Hey guys,
I was in the store an hour ago, because my body needed Coca Cola Zero and what did I get to see? Jokers ugly face looking at me while I was grabbing something to drink.
It's a german gaming magazine with a preview on Injustice. It was pretty damn expensive, but I decided to buy it and to translate it for you.
If you find any typos or weird sentences, don't blame me. English is not my native language.
I will highlight the parts from which I think they could kinda be new and interesting, so you don't have to read the entire thing, if you're busy!
Happy reading!
BEAT ' EM-UP
It's is slightly embarrassing indeed.
I'm sitting in the small cinema-hall at Warners in London and I'm losing for the second time while playing 'Injustice: Gods Among Us' for the first time.
I'm moving a little bit to the left and to the right in my incredibly comfortable leather-chair while saying: "I hope we have enough time..."
"We have all the time in the world...", answers Brain Goodman (Marketing Game Manager at NRS) pitiful.
CROSSOVER
Joker and Batman in a interrogation room in Arkham. Metropolis lies in debris, millions of people dead.
The insane clown doesn't intend to talk about the tragedy, while Superman comes flying into the room.
Enstatite with words, Superman decides to negotiate with his fists:
+ "TELL ME IMMEDIATELY WHAT YOU HAVE DONE!"
- "Me? What I have done? You destroyed the city and sent millions of people to hell!"
+ "But I didn't want to ... I didn't know ..."
Without any warning, Superman grabs - blinded by hatred - the clown by his collar and raises him into the air.
"NO!", Batman tries to calm down the hero.
The two man may fight on the same side, but when it comes to the morals - worlds separate them now.
- "I always liked your temper more than the bat over there, Superman."
The picture fades black. You can hear the noise of bones cracking.
Flashback. Everywhere in Metropolis heroes are fighting villains. Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Arrow, Aquaman, Solomon Grundy, Lex Luthor, Joker, Harley Quinn and many more are in a war. But Batmans priority is Joker, who is supposed to be trapped in Arkham. But instead of the Joker Deathstroke crosses his path.
The very first fight of the game starts. Fluidly, without any pesky loading screen, without narration and without cuts.
Immediately I'm able to trade punches and kicks with simple button presses - it really feals nearly exactly like Mortal Kombat. But very soon I realize, it's not leading my anywhere. My health bar drops way too fast. Without narration, cuts or loading the second round starts. Now I try to fight more tactically. I read through the long movelist and memorize some combos.
Batman is a gadget-character. Besides his martial arts he uses gadgets and weapons. With the grappeling gun he can attack enemies who are far away, with perfect timing you can even get them out of the air.
Tiny batarangs hoover around him and can be thrown at the enemies, again in various directions.
These are the individual attacks and every character has them besides their standard attacks. They're always on the B-Button (circle on PS3 and A on Wii U).
Deathstroke uses weapons and his machine gun cost me two health bars and confronted me with my first Game Over screen.
My tactic to keep him on distance was wrong. The more time he has, the more he will be able to use his machine gun and demolish my health bar.
New tactic: melee range and a lot of fast kicks and punches and also here and there a grab, while not ignoring the blocking (holding back).
But one of my best weapons was the arena itself and not the gadgets or the martial arts.
KNOW YOUR SURROUNDINGS
On many spots in the arena there are interactive objects. If you're in obvious range, a glowing indicator appears and with the press of a button the object turns into a weapon. In the air placed engines which you can throw at your enemies as a small example.
At the beginning I was really intrigued and had to find more stuff. I was jumping around Deathstroke and trying to discover all the possible actions and to "learn" the arena.
The usage of an interactive object is like the correct execution of a combo. The timing has to be right and you need to think about it at first.
When I'm using an object and throwing it at my opponent, it leaves me in a very vulnerable spot, since he can attack me during that time span.
Perfectly used you can expand combos or distract the rythm of the enemy.
Of course you can also ignore them and fight the classic way, but the opponent could think differently about that.
After the first fight with Deathstroke the story continues.
Batman drives to the Justice League Watchtower, where few heroes are fighting villains. Here you can see a new element of the story: "Minigames", which are actually QTE's (Quick Time Events).
To start the new battle Lex Luthor comes rushing in at me (I'm still Batman).
Buttons appear on the screen and if I hit them in time and also correctly, I throw batarangs at him. If you win the sequence, the enemy starts with less health. If the opposite happens and you lose, you start with less health.
That is supposed to make the story more dynamic. With moderate usage it could also be the case, but the developers shouldn't overdo it.
Unlike Batman Lex is a "power character". His robot suit turns him into a power house. So if the bat needs to go out of himself to roll a huge ball into the direction of his enemy, Lex can simply lift the heavy object and throw it at his opponent.
Lex defeats me in the first fight as well. This time his powerful punches and his range is the thing that keeps me occupied. I'm trying to keep him at distance and bombard him with my range weapons. With the usage of some interactive objects from the arena and my super move I can defeat him finally.
