NYCj360
i Use a modded cyber now
First off id like to give a special shout out to Hector Sanchez of Nether Realm Studios for being really cool and answering every single question i had of the game despite the fact that he was getting bombarded by interviews left and right.
Ill go about this in a rundown fashion, naturally there might be some things i left out because i just simply forgot so any questions you guys have feel free to ask away in this thread.
The stages
The stages in Injustice are different from what other games offer because of the fact that it has interactive environments. Now i was one of the skeptics who didn't think the idea was going to work out very well when infused with a tournament fighter, but sure enough NRS made it work. I know that most of us fighting game players both (hardcore and casual) are not used to playing a 2d game with an interactive environment, so when the thought of using an element outside of the characters own abilities comes along we don't really get how it will work. It does compliment every characters meta game one way or another, for instance the bigger characters like cyborg and Grundy can smash you with huge cars by ripping them off or the hinges (which can be interrupted if attacked before slamming the car) and characters like green arrow can use them to bounce off and have added mobility. From my experience the cars are a good way to create space between you and your opponent and give you the means of either closing or creating distance on knockdown. I used it as a offensive tool due to the fact that i was using cyborg but we will get into that later. In the bat cave you can use missiles on the far right end of the stage to elongate your combos which is really cool, i didn't get to test it much but i did see hector goofing around with it on some people. What ive gathered so far is that some are combo-able and some are not, eventually some will be more useful then others but we need more time to determine that of course. Unfortunately i didnt get a chance to knock anyone through any walls or anything of the sort because my matches went by way too quick and i spent too much time trying to figure out the engine. Overall the interactive environment is an interesting add on that NRS is doing a great job of incorporating into the 2D fighting game world.
The Move List
In terms of directional inputs for moves and combos everything will feel like home for those who come from playing past mk games. The dial a combo system work the same way it did for mk9 umk3 and the moves that can go different distances are done pretty much the same. For instance cyborg can setup homing missiles to 3 different locations on screen, close being down back 3, medium being down forward 3, and far being down back forward 3, similar to quans runes or sectors missiles in mk9. Now one thing that really caught my eye is the fact that THEY'VE INCLUDED THE FRAME DATA FOR THE SPECIAL MOVES, startup frames and duration frames i believe. This is a HUGE plus, so far its only for special moves but i hope that they carry it over to strings and normals as well. This alone won me over, never in the history of fighting games have i ever heard of developers including frame data within the games own move list, this is very helpful for those who want to take the game to a tournament level.
NOTE:The frame data will vary once the game reaches its final stages or gets patched, so i have no other information on frame data specifics yet.
The Combo Engine
So as CD Jr said in his review d1 is a mid poke, d2 is a universal launcher or uppercut which can grant an air combo, d3 is a universal sweep, and b3 is a universal wall bounce that can grant an air combo as well, and the action button (4) which differs across the lineup. There is no air blocking so anti airing someone works the same as it does in mk9. Gravity seems to take its course once juggling someone in the air as well but im not to sure as to how severe it gets as the hits continue. Since now you have to block by holding back we are now introduced to a whole new world of mixups. Deep jump kicks, highs, lows, throws etc. Some Xrays are combo able and some are not, Harley Quinn can combo immediately after her because it pops you up but characters like cyborg cannot because it causes a knock down. Some characters dashes are quicker then others so its easier for some characters to combo off of a universal then other. So far the betas combo system is really fluid and takes a little getting used to the movement, but once you do you feel right at home thanks to the familiar combo scheme.
