EGP Wonder_Chef
Official Quan Chi Nerf Demander™
Yesterday a few of us TYM members had the chance to play the PAX East build of injustice at WonderCon 2013 in SoCal!
The staff at the booth kindly allowed us to take videos, so here is the playlist of the ones that were on my phone (I know we have a lot more on other people's phones):
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZthOxIV8vpnYmocbHcO5kgPFGSjBw6cs
To get an idea of who is playing, most of the time it was:
Aquaman/Grundy - Me
Deathstroke - LEGEND
Nightwing - GuamoKun
Black Adam - Awesomo
Cyborg/Catwoman - Krayzie
It may not always be us playing those characters though, some may be against random players. Also be warned that the videos are numbered backwards, so Injus 12 will be one of our first games of the day and Injus 1 will be one of the last. The actual playlist is in the chronological order.
Following that, I would love to give my thoughts on the game:
It's FREAKING AWESOME! A whole ton of fun, and it felt exactly like I thought it would. It is definitely similar enough to MK9 for MK players to feel familiar with the game, but different enough that I don't see it as a replacement but another game to play alongside MK9.
The system is definitely more complicated than MK9. It actually feels a lot like a mix of MK9, Street Fighter, and some sort of Anime fighter; it is a melting pot of a TON of varied fighting game elements.
That out of the way, there are a few system things that may or may not have been posted before, but I didn't know before I played:
1. You can combo into specials off of D1. With Aquaman D1 xx DF1 (The multi stab move) was a true combo.
2. The damage from clash can not kill you. It leaves you at minimum life.
3. You can cancel from cancelable normals into either of your universal launchers (wallbounce/groundbounce) by pressing BB Meter or FF Meter respectively at the cost of 1 or 2 bars (I'm not quite sure.)
4. You can use meter to give your universal launchers armor.
5. Some strings can ONLY be completed on hit (just like Reptile's F3 1+2 chain.)
6. Armor in this MK9 is done by duration, but you can absorb an infinite number of hits. In Injustice, you can only absorb a limited number of moves. This makes multi hit moves such as Deathstroke's bullets or Nightwing's spinning attacks very good at beating armored moves, and even Supers (I was hit out of a point blank Aquaman Super by one Nightwing move that hit me four or five times.)
7. Meter builds really fast in this game.
8. At one point I did a D2 Anti Air straight into a Super Move that scaled down to deal a total of 25%, so potentially D2's or Anti Airs cause a LOT of scaling.
There are probably more, but I can't think of them right now. I do have some personal notes on characters though:
Aquaman:
He seems like a sort of zoning midrange all around character. His zoning overall is very strong, and he can antiair a jump from ANYWHERE on the screen with his DB2 (Ground Spike Trident type move) which he can then meter burn for a popup.
His normals all had really short range or REALLY long range. He did have a good overhead/low mixup.
His D2 is one of the best anti airs that I saw the whole day, it's GREAT.
D1 xx DF1 (Multiple Stab Trident move) is REALLY good and build a lot of meter + good chip on block, plus it combos on hit! His D1 overall seems really good.
I had some good use of his weird armor shield (DD3) against Deathstroke's unblockable bullets (his trait) and it also served as a great wakeup when people were trying to force me to block projectiles on wakeup.
His mobility is good, seems like it's slightly above average.
He's really fun and a very flexible character, so I ended up using him almost all of the day.
Deathstroke:
Man LEGEND was REALLY zoning well with this guy. This character is a zoning machine and I definitely see him being a STRONG character, even though he seems sort of simple on the surface.
He DOES have instant air projectiles that hit standing opponents. This along with Normal, Low, and AA projectiles makes him sooo hard to get in on.
When he's inside he does have a seemingly strong low/high mixup. His overhead flip kick is very fast and hard to react to.
His super does 40% (highest that I saw next to Bane) and had a lot of utility, which is good because this char builds TONS OF METER. OODLES OF NOODLES.
Like I said earlier, the fact that his zoning hits multiple times makes it REALLY hard to armor through him. I saw Legend stuff like four or five supers!
His upward gun covers a LOT of really strong tools like Black Adam dive kick and Catwoman jumping 3 (REALLY good, I'll touch on that later.)
This character overall seems really good and really badass.
Nightwing:
Honestly I'll straight up say that I am more scared of Nightwing right now than any other character that I played. He is VERY flexible. GuamoKun was playing him and already knew quite a bit just from is Nightwing research.
Surprisingly, his zoning is very strong. His ground shock projectile moves FAST, and combined with fast switching to the Staff Mode Ground Pound move, he is definitely formidable from far away.
His staff form has CRAZY range. It's really hard to play footsies with that staff. His jumping attacks are really strong, which mixed with his KOF hop style super low jump, makes him very hard to anti air. His full screen polevault kick move also gives him a very fast way to get in.