That is the most powerful move of the game (if you're good, you can block it). It needs a full meter bar and it is the substite for fatalities from Mortal Kombat, but it's actually more like an X-Ray.
Here you are not going to separate the enemies heads from their bodies or cut them in half. Instead of violence Injustice makes full usage of the over-the-topness in comics.
During his super move (a sequence that you can't skip) Batman types something into his Batcomputer, trades some kicks and punches, before he jumps into the air so that his Batmobile can crash into the enemy.
That doesn't make any sense, but it's fun. It's comical.
Joker places a bomb in the middle of Metropolis. The heroes are trying to stop him, but then a mysterious light freezes the scene and the screen becomes black.
Did they get eaten by a parallel universe? Who is behind all that? Why are the heroes fighting each other later on in the game and why can't Superman simply destroy everyone without even flinching?
Questions over questions and their answers are still secret. The story mode is - to describe it with one word - movie worthy. It feels like a huge comic book event, where all the heroes and villains meet each other. The cut scenes are supposed to be 2-3 hours long and the story - including the gameplay is supposed to be 6 hours long. In contrast to other fighting games the characters don't get his own plot, but instead they're getting a comprehensive story.
That story decides who you're playing as.
The story starts with - take a guess - Batman and from one point you get to play as the next character. Besides that you will get your typical multiplayer and others (still secretive) modes and challenges.
On the main menu I saw an interesting hint with the name "Special Features".
The cryptic answer from the developer: "The main menu is pretty similar to a blu-ray, don't you think? We're not going to reveal more at this point."
HANDS-ON
My DC knowledges is mainly based on the movies, with the exception of the most important Batman comics (Year One, Dark Knight Returns, etc). Beat ' Em-Ups are not my main genre, even though with a lot of practice I was able to defeat a lot of people in SF4 while using Abel.
But even for people like me will profit from 'Injustice - Gods Among Us'.
Besides Mortal Kombat there is no other fighting game that offers you such a fluid story mode experience. Usually the story in a fighting game is more of the end to justify the means. Starting with a small sequence and then your typical round 1, 2 ... final boss ... credits.
Injustice heads an entirely different way. Every fight gets started with a bit of the story and it ends with a bit of the story.
The goal of the developers is obvious: Injustice is a playable movie.
I'm probably never going to become the best Injustice player on the world, but with enough practice I could be slightly above the average player.
But I don't care about that. I want to know what the Joker is up to again! *laughs*
I was in the store an hour ago, because my body needed Coca Cola Zero and what did I get to see? Jokers ugly face looking at me while I was grabbing something to drink.
It's a german gaming magazine with a preview on Injustice. It was pretty damn expensive, but I decided to buy it and to translate it for you.
If you find any typos or weird sentences, don't blame me. English is not my native language.
I will highlight the parts from which I think they could kinda be new and interesting, so you don't have to read the entire thing, if you're busy!
Happy reading!
BEAT ' EM-UP
It's is slightly embarrassing indeed.
I'm sitting in the small cinema-hall at Warners in London and I'm losing for the second time while playing 'Injustice: Gods Among Us' for the first time.
I'm moving a little bit to the left and to the right in my incredibly comfortable leather-chair while saying: "I hope we have enough time..."
"We have all the time in the world...", answers Brain Goodman (Marketing Game Manager at NRS) pitiful.
CROSSOVER
Joker and Batman in a interrogation room in Arkham. Metropolis lies in debris, millions of people dead.
The insane clown doesn't intend to talk about the tragedy, while Superman comes flying into the room.
Enstatite with words, Superman decides to negotiate with his fists:
+ "TELL ME IMMEDIATELY WHAT YOU HAVE DONE!"
- "Me? What I have done? You destroyed the city and sent millions of people to hell!"
+ "But I didn't want to ... I didn't know ..."
Without any warning, Superman grabs - blinded by hatred - the clown by his collar and raises him into the air.
"NO!", Batman tries to calm down the hero.
The two man may fight on the same side, but when it comes to the morals - worlds separate them now.
- "I always liked your temper more than the bat over there, Superman."
The picture fades black. You can hear the noise of bones cracking.
Flashback. Everywhere in Metropolis heroes are fighting villains. Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Arrow, Aquaman, Solomon Grundy, Lex Luthor, Joker, Harley Quinn and many more are in a war. But Batmans priority is Joker, who is supposed to be trapped in Arkham. But instead of the Joker Deathstroke crosses his path.
The very first fight of the game starts. Fluidly, without any pesky loading screen, without narration and without cuts.
Immediately I'm able to trade punches and kicks with simple button presses - it really feals nearly exactly like Mortal Kombat. But very soon I realize, it's not leading my anywhere. My health bar drops way too fast. Without narration, cuts or loading the second round starts. Now I try to fight more tactically. I read through the long movelist and memorize some combos.
