June 2016 – Page 40

During E3, NRS commentators and content providers, Ketchup and Mustard, managed to get a few hours of time in with the initial build of Injustice 2. Feeling that there was a lack of information about two of the game’s new villainous additions, Flash nemesis Gorilla Grodd, and Atrocitus, the leader of the Red Lantern Corps, they recorded a video detailing their early findings and impressions with the characters.

They preface this episode of “K & M Talk” by noting that this an extremely early build of the game, so much of what they’ve found is subject to change. Their goal was to answer some of the questions that are “kind of in limbo–things that people may wonder, but there is no conclusive answer on.”

First, the duo talk about some of the sequel’s new mechanics, noting that the game feels “more responsive and sped up, compared to the first Injustice,” which was known for its character’s extremely slow walk speed. There is also the new ability to Meter Burn your forward dash into a roll, similar to MKXL’s run, which allows you to cover distances quickly, cross up your opponents for mixup opportunities, as well as providing another method around projectiles beyond the standard dash blocking from Injustice 1.

There is also an Air Tech mechanic, that will allow you to break a combo without spending your Clash, by pressing Up+Meter Burn, in exchange for being punished on landing from a new falling animation, similar to a Burst from Arc System Works games.

Ketchup begins the character breakdown portion of the video by talking about Atrocitus, who’s game he feels revolves a lot around his Trait. Atrocitus’ ability is to summon his cat and fellow Red Lantern, Dex-Starr, who can shoot a fireball, attack the opponent with a lunge, or place a shield around Atrocitus that acts as a physical projectile that can both reflect attacks and also hit the opponent. This is comparable to Sinestro’s Beware Your Fears from Injustice 1, or Summoner Quan Chi’s Demon Spawn from MKXL. Atrocitus has a full-screen projectile in his Blood Lift, and a full-screen, tracking low, which seems to function similarly to D’Vorah’s Spawning Puddle. He has a breath attack that is safe on block and aimable, as well as a rush move similar to Goro’s Punch Walk. His final special move is a life drain where he goes into a stance that will drain the opponent’s health if they are standing near him, which can be Meter Burned to create an explosion that OTGs the opponent for a juggle or Trait extension.

Ketchup closed this portion of the video by claiming that the character has a lot of mixup potential, by using his mid hitting strings and Dex-Starr to set up jailing pressure, along with full-screen zoning and conversions, combined with knockdown situations when Trait is available. He also felt that the Red Lantern was the strongest character in the E3 6-character build, with lots of safety and high damage output.

In the third and final portion of the video, Mustard talks about Gorilla Grodd, a character who does not have much footage or descriptive information available at the moment, leaving many to wonder about this new character’s playstyle and abilities.

Mustard felt that he was unfinished, with the damage on his special moves being quite low. In terms of specials, his BF3 is similar to Bane’s Raging Charge, that has no startup, gives knockdown on hit, and is safe on block. However, its most interesting property is that you can press Back, Back or Forward, Forward to stop him from running mid-charge, which allows him to cancel it for combo extensions, or to punish opponents jumping back. His Gorilla Leap allows him to jump into the air, with air punch and kick follow-ups, as well as a Meter Burnable grab for a launchert. Though the telekinetic simian seems to be light on mixup potential, due to lacking any overheads, he can Meter Burn many of his strings to launch opponents. With grabs universally doing 16% damage now, he can condition blocking opponents to fear his command grabs, and score large punishes when they attempt to avoid them.

His Trait–for anyone familiar with him from DC comics–is his signature Telekinesis. This allows Grodd to access a myriad of new moves and strings, one of which makes him fully immune to projectiles. Lastly, he can levitate while in Trait, and gains access to an Ermac-style Ground Pound, a forward air dash, or an aerial explosion, which has large range and large hitstun–enough for Grodd to land, dash in and get a full combo.

Mustard believes he’ll be a heavy read-based character with an extremely powerful D2, though most of his specials seemed to be unsafe on block, with large amounts of whiff recovery.

Injustice 2 will be released in 2017 on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

Source: PNDK&M, via Test Your Might