The Characters
Now i didn't get a chance to play more then 2 characters but i played against many and this is what i have come up with:
Nightwing: I had the chance to play Revolver a couple of games who was trying to learn Nightwing. Nightwing has pretty quick normals that lead to combos, he has a good mid range game but as far as long range doesn't really do to well. He has a projectile attack where he can shoot ninja stars from across the level that are vulnerable to beam projectiles, an air projectile with a diagonal down trajectory where he shoots little ninja star looking objects, he has a surge of electricity that he sends through the floor using his staff that travels full screen that only hits grounded opponents and he has a mode where he can use his staff to initiate a high-low offensive. When he is in his staff mode as of right now he is pretty slow so its hard for him to maintain the offensive but that might change as the builds go on. Any moves i forgot to elaborate on im sure revolver would be the right person to ask
Flash: this is another character that i had the chance to play against the many times i played against Shady. Flash seems to have good normals and good combo ability, the move where he slows down time is really good and hard to defend against if you dont have any good projectiles that stay on screen. He has a dash similar to skarlets red dash where he can slide and tackle as well as cancel out of it in its beginning stage which can be used for baiting attacks and punishing. The slide out of the dash goes under projectiles so it seems that flash has great tools to get in on zoners especially with the slow down move.
Batman: I didnt get much out of batman other then the fact that he has great combo potential, fast normals, a cape parry that shifts momentum and his special move where he little bats surrounding him that he can send after you and use as a defense. Ill say one thing though, i had a tough time playing people mashing their hearts out with this character, he's really good up close. Oh and he has an air dash with his cape, and a double jump i believe.
Green Arrow: Very fast, great projectile mobility. He has two things that strike me as good, one is that once he initiates the bow and arrow move, when held you can decide where it will go before release and there is no way to tell as the opponent. If you hold back it will shoot at a diagonal and hit someone out of the air, yet he holds it the same way as if shooting straight ahead. Second his Ice arrow stood out to me because of the fact that it grants a full combo, you only get 1 until it regenerates, as far as how long it takes to regenerate i am not sure. If used as an anti- air it freezes them in the air and re grounds the opponent still granting you a full combo. It seems to me that Green arrow has the mobility and options to shut down zoners similar to hawkeye in umvc3. Lastly his xray is un-blockable, if the explosion from the arrow on the floor hits you, you get caught in it but it can be avoided by simply jumping away. He seems to me like one of the stronger characters at the moment.
Cyborg: This is the character i used the whole show.
He has a blaster move that can be used in the air similar to liu kangs instant air fireballs in terms of speed.
He can plant un-blockable missiles on the ground at 3 different distances of the stage, they must be avoided because if hit they will launch granting him a combo. I came across a few setups with cyborg using these missiles that seem to work very well. ill discuss that in my short tech breakdown.
He has a burst energy wave that is close range and can be shot straight up an anti air or forward to knock the opponent back.
He has a grab move that i didnt really get to explore that can be linked with hits.
He has a grappling hook that closes or creates a gap immediately. It sends him to either side of the stage and can use moves in the air once the move is finished. This makes it hard for some characters to close the gap or run away from him.
His dash is slow so its hard to combo off of d2 with him, i have no real way as of yet but i need more time to get his moves down.
His special ability is that he can regenerate health if you give him time, its like 2-3% every second once he initiates it which takes like 2 seconds, its kind of slow so its fair the way it is now.
Anyway here is what i got out of cyborg:
When planting a location for missiles cyborg cannot be hit or the missiles will be cancelled out, he cannot shoot any projectiles until the missiles are released, once they are released from his back he can start shooting projectiles again.
Off of a hard knockdown string that he has (1,1,2) you can plant missiles right under the opponent or behind them to force them to jump. This can lead to a situation where if they jump at you you can anti air them with the vertical burst move (db2) knocking them back into the bombs granting you a full combo. If they jump back you can start instant air blasting them across screen and off of a hit you can plant another set of missiles. He has an xray setup with the missiles as well, i have it recorded it in a match of me vs shady that he will put up soon. Basically once you have the opponent in the corner off of a hard knock down using 1,1,2 plant a close missile target, dash back and react, if they jump xray them on the way down, if they move forward, xray knocks them back into the missiles granting you a combo or if timed properly the xray hits anyway. His xray has a big hit box so it can be used as a really good anti air. The setup can be done midscreen as well but requires more reaction, also if they try to back dash it mid screen the xray will hit because back dashes leave you vulnerable during the dash. I have a few other things ill post once the videos go up but i have to run for now guys.
