NetherRealm Studios released a demo of their DC co-developed Injustice: Gods Among Us this Tuesday, a game that has been on the radar for many fighting game and DC fans alike. The demo only has three playable characters but Batman, Wonder Woman, and Lex all play differently enough to give you tastes of varying playstyles.
There were a few things that were immediately jarring to me as I played through the demo, however. As a fan of the fighting games that come from Capcom, Arc System Works, and Namco Bandai, the Mortal Kombat series never struck a chord with me. As such, I’m admittedly unfamiliar with the controls and movement of the MK fighting engine. I had assumed that a move input like “Left, Right, X” could be executed in a similar manner as Street Fighter’s “charge characters”. It seemed like the exact same input that I’d use for Guile’s Sonic Boom, for example. 15 minutes of failure later, I realized that I couldn’t hold back and have it count as the left input. I needed to tap left, and then tap right. There were more than a few things that I would need to get used to in order to play this game…
The “Clash” mechanic was an interesting way to change the flow of battle. If I’m being combo’d by an opponent, I could initiate a Clash. That would put both of us in a cinematic where we would wager an amount of our super meter against one another, with the person betting the most meter winning the Clash. If I had the amount of meter to do so, I could wager my full super bar every time I initiated a Clash, but that would put me at a disadvantage if I ever actually needed my super meter in battle. It’s a unique mechanic that I’m looking forward to seeing in competitive play (if they’ll use it in competitive play…) but I’m unsure how much I’d use it myself.
There was one thing that really bothered me about the Clashes, though. Wonder Woman has two “stances”. She has different moves based on which weapon she has out at the moment. Whenever a Clash happens, it always resets Wonder Woman back to her Golden Lasso. It was annoying, especially when I was intent on learning her sword and buckler moveset. I certainly hope that this gets changed if it was unintentional.
While I still have my reservations about the game, I’m still looking forward to the final product. It feels a bit slower (and arguably stiffer/clunkier) than the fighting games that I’m used to, but every fighting game should feel distinct from one another. When Injustice releases, I just need to keep an open mind and adapt. Maybe this will be the game from the Mortal Kombat team that wins me over.
Injustice: Gods Among Us will be available on April 16th.