Once he's inside his double stick form is really good. A lot of the hits are multiple hits which breaks through armor, and builds a whole lot of meter.
Overall I find Nightwing very strong.
Black Adam:
The best way that I can describe this guy is he is a bully character which fit Awesomo well (cause he's a jerk). He controls a lot of the screen with his projectiles, mines, and that godlike dive kick, and when he mixes that with his trait (possibly one of the best in the game) he bullys you into playing his game.
His zoning game alone is really strong. His lightning projectile hits low and has the arc of an MK9 Smoke Bomb. If you start trying to jump too much to avoid it, he can check you with dive kicks or his Super. All of this while his mines that are similar to Cyrax bombs (they are unblockable) can be on the screen.
That dive kick is just really good. I couldn't quite figure out if it was 100% safe or just hard to punish. I DID however find that neutral jumping it was a great way to punish it.
His mobility is one of the best in the game easily, especially his forward dash.
Black Adam seems very top tier to me at first glance.
Catwoman:
Going into today I thought Catwoman looked like one of the worst in the game, but after seeing Krayzie play her, I see just how much of a rushdown machine she is. She has a super small hitbox and her movement is extremely fast, so it's hard to pin her down.
Once she gets inside her pressure is scary, especially because she has a safe on block dash attack that crumples the opponent on hit for a full combo (and it can be meter burned for armor!)
Outside, she has tricks from cat stance, her dash move, and her low hitbox to help her get in.
Also her Jumping 3 is INSANE. It's a jumping whip attack that has maybe a half screen range. It is almost definitely impossible for a lot of characters to anti air this attack, because it has no hurtbox on the hitbox of the whip. Aquaman's D2 has HUGE range, more than any other AA that I saw, and it still didn't even come close to being able to AA her Jumping 3. I honestly have no idea how to deal with this normal; she literally gets free jump ins on some characters for a full combo on hit and advantage on block.
She actually does not play like Mileena even though it looks like it. She is way scarier than Mileena.
She is going to be one of the crazy rushdown characters.
Harley Quinn:
Harley was the #1 character that I was interested in going into the convention, but she did not play at all like I thought.
Her movement seems very limited compared to most of the cast. Her walk speed seems average to below average, and her forward dash was really bad. It was definitely the shortest and maybe the slowest forward dash that I saw.
Her space control seems good. She has sort of mini versions of Deathstroke's zoning. She has a straight and upward gun shot, and an instant air gunshot that shoots downwards diagonally. These don't do as many hits as Deastrokes (they are one or two hits I think) but they work well to control space and get her into position.
Her normals don't seem slow, just her movement speed.
Honestly I didn't play her too much, I didn't really want to play a slow character.
Grundy:
I had the most fun playing this guy by far! His moves are all just so badass and fun to use.
His forward dash is REALLY REALLY good. That fool just does this lightfooted hop forwards that covers around 1/3 of the screen. It have a sort of long duration though, so be careful not to be punished. VIDEO: www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNbehJ7KC_o&t=2m49s
His AA throw looks really fast, but my opponent wouldn't jump at me!
The swamp hands came out relatively fast, although it only grabs for a full combo if you meter burn, and I don't think that you can hitconfirm it.
Once you activate his super, even if you miss the followup throw, you can continue to try to land it until his time runs out. You can see me whiff the followup, then immediately land it afterwards in one of the videos. His Super seems really good. VIDEO: www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNbehJ7KC_o&t=2m30s
BORN ON A MONDAY.
Green Lantern:
Clearly someone at NRS likes this guy.
His zoning is really good, his straight fireball is a lot better than it looks, especially because you can meter burn to blow it up anywhere on the screen, which becomes an overhead that launches for a full combo.
His Ermac Lift type move where he grabs you with his ring is one of the strongest moves in the game. It's like an Ermac lift with slightly less range, but it is a LOT faster. This move can whiff punish a lot and anti air pretty much anything. Also the fact that you have to use meter to combo off of it isn't a very big restriction in this game system. It feels so good to land this move! It's so clean and fast, it just screams "Sorry, this is my zone. You respect me here."
Definitely seems top tier, I would be surprised if he isn't, he has basically all the tools you could want.
Bane:
Looks very brawlerish.
His Super did 54% could have been something to do with the venom though.
That's about it. I think he's a sleeper good character, but most people thought he looked bad.
Raven:
Her normals had short range, but her Ermac like force push was basically full screen. Really crazy screen control with that thing.
I think she has a low starter, but it seemed sorta slow.
I didn't see too much of her.
That's just about everything that I noticed through the day, although I probably forgot a lot of stuff. Hopefully the rest of the players that were with me will post their thoughts. My final thought:
TWO WEEKS! GET HYPE!
