Injustice Gods Among Us, dropped April 13th, 2013, by Ed Boon and Nether-Realm Studios, the same brilliant minds that gifted us Mortal Kombat 2 years earlier. So one of the difficult things about this review is making sure not to compare it to MK. Its oranges and apples; two very different games. So lets dive in.
The combat system is not your everyday simpleton system of jabs and kicks. The spectrum of available skill levels is insane; in a good way. You don't have to be cracking out juggles and combos to win, though you can if you have thumbs capable of moving that precisely. Its fun and satisfying; every character follows the same pattern of special moves and simple combos, but each character is very much individualized to make playing as different characters simple and refreshing. You don't have to spend hours in practice learning their combos; they are all very much the same, and it is convenient and easy. There are new welcome mechanics, such as stage transfers, where you slam an enemy through a wall or into the sky, and you get to sit back and watch the painful, over the top journey your opponent takes to the next stage. It's T rated of course; no gut wrenching fatalities; they have been replaced by brutal special attacks, which for superheroes are pretty satisfying. I overall very much enjoyed the game-play.
The story is acceptable; I am a huge DC fan, and i consider myself pretty knowledgeable with the comics, though i found the ending a bit confusing. And it occasionally suffers from the spontaneous battle from a simple argument to keep the action going. Every once and a while I would roll my eyes at a pointless battle. The fully animated cut-scenes and decent voice acting is appreciated. The roster of the story mode is pretty extensive; you play as most, if not all of the characters, which adds to that replay-ability i mentioned, of easily picking up a character. The overall roster is great as well; 30 playable characters including DLC, and a massive amount of unlock-able costumes, as well as some free DLC.
Now to the naughty end of Injustice. DLC. Five downloadable extra characters... all at a pricey 5 bucks each, and a rip off of a 15 dollar seasons pass. Not necessary to have these; so it doesn't hurt much, besides the locked portraits of the DLC characters on the selection screen. It feels like it's shoved in your face, just a tad.
I enjoyed Injustice in every aspect, even though I didn't get all that good at it. A completely separate entity from MK, it is a fun, welcome fighting games and service to the fans.