My thoughts for now is that overall Injustice is a solid fighting game even in its beta stages and i can't wait to see what NRS does with this one. My only complaint is that i didn't have enough time playing it and now i am addicted. I WANT MORE
VIDEOS ARE HERE COURTESY OF Shady
STORMS
Ill go about this in a rundown fashion, naturally there might be some things i left out because i just simply forgot so any questions you guys have feel free to ask away in this thread.
The stages
The stages in Injustice are different from what other games offer because of the fact that it has interactive environments. Now i was one of the skeptics who didn't think the idea was going to work out very well when infused with a tournament fighter, but sure enough NRS made it work. I know that most of us fighting game players both (hardcore and casual) are not used to playing a 2d game with an interactive environment, so when the thought of using an element outside of the characters own abilities comes along we don't really get how it will work. It does compliment every characters meta game one way or another, for instance the bigger characters like cyborg and Grundy can smash you with huge cars by ripping them off or the hinges (which can be interrupted if attacked before slamming the car) and characters like green arrow can use them to bounce off and have added mobility. From my experience the cars are a good way to create space between you and your opponent and give you the means of either closing or creating distance on knockdown. I used it as a offensive tool due to the fact that i was using cyborg but we will get into that later. In the bat cave you can use missiles on the far right end of the stage to elongate your combos which is really cool, i didn't get to test it much but i did see hector goofing around with it on some people. What ive gathered so far is that some are combo-able and some are not, eventually some will be more useful then others but we need more time to determine that of course. Unfortunately i didnt get a chance to knock anyone through any walls or anything of the sort because my matches went by way too quick and i spent too much time trying to figure out the engine. Overall the interactive environment is an interesting add on that NRS is doing a great job of incorporating into the 2D fighting game world.
The Move List
In terms of directional inputs for moves and combos everything will feel like home for those who come from playing past mk games. The dial a combo system work the same way it did for mk9 umk3 and the moves that can go different distances are done pretty much the same. For instance cyborg can setup homing missiles to 3 different locations on screen, close being down back 3, medium being down forward 3, and far being down back forward 3, similar to quans runes or sectors missiles in mk9. Now one thing that really caught my eye is the fact that THEY'VE INCLUDED THE FRAME DATA FOR THE SPECIAL MOVES, startup frames and duration frames i believe. This is a HUGE plus, so far its only for special moves but i hope that they carry it over to strings and normals as well. This alone won me over, never in the history of fighting games have i ever heard of developers including frame data within the games own move list, this is very helpful for those who want to take the game to a tournament level.
NOTE:The frame data will vary once the game reaches its final stages or gets patched, so i have no other information on frame data specifics yet.
The Combo Engine
So as CD Jr said in his review d1 is a mid poke, d2 is a universal launcher or uppercut which can grant an air combo, d3 is a universal sweep, and b3 is a universal wall bounce that can grant an air combo as well, and the action button (4) which differs across the lineup. There is no air blocking so anti airing someone works the same as it does in mk9. Gravity seems to take its course once juggling someone in the air as well but im not to sure as to how severe it gets as the hits continue. Since now you have to block by holding back we are now introduced to a whole new world of mixups. Deep jump kicks, highs, lows, throws etc. Some Xrays are combo able and some are not, Harley Quinn can combo immediately after her because it pops you up but characters like cyborg cannot because it causes a knock down. Some characters dashes are quicker then others so its easier for some characters to combo off of a universal then other. So far the betas combo system is really fluid and takes a little getting used to the movement, but once you do you feel right at home thanks to the familiar combo scheme.
The Characters
Now i didn't get a chance to play more then 2 characters but i played against many and this is what i have come up with:
Nightwing: I had the chance to play Revolver a couple of games who was trying to learn Nightwing. Nightwing has pretty quick normals that lead to combos, he has a good mid range game but as far as long range doesn't really do to well. He has a projectile attack where he can shoot ninja stars from across the level that are vulnerable to beam projectiles, an air projectile with a diagonal down trajectory where he shoots little ninja star looking objects, he has a surge of electricity that he sends through the floor using his staff that travels full screen that only hits grounded opponents and he has a mode where he can use his staff to initiate a high-low offensive. When he is in his staff mode as of right now he is pretty slow so its hard for him to maintain the offensive but that might change as the builds go on. Any moves i forgot to elaborate on im sure revolver would be the right person to ask
Flash: this is another character that i had the chance to play against the many times i played against Shady. Flash seems to have good normals and good combo ability, the move where he slows down time is really good and hard to defend against if you dont have any good projectiles that stay on screen. He has a dash similar to skarlets red dash where he can slide and tackle as well as cancel out of it in its beginning stage which can be used for baiting attacks and punishing. The slide out of the dash goes under projectiles so it seems that flash has great tools to get in on zoners especially with the slow down move.
