When you start up Injustice 2 for the first time, it offers up a tutorial. Serving as your introduction to both the world of Injustice and the mechanics of a NetherRealm fighting game, it walks you through exactly how to play the game. It is careful to fully explain each of the mechanics that separates Injustice from other titles. Some will be familiar to veterans of the first installment–like character traits and the clash system–where you wager meter to restore health or inflict damage. Others are new, including the ability to spend two bars and air tech, removing yourself from a juggle situation.
Throughout the tutorials, there is a sense of care and attention, even in a section that can sometimes feel like an afterthought, that serves as the best introduction to Injustice 2 that you can possibly have. This is quite clearly a game designed by a team full of passion and excitement, and it shows.
And nowhere is that more clear than in the story mode. The first Injustice had a fantastic story mode, and Injustice 2 builds on those successes to create a story that is fun and just outright enjoyable. Continuing a few years after Injustice left off, there is a new threat to face. The earliest stages do a strong job of establishing the consequences of the story of Injustice: Gods Among Us, before forging on with a whole new tale of danger and intrigue.
New to Injustice 2 are sections where you can choose which member of a duo you will control, with small dialogue and cinematic changes based on the character you choose. This is also a branching storyline, where the decisions that you make ultimately change the outcome of the story, a nice touch that is executed well–though the ending I preferred is clearly not considered canon.
There’s plenty of story too–it took a good five or six hours of play to clear the full story and find all the endings and dialogue tweaks from different decisions. After finishing it for the first time, you are rewarded with the tale’s main villain, Brainiac, and a whole host of loot to go with the items earned in that first playthrough.
When you’re done with the story mode, there is still more single player content to be had, in the shape of the Multiverse. More prominent in the first Injustice than the second, it is nevertheless clear that the heroes of Injustice have the ability to hop into different versions of their own dimension. The Multiverse takes advantage of this concept to present an ever changing set of worlds, each with their own crises. These are resolved by taking on missions, which are only present for a limited duration, and defeating a gauntlet of foes with various modifiers. There’s always something new to do, and success is rewarded with both loot and experience.
And it’s the loot that is one of the most fun aspects of Injustice 2. Despite my fears, loot boxes are readily available, and each contains a handful of items related to random fighters. These could range from new colors to unique gauntlets, and there are dozens of each to be found. They include stat boosts that are come into play in the Multiverse and multiplayer matches but don’t worry–there is a competitive mode, where all stat boosts are turned off, and Ranked makes use of that style of play. You won’t be getting cheesed out by a hyper strong Superman in a tournament match any time soon.
And Ranked play is well-implemented, so you may well be spending plenty of time there. The netcode of Injustice 2 is particularly eye-catching, in that it is only really noticeable when it goes very wrong. For the most part, online play is smooth and comfortable, and you’ll have little trouble landing your bread and butter combos. When it does go wrong, however, things are much more difficult, with huge stutters and long pauses in action. Thankfully, these are very much the exception rather than the rule. The only real issue with Ranked play is the lack of best of three sets. When it was omitted from Street Fighter V there were plenty of complaints, so don’t be surprised if you hear some grumbling about the lack from the NRS community.
The same care and attention that so defines the rest of Injustice 2 extends to the fighters themselves, with a good mix of new and returning characters. The returning cast are, for the most part, a familiar lot–both in makeup and design. The usual suspects make their return, and so do many of their most fundamental strings. A Superman or Batman main from Injustice: Gods Among Us could likely pick up the game and start his old gameplan without missing a beat.
Others have been given new character traits, like Harley Quinn, who now summons hyenas who charge across the screen, or new special moves, like Green Lantern, who can now set up midscreen traps and reverse momentum with glowing green walls.
It’s the new characters who really shine, however. It’s quite clear that a huge amount of time and thought has gone into making unusual characters work; the likes of Poison Ivy and Captain Cold are difficult to bring to life as brawlers, but NRS have done a fantastic job of ensuring they feel authentic while remaining fun to play. Some, like Robin, have huge shoes to fill in replacing other popular characters, but do so admirably. And characters who could have easily become semi-clones of other fighters–like Supergirl and Cheetah–have been clearly differentiated and play in their own unique way.
And though, at times, fights can turn a bit dry–*cough* DEADSHOT *cough*–Injustice 2 is for the most part very enjoyable to play. NRS have clearly learned from their mistakes in Injustice: Gods Among Us, which had a very zoning-orientated meta. Now, characters who might have suffered against that style of play have been giving options to force their way in. Zoning is still unmistakably strong, but no longer as entirely oppressive as it once was–no matter how broken Echo Fox|SonicFox makes Deadshot look.
At the end of the day, it’s tough to play Injustice 2 without catching some of the enthusiasm that has so clearly been a part of its development. There is such a great depth of thoughtfulness and care that has been put into the creation of hundreds of clash quotes, intros, and thousands of lines of dialogue for the story mode–and it shows.
Plus, despite the huge amount of content, there’s more that I didn’t get the chance to explore. Guilds, and Guild-specific Multiverses, add a social aspect where you work together with your friends to gain extra loot and experience, and King of the Hill matches make a return once again to add some variety to the online experience.
And though there are some small issues–most noticeably the occasionally flaccid sound design–Injustice 2 is setting a high bar for the likes of Tekken 7 and Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite to follow. Replete with content and fun combat, combined with a fantastic story, you’re never going to feel short of stuff to do. And thankfully, despite the risk that it could have turned out horribly, the loot boxes even feel like a fun addition to the game.
Oh, and it looks wonderful. There were worries during the initial reveals, but the final product is one of the most attractive fighters that I’ve played. It’s not perfect, but it is certainly an incredibly enjoyable game that I will be playing for the foreseeable future. If you’re a fan of NRS titles but you’re on the fence, don’t be. And if you are thinking about trying it out, I can honestly say that it is a lot of fun.
Score: 8/10