The staff at the booth kindly allowed us to take videos, so here is the playlist of the ones that were on my phone (I know we have a lot more on other people's phones):
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZthOxIV8vpnYmocbHcO5kgPFGSjBw6cs
To get an idea of who is playing, most of the time it was:
Aquaman/Grundy - Me
Deathstroke - LEGEND
Nightwing - GuamoKun
Black Adam - Awesomo
Cyborg/Catwoman - Krayzie
It may not always be us playing those characters though, some may be against random players. Also be warned that the videos are numbered backwards, so Injus 12 will be one of our first games of the day and Injus 1 will be one of the last. The actual playlist is in the chronological order.
Following that, I would love to give my thoughts on the game:
It's FREAKING AWESOME! A whole ton of fun, and it felt exactly like I thought it would. It is definitely similar enough to MK9 for MK players to feel familiar with the game, but different enough that I don't see it as a replacement but another game to play alongside MK9.
The system is definitely more complicated than MK9. It actually feels a lot like a mix of MK9, Street Fighter, and some sort of Anime fighter; it is a melting pot of a TON of varied fighting game elements.
That out of the way, there are a few system things that may or may not have been posted before, but I didn't know before I played:
1. You can combo into specials off of D1. With Aquaman D1 xx DF1 (The multi stab move) was a true combo.
2. The damage from clash can not kill you. It leaves you at minimum life.
3. You can cancel from cancelable normals into either of your universal launchers (wallbounce/groundbounce) by pressing BB Meter or FF Meter respectively at the cost of 1 or 2 bars (I'm not quite sure.)
4. You can use meter to give your universal launchers armor.
5. Some strings can ONLY be completed on hit (just like Reptile's F3 1+2 chain.)
6. Armor in this MK9 is done by duration, but you can absorb an infinite number of hits. In Injustice, you can only absorb a limited number of moves. This makes multi hit moves such as Deathstroke's bullets or Nightwing's spinning attacks very good at beating armored moves, and even Supers (I was hit out of a point blank Aquaman Super by one Nightwing move that hit me four or five times.)
7. Meter builds really fast in this game.
8. At one point I did a D2 Anti Air straight into a Super Move that scaled down to deal a total of 25%, so potentially D2's or Anti Airs cause a LOT of scaling.
There are probably more, but I can't think of them right now. I do have some personal notes on characters though:
Aquaman:
He seems like a sort of zoning midrange all around character. His zoning overall is very strong, and he can antiair a jump from ANYWHERE on the screen with his DB2 (Ground Spike Trident type move) which he can then meter burn for a popup.
His normals all had really short range or REALLY long range. He did have a good overhead/low mixup.
His D2 is one of the best anti airs that I saw the whole day, it's GREAT.
D1 xx DF1 (Multiple Stab Trident move) is REALLY good and build a lot of meter + good chip on block, plus it combos on hit! His D1 overall seems really good.
I had some good use of his weird armor shield (DD3) against Deathstroke's unblockable bullets (his trait) and it also served as a great wakeup when people were trying to force me to block projectiles on wakeup.
His mobility is good, seems like it's slightly above average.
He's really fun and a very flexible character, so I ended up using him almost all of the day.
Deathstroke:
Man LEGEND was REALLY zoning well with this guy. This character is a zoning machine and I definitely see him being a STRONG character, even though he seems sort of simple on the surface.
He DOES have instant air projectiles that hit standing opponents. This along with Normal, Low, and AA projectiles makes him sooo hard to get in on.
When he's inside he does have a seemingly strong low/high mixup. His overhead flip kick is very fast and hard to react to.
His super does 40% (highest that I saw next to Bane) and had a lot of utility, which is good because this char builds TONS OF METER. OODLES OF NOODLES.
Like I said earlier, the fact that his zoning hits multiple times makes it REALLY hard to armor through him. I saw Legend stuff like four or five supers!
His upward gun covers a LOT of really strong tools like Black Adam dive kick and Catwoman jumping 3 (REALLY good, I'll touch on that later.)
This character overall seems really good and really badass.
Nightwing:
Honestly I'll straight up say that I am more scared of Nightwing right now than any other character that I played. He is VERY flexible. GuamoKun was playing him and already knew quite a bit just from is Nightwing research.
Surprisingly, his zoning is very strong. His ground shock projectile moves FAST, and combined with fast switching to the Staff Mode Ground Pound move, he is definitely formidable from far away.
His staff form has CRAZY range. It's really hard to play footsies with that staff. His jumping attacks are really strong, which mixed with his KOF hop style super low jump, makes him very hard to anti air. His full screen polevault kick move also gives him a very fast way to get in.
