The halls of Atlantis were dimly lit, bubble-like orbs of light hanging like aquatic chandeliers. Had the lights been lit, I imagine it would have looked a lot like the Gungan city in Phantom Menace, which is a terrible comparison because what I was playing was actually good. Maybe I should not have chosen Aquaman’s home turf as our battleground, but with an easy victory as Batman the match before I felt like I needed to give my opponent the home team advantage.
I beat my chest heartily, channelling my telekinetic rage and charged toward that man-fish with all of my might. Leaping into the air, I prepared to turn the Aquaboy into a tuna pancake. I did not, however, prepare for the reach of his trident, as my opponent delivered the killing blow with a mermaid’s fork. I am not a fan of Aquaman.
I am, however, a fan of Gorilla Grodd, and Injustice 2. Turns out punching humans as a psychic gorilla is a lot of fun.
Injustice 2 builds on the foundation laid by NetherRealm’s previous Injustice game, as well as their much darker, gorier franchise Mortal Kombat. Combat is fast, fluid and dare I say, ferocious. Just like Mortal Kombat and the previous Injustice, objects in the environment can be used to push back aggressive opponents (turns out those bubble chandeliers are quite explosive). Special meters fill up and back-breaking-yet-PG-friendly special attacks can be triggered with the, well, triggers.
At the end of our brutal match, I was surprised to find that gear was dropped for my character. The gear, it seems, will affect both character attributes as well as physical appearance, because who doesn’t like playing dress-up with their favorite DC characters? Regardless, this adds an interesting new wrinkle to both the Injustice franchise and fighting games in general.
“Atrocitus, more like that outfit is Atrocitus, am I right?”With the first Injustice playing favorites with the more notable DC heroes and villains, it’s no surprise the second game is dipping into their B-sides with the character selection. I’ll be honest, I had never heard of Gorilla Grodd until today, but playing as him made me consider queuing up The Flash on Netflix when I get home.
Diehard fans, then, should get a lot more out of Injustice this time around, but fighting game fans and DC fans alike will both find something to love when Injustice 2 arrives sometime in 2017.
