Injustice: Gods Among Us (PS3/Wii U/X360 - 2013)
Not Justice League, not DC Universe, hell, not even Mortal Kombat. Injustice escapes any expected branding and stands alone like a comic book one-shot. Warner Bros. and NetherRealm Studios must be purdy confident in their superhero rage simulator to establish it as its own entity.
MK9 was phenomenal. It set a new precedent in fighting games for its sheer content, quality, and style. Do you know what wasn’t phenomenal? The turd that came before it, Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe. I’ve spoken to gamers that hold that title up with almost an air of reverence and I can’t help but wonder what I’d have to take and how much to magically see that fighter as anything more than insipid. People tell me that the game was fun and I truly wish to borrow their eyes for a day because all of my first-hand accounts resulted in me wanting to fling that shit out of a window (I didn’t, my programming prevents me from harming game-kind no matter how much they deserve it).
My biggest fear for Injustice – a title that looks very cool from the get-go – is seeing that flawed precursor inform it in some way. But MK9, once again, was a resounding success in execution; it was as if the studio was proving they could do better than MK vs. DC. Perhaps they’re returning to DC’s rich comic ‘verse in order to finally do right by the heroes there.
We’ll see more Injustice at E3, which I know I’ll have to in order to quiet my doubts.