Batman: I didnt get much out of batman other then the fact that he has great combo potential, fast normals, a cape parry that shifts momentum and his special move where he little bats surrounding him that he can send after you and use as a defense. Ill say one thing though, i had a tough time playing people mashing their hearts out with this character, he's really good up close. Oh and he has an air dash with his cape, and a double jump i believe.
Green Arrow: Very fast, great projectile mobility. He has two things that strike me as good, one is that once he initiates the bow and arrow move, when held you can decide where it will go before release and there is no way to tell as the opponent. If you hold back it will shoot at a diagonal and hit someone out of the air, yet he holds it the same way as if shooting straight ahead. Second his Ice arrow stood out to me because of the fact that it grants a full combo, you only get 1 until it regenerates, as far as how long it takes to regenerate i am not sure. If used as an anti- air it freezes them in the air and re grounds the opponent still granting you a full combo. It seems to me that Green arrow has the mobility and options to shut down zoners similar to hawkeye in umvc3. Lastly his xray is un-blockable, if the explosion from the arrow on the floor hits you, you get caught in it but it can be avoided by simply jumping away. He seems to me like one of the stronger characters at the moment.
Cyborg: This is the character i used the whole show.
He has a blaster move that can be used in the air similar to liu kangs instant air fireballs in terms of speed.
He can plant un-blockable missiles on the ground at 3 different distances of the stage, they must be avoided because if hit they will launch granting him a combo. I came across a few setups with cyborg using these missiles that seem to work very well. ill discuss that in my short tech breakdown.
He has a burst energy wave that is close range and can be shot straight up an anti air or forward to knock the opponent back.
He has a grab move that i didnt really get to explore that can be linked with hits.
He has a grappling hook that closes or creates a gap immediately. It sends him to either side of the stage and can use moves in the air once the move is finished. This makes it hard for some characters to close the gap or run away from him.
His dash is slow so its hard to combo off of d2 with him, i have no real way as of yet but i need more time to get his moves down.
His special ability is that he can regenerate health if you give him time, its like 2-3% every second once he initiates it which takes like 2 seconds, its kind of slow so its fair the way it is now.
Anyway here is what i got out of cyborg:
When planting a location for missiles cyborg cannot be hit or the missiles will be cancelled out, he cannot shoot any projectiles until the missiles are released, once they are released from his back he can start shooting projectiles again.
Off of a hard knockdown string that he has (1,1,2) you can plant missiles right under the opponent or behind them to force them to jump. This can lead to a situation where if they jump at you you can anti air them with the vertical burst move (db2) knocking them back into the bombs granting you a full combo. If they jump back you can start instant air blasting them across screen and off of a hit you can plant another set of missiles. He has an xray setup with the missiles as well, i have it recorded it in a match of me vs shady that he will put up soon. Basically once you have the opponent in the corner off of a hard knock down using 1,1,2 plant a close missile target, dash back and react, if they jump xray them on the way down, if they move forward, xray knocks them back into the missiles granting you a combo or if timed properly the xray hits anyway. His xray has a big hit box so it can be used as a really good anti air. The setup can be done midscreen as well but requires more reaction, also if they try to back dash it mid screen the xray will hit because back dashes leave you vulnerable during the dash. I have a few other things ill post once the videos go up but i have to run for now guys.
My thoughts for now is that overall Injustice is a solid fighting game even in its beta stages and i can't wait to see what NRS does with this one. My only complaint is that i didn't have enough time playing it and now i am addicted. I WANT MORE
VIDEOS ARE HERE COURTESY OF Shady
STORMS
