Injustice: Gods Among Us

So I could have sworn I wrote a review for this game back in 2013. I know that I referenced it multiple times in my DC reviews, especially in 2013 as I was building up the hype for Batman v Superman (what a different time), but I realize that I never actually wrote a full fledged review for the game. And that's a shame because this game does a have a pretty great story. If you've read my reviews in the past, you know that I don't have a firm grasp on gameplay and exactly what makes it good or not, but I'm gonna do my best and focus mainly on the story. 

Injustice: Gods Among Us takes place mainly in an alternate universe than the one we are used to

Curtsey of the Injustice Comic... I haven't read it

seeing the Justice League in usually. In this universe, The Joker drugs Superman and makes him believe that Lois Lane is Doomsday and in his confusion, he kills Lois and their unborn son. And when Lois is killed, it actually triggers a bomb that destroys all of Metropolis.

So Superman is not having a good day when he loses his wife, his son, and his city. But in this universe, Superman actually kills the Joker.

In the aftermath, Superman establishes a world regime and forces the other members of the Justice League to either join his regime or go to prison.

We then catch up with the Justice League we know and love. After stopping a plot by the Joker and Lex Luthor, they are pulled into the alternate universe where Superman has taken over.

What follows is a Mortal Kombat-like battle royale as the heroes of our universe form alliances and rivalries with heroes and villains of the DC Universe. For example, Superman garnered the support of Wonder Woman, The Flash, Green Lantern (after he joins the Sinestro Corp and becomes Yellow Lantern) and others. Then you've got Batman who recruits the help of Lex Luthor, Harley Quinn, and some other unlikely supporters.

The two factions fight with support from Justice League members from the galaxy we're familiar with all in the battle to determine the fate of the world, especially one under the supreme rule of a Superman without the restraints of being the symbol of Truth, Justice, and the American Way.

The game was created by the same guys who created the Moral Kombat games. The gameplay is the one-on-one fighting style of the Mortal Kombat games without the fatalities or gorey gameplay of a rated M game. It gives you the opportunity to play through a lot of different characters with different fighting styles and different abilities. Part of the fun is challenging yourself to play with all kinds of players and seeing which one works best with your personal preferences.

The fighting is fast paced and the the fighting is fluid. I might talk more about the fighting in my Injustice 2 review, but for now I hope you understand that this is one of my favorite games of all time and I wasn't even a huge fan of the mortal kombat games.

What really worked about the gameplay in this game was the fact that it's called Gods Among Us. The members of the Justice League are referenced as Titans at times and it actually really fits. You actually feel like you're playing with characters who are gods and titans and they have those abilities, especially in their super movies where a cinematic montage of them just kicking ass makes you feel like a real hero.

I've read multiple things in the past stating the difference between the Avengers and the Justice League. Marvel's thing was that they always designed their superheroes in a way that made it seem like the young kid reading the comic could be a superhero. While the Justice League was creating superheroes that young kids reading the comic could look up to. I think they're both part of an important symbiotic circle. The Marvel universe really couldn't exist without the DC universe and the DC universe really couldn't continue to thrive without the Marvel universe.

The characters and fighting styles of Injustice really give you that feeling of controlling a god-like character and it just makes for a really fun time.

But the main appeal of the game to me is the story.

They really were able to just take the DC universe and just kind of run with it in this game without the backstory and the explanation that is usually required in a movie setting. The reality is that the cinematics and the pacing of the story in this format would not work as a feature length movie because there are a lot of characters and unless you know all the DC Justice League characters, you're going to be a little bit confused.

However, I'm guessing that if you got this game, you do know at least who the majority of the members of the Justice League are and with that knowledge, you'll have more than enough fun with this game because you'll recognize a lot of them and the ones you don't know, it's okay because you actually really don't need that knowledge. This is just a fun romp with a bunch of familiar superhero characters being superhero characters.

Now this makes the rest of the story a little bit paper thin but it still is a lot of fun. It really does jump into the realm of making you question what it would be like if Superman let go and became the ultimate evil he's always sworn to defeat.

I can't imagine that this is the first time this version of the character has ever popped up, but it's one of the first that I think was accessible to a wide audience, especially those who don't read comic books as much as the others. Here we saw a Superman who was very interesting and conflicted by the horrible things he had done in the past. While some of the story maybe paper thin at times, the motivations for Superman clearly was not. This bleeds over into the sequel, but I'm getting a head of myself.

I think this Superman was so intriguing and popular that it actually made executives at Warner Brothers start thinking about trying to make the current Superman like this as soon as possible.

You definitely saw inspiration drawn from Injustice in Batman v Superman and I can't help but this is the direction they're trying to go eventually with the movies.

This is problematic though as the only reason this Superman worked was because we were juxtaposing him against the iconic Superman that we know and love. We saw the OG Superman compared against this dark evil Superman and we understood the difference and that's what made it great.

Unfortunately at the moment, we haven't had enough time with Henry Cavill's Superman and he is a lot different than the iconic Superman. Which is fine, but we want to either see him become the Superman we know and love, or we want to develop him enough into his own kind of Superman that seeing an evil version of him would mean so much more.

As it stands in the knightmare sequence in Batman v Superman, I think it's a little too early for the evil Superman to enter the DCEU.

But would Injustice work down the road for the DCEU?

In my opinion, I would love to see this story told on the big screen. But I also think that it couldn't happen for a long time due to how new the DCEU actually is. We haven't even seen the Justice League formed and fighting in their own universe, I feel like you're jumping too far when you try and add multiple universes when you don't even know the one we're in very well yet.

Like I said, while I think the story is a little bit weak at times, that is mainly because this is a video game and not a feature length movie. It has to shape the story in a way where you're able to fight multiple other fighters and so in that case its not exactly streamlined. But can you imagine if it was streamlined to a feature length film? Especially if we have the movies prior like Man of Steel, Wonder Woman, and a good Justice League movie to introduce these characters and have them fight a new threat in a different universe? That would be amazing.

It is kind of weird when things like the video games and the TV shows have a stronger mythology and backstory for DC characters than the actual movies do, but if Wonder Woman is a sign of future progress, I'm not worried as much for DC as I used to be.

I think I want to continue this DC rant a little bit more with the review I'll do for Injustice 2, but for now, I can say that Injustice is one of those games that is just a good time, whether you are a fan of the DC universe or not. Even if you're not a fan of fighting games, I would just come for the story and who knows, you may enjoy this fighting game over all the rest. There is definite replayability and if you have a second controller, this is definitely a game you can pick up with a buddy and have a great time playing 2-player with.

I got the game on sale for 6 bucks but honestly, that's highway robbery to get this game at that price. If I had to, I would buy this game at full price and not bat an eye, it is that much fun.

But what do you think of Injustice: Gods Among Us?  Have you played it since playing Injustice 2? Which one do you prefer? Comment and Discuss below! You can also send me your thoughts on Twitter @cmhaugen24 as well as send me your requests for other films, TV shows, or video games I should check out and do reviews of. If you follow me on Twitter, you can get updates on future movie news and reviews coming out of this blog and occasionally live tweeting of films (and video games) I'm watching at the time.

I'll leave you with this. So I remember when this trailer came out last year, I wasn't over excited or impressed by this trailer. However, I also remember just saying, it's Injustice 2, that's all I need to see. Enjoy!