people from effectually the world in lag-free bouts. Still, the mode'due south a bit hard to find due to the game'due south many menus and sub menus. It'southward the direct consequence of the game beingness packed with so much stuff. To be fair, information technology's a relatively modest gripe.

Overall, Injustice 2's advancements not just soar over its predecessor, but over the majority of other games in the fighting genre, likewise. Packing a ridiculous amount of content, including a single role player feel that's crafted to perfection, Injustice 2 is the image for fighters to come.