Friday, June 1, 2012

"Injustice" Is Probably Well Titled

I really, really liked NetherRealm's "Mortal Kombat" reboot, particularly on an aesthetic level - character animation wasn't so hot, but they NAILED the "dark-fantasy collage airbrushed on the side of some guy's van" art-style of oldschool MK games.

I have a feeling I'll be less enthused about their new DC Universe fighter, "Injustice: Gods Among Us," which appears to be ODing on awful 90s-style comic atmosphere and features character designs that suggest the art department was told: "Y'know how the New 52 looks have kind sucked for the most part? Well, we need them to suck MORE for this."

15 comments:

Jacob said...

It reminds me of the justice lords episodes of justice league. I get that vibe since it's about the DC heroes being the villains in this one. Well if you don't like it there is always lego batman 2 with a bunch of dc heroes in it. So cheer up Bob.

Anonymous said...

Comic book heroes do NOT need to be Grimdark to be marketable. THE AVENGERS cracked jokes every five minutes and now they are rolling in cash!



Also am I the only one a bit confused as to how the hell Batman can kick ANYTHING all the way through a building like he's Superman?

ScrewAttackSamus said...

Meh, it's by Netherrealm so I expect it be middling. I'll play Blazblue or a dozen other fighters before anything by these guys.

Daniel R said...

I think their suits are kind of appropriate.

I mean, they're supposed to be evil versions of the regular heroes so it makes sense they're costumes would be badly designed, clunky, ungodly abominations.

Although to be fair, I think I might like the Batman suit in this more then in the films.
It still sucks but still, better than the movie's suit.

James said...

Figures: the Arkham series raises the bar for comic book-based games, and now it seems like they're ready to go back to the old, wrong ways. Maybe they'll tweak it and fix the problems before release, but I'm not really optimistic.

For those who had a bad taste left in their mouth by this trailer, here's something to remedy that. It's the trailer for Papo y Yo, and it looks fantastic.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAkUDP5ZqYY&feature=player_embedded

Sabre said...

Maybe it's because I'm not a big comic fan, but I don't see the problem.

I've not played the MK reboot, but I hear it's good and has lots of features, so assuming they have the same level of quality this game will likely play well.

As for not liking the new costumes. I was under the impression that comic hero outfits always change. Batman in the comics looks different from the films, which is different from the games, which is different from the various comic spin offs. It's not like Batman is covered in chains or anything of that nature, so why the hate?

Anonymous said...

More importantly than the costumes...

The Flash. in a fighting game. how?

Pretty much any other character I can suspend my disbelief for, but the Flash's powers have been crazy ridiculous for a long time now.

I mean, any sort of representation of how we know his powers work is going to be horribly unbalanced in a competitive game. Unless they're going to do a giant sweep and equalize everyone's powers across the board.

That was something I thought was pretty cool about that Marvel Nemesis fighting game, they weren't really afraid to let some of the characters be way more powerful than others. If memory serves, Magneto and Iron Man were late-game unlocks and were FAR better than the rest of the cast. The Thing and Spider Man would have to try and find some way to hit them or knock them over, but Iron Man and Magneto could just fly over their heads and shoot lasers and throw the entire level at the opponent, respectively. It made for a poorly balanced fighting game, but it was kind of fun how it acknowledged that some powers just straight outclass other in these universes.

Anonymous said...

And the inclusion of Solomon Grundy is more worrying to me than anything. He's not a terribly interesting character and his dialogue is a couple words and grunts. But his powers are extremely easy to model in and kind of game system, which has to be the only reason they included him. That kind of bespeaks a pretty bad kind of lazy approach to the property.

I could be wrong though, I hope...

Sam Robards, Comic Fan said...

Bob, I was wondering what your take would be on this, and it turns out we feel the exact same way.

I didn't play the MK reboot (I haven't cared for any MK game since MKII), but this looks like they're just trying to make the exact same game but with a sloppy DC paint job.

Oh well. Saves me $60.

Joshua said...

I can accept Batman can kick Solomon Grundy through a building. I can accept Batman can grab the Flash without a plan or gadget to help him do so. I CANNOT fathom that Harley Quinn could take anyone in that entire group.

Anonymous said...

Game will come out, be awesome and more importantly be a complete release.

If Capcom was making this you be on your hands and knees praising mighty nippon for gracing us with an unfinished game, then having to line up 6 months later to buy the exact same game with characters locked on disc.

USA! USA! USA!

ScrewAttackSamus said...

and yet CAPCOM's fighters are still designed better and just more fun to play. Still can't touch Japan when it comes to fighters.

Lavaros said...

How about seeing some gameplay, finding out more about the story, and a decent look at the costume designs before going off the rails and declaring this a lost cause?

Snivellus said...

"How about seeing some gameplay, finding out more about the story, and a decent look at the costume designs before going off the rails and declaring this a lost cause? "

If he did that, he wouldn't be the Game Underthinker.. I mean Overthinker

Unknown said...

So far I like the art style and from what heard about the game with it sounding like an evolution on the gameplay of MK i'm on board. Also the story mode still there if they pull it off right it could possibly end up as something really special.