Once he's inside his double stick form is really good. A lot of the hits are multiple hits which breaks through armor, and builds a whole lot of meter.
Overall I find Nightwing very strong.
Black Adam:
The best way that I can describe this guy is he is a bully character which fit Awesomo well (cause he's a jerk). He controls a lot of the screen with his projectiles, mines, and that godlike dive kick, and when he mixes that with his trait (possibly one of the best in the game) he bullys you into playing his game.
His zoning game alone is really strong. His lightning projectile hits low and has the arc of an MK9 Smoke Bomb. If you start trying to jump too much to avoid it, he can check you with dive kicks or his Super. All of this while his mines that are similar to Cyrax bombs (they are unblockable) can be on the screen.
That dive kick is just really good. I couldn't quite figure out if it was 100% safe or just hard to punish. I DID however find that neutral jumping it was a great way to punish it.
His mobility is one of the best in the game easily, especially his forward dash.
Black Adam seems very top tier to me at first glance.
Catwoman:
Going into today I thought Catwoman looked like one of the worst in the game, but after seeing Krayzie play her, I see just how much of a rushdown machine she is. She has a super small hitbox and her movement is extremely fast, so it's hard to pin her down.
Once she gets inside her pressure is scary, especially because she has a safe on block dash attack that crumples the opponent on hit for a full combo (and it can be meter burned for armor!)
Outside, she has tricks from cat stance, her dash move, and her low hitbox to help her get in.
Also her Jumping 3 is INSANE. It's a jumping whip attack that has maybe a half screen range. It is almost definitely impossible for a lot of characters to anti air this attack, because it has no hurtbox on the hitbox of the whip. Aquaman's D2 has HUGE range, more than any other AA that I saw, and it still didn't even come close to being able to AA her Jumping 3. I honestly have no idea how to deal with this normal; she literally gets free jump ins on some characters for a full combo on hit and advantage on block.
She actually does not play like Mileena even though it looks like it. She is way scarier than Mileena.
She is going to be one of the crazy rushdown characters.
Harley Quinn:
Harley was the #1 character that I was interested in going into the convention, but she did not play at all like I thought.
Her movement seems very limited compared to most of the cast. Her walk speed seems average to below average, and her forward dash was really bad. It was definitely the shortest and maybe the slowest forward dash that I saw.
Her space control seems good. She has sort of mini versions of Deathstroke's zoning. She has a straight and upward gun shot, and an instant air gunshot that shoots downwards diagonally. These don't do as many hits as Deastrokes (they are one or two hits I think) but they work well to control space and get her into position.
Her normals don't seem slow, just her movement speed.
Honestly I didn't play her too much, I didn't really want to play a slow character.
Grundy:
I had the most fun playing this guy by far! His moves are all just so badass and fun to use.
His forward dash is REALLY REALLY good. That fool just does this lightfooted hop forwards that covers around 1/3 of the screen. It have a sort of long duration though, so be careful not to be punished. VIDEO: www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNbehJ7KC_o&t=2m49s
His AA throw looks really fast, but my opponent wouldn't jump at me!
The swamp hands came out relatively fast, although it only grabs for a full combo if you meter burn, and I don't think that you can hitconfirm it.
Once you activate his super, even if you miss the followup throw, you can continue to try to land it until his time runs out. You can see me whiff the followup, then immediately land it afterwards in one of the videos. His Super seems really good. VIDEO: www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNbehJ7KC_o&t=2m30s
BORN ON A MONDAY.
Green Lantern:
Clearly someone at NRS likes this guy.
His zoning is really good, his straight fireball is a lot better than it looks, especially because you can meter burn to blow it up anywhere on the screen, which becomes an overhead that launches for a full combo.
His Ermac Lift type move where he grabs you with his ring is one of the strongest moves in the game. It's like an Ermac lift with slightly less range, but it is a LOT faster. This move can whiff punish a lot and anti air pretty much anything. Also the fact that you have to use meter to combo off of it isn't a very big restriction in this game system. It feels so good to land this move! It's so clean and fast, it just screams "Sorry, this is my zone. You respect me here."
Definitely seems top tier, I would be surprised if he isn't, he has basically all the tools you could want.
Bane:
Looks very brawlerish.
His Super did 54% could have been something to do with the venom though.
That's about it. I think he's a sleeper good character, but most people thought he looked bad.
Raven:
Her normals had short range, but her Ermac like force push was basically full screen. Really crazy screen control with that thing.
I think she has a low starter, but it seemed sorta slow.
I didn't see too much of her.
That's just about everything that I noticed through the day, although I probably forgot a lot of stuff. Hopefully the rest of the players that were with me will post their thoughts. My final thought:
TWO WEEKS! GET HYPE!