Batman is a gadget-character. Besides his martial arts he uses gadgets and weapons. With the grappeling gun he can attack enemies who are far away, with perfect timing you can even get them out of the air.
Tiny batarangs hoover around him and can be thrown at the enemies, again in various directions.
These are the individual attacks and every character has them besides their standard attacks. They're always on the B-Button (circle on PS3 and A on Wii U).
Deathstroke uses weapons and his machine gun cost me two health bars and confronted me with my first Game Over screen.
My tactic to keep him on distance was wrong. The more time he has, the more he will be able to use his machine gun and demolish my health bar.
New tactic: melee range and a lot of fast kicks and punches and also here and there a grab, while not ignoring the blocking (holding back).
But one of my best weapons was the arena itself and not the gadgets or the martial arts.
KNOW YOUR SURROUNDINGS
On many spots in the arena there are interactive objects. If you're in obvious range, a glowing indicator appears and with the press of a button the object turns into a weapon. In the air placed engines which you can throw at your enemies as a small example.
At the beginning I was really intrigued and had to find more stuff. I was jumping around Deathstroke and trying to discover all the possible actions and to "learn" the arena.
The usage of an interactive object is like the correct execution of a combo. The timing has to be right and you need to think about it at first.
When I'm using an object and throwing it at my opponent, it leaves me in a very vulnerable spot, since he can attack me during that time span.
Perfectly used you can expand combos or distract the rythm of the enemy.
Of course you can also ignore them and fight the classic way, but the opponent could think differently about that.
After the first fight with Deathstroke the story continues.
Batman drives to the Justice League Watchtower, where few heroes are fighting villains. Here you can see a new element of the story: "Minigames", which are actually QTE's (Quick Time Events).
To start the new battle Lex Luthor comes rushing in at me (I'm still Batman).
Buttons appear on the screen and if I hit them in time and also correctly, I throw batarangs at him. If you win the sequence, the enemy starts with less health. If the opposite happens and you lose, you start with less health.
That is supposed to make the story more dynamic. With moderate usage it could also be the case, but the developers shouldn't overdo it.
Unlike Batman Lex is a "power character". His robot suit turns him into a power house. So if the bat needs to go out of himself to roll a huge ball into the direction of his enemy, Lex can simply lift the heavy object and throw it at his opponent.
Lex defeats me in the first fight as well. This time his powerful punches and his range is the thing that keeps me occupied. I'm trying to keep him at distance and bombard him with my range weapons. With the usage of some interactive objects from the arena and my super move I can defeat him finally.
That is the most powerful move of the game (if you're good, you can block it). It needs a full meter bar and it is the substite for fatalities from Mortal Kombat, but it's actually more like an X-Ray.
Here you are not going to separate the enemies heads from their bodies or cut them in half. Instead of violence Injustice makes full usage of the over-the-topness in comics.
During his super move (a sequence that you can't skip) Batman types something into his Batcomputer, trades some kicks and punches, before he jumps into the air so that his Batmobile can crash into the enemy.
That doesn't make any sense, but it's fun. It's comical.
Joker places a bomb in the middle of Metropolis. The heroes are trying to stop him, but then a mysterious light freezes the scene and the screen becomes black.
Did they get eaten by a parallel universe? Who is behind all that? Why are the heroes fighting each other later on in the game and why can't Superman simply destroy everyone without even flinching?
Questions over questions and their answers are still secret. The story mode is - to describe it with one word - movie worthy. It feels like a huge comic book event, where all the heroes and villains meet each other. The cut scenes are supposed to be 2-3 hours long and the story - including the gameplay is supposed to be 6 hours long. In contrast to other fighting games the characters don't get his own plot, but instead they're getting a comprehensive story.
That story decides who you're playing as.
The story starts with - take a guess - Batman and from one point you get to play as the next character. Besides that you will get your typical multiplayer and others (still secretive) modes and challenges.
On the main menu I saw an interesting hint with the name "Special Features".
The cryptic answer from the developer: "The main menu is pretty similar to a blu-ray, don't you think? We're not going to reveal more at this point."
HANDS-ON
My DC knowledges is mainly based on the movies, with the exception of the most important Batman comics (Year One, Dark Knight Returns, etc). Beat ' Em-Ups are not my main genre, even though with a lot of practice I was able to defeat a lot of people in SF4 while using Abel.
But even for people like me will profit from 'Injustice - Gods Among Us'.
Besides Mortal Kombat there is no other fighting game that offers you such a fluid story mode experience. Usually the story in a fighting game is more of the end to justify the means. Starting with a small sequence and then your typical round 1, 2 ... final boss ... credits.
Injustice heads an entirely different way. Every fight gets started with a bit of the story and it ends with a bit of the story.
The goal of the developers is obvious: Injustice is a playable movie.
I'm probably never going to become the best Injustice player on the world, but with enough practice I could be slightly above the average player.
But I don't care about that. I want to know what the Joker is up to again! *laughs*
