I am not your stereotypical video gamer. I can barely tell you the difference between King Kong and Donkey Kong, but I really do try to stay up to date with all things DC. Every so often I am blown away by a video game trailer I see on TV or online that makes me at least want to rent the game from either Redboxﾮ or buy it used from GameStopﾮ. I went with the latter route with the first iteration of the popular DC game Injustice: Gods Among Us when I first bought my Xbox 360. I knew had to find a game that could take the place of DC Universe online a game I loved to play when I had a PS3. This is all before I found out about the DCUO on the laptop and Xbox360 platforms, but I’ll save that game; my favorite game; for a different review.
Injustice 2 is a game I can’t really start discussing or breaking down until I first mention my love for Blizzard Entertainment’s Justice League Task Force for the Super Nintendo and SEGA Genesis. A game that I just bought again because I also found this device called a Retron 3 that plays NES, SNES, and Genesis games and I had to once again own a favorite game from my youth. JLTF had Batman, Superman, The Flash, Green Arrow, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Cheetah, Despero, Darkseid and everyone’s doppelganger fighting one on one for supremacy.
I watched the Injustice 2 Revel Trailer three times. The first time it gave me goosebumps and I was pretty blown away by how cool the graphics were and then the voice in my head said, “those are the cutaway scenes you idiot!” “That’s not the gameplay graphics, come on Andru, don’t be so naive.” And although the cutaway scenes are beautiful and invoke DC lore We can only hope that someday soon gameplay graphics will be as amazing and crisp as their introductory cut scenses, its almost there but not quite yet. The cutaways scenes on the first Injustice game were just as sleek if I remember correctly. The second time I was trying to write this and wanted to make sure I soaked up every detail. The third time I realized the fight scenes and melee at the end were not big enough for my liking. I want bigger action scenes, I mean these are literal gods colliding and we need to feel each hit.
I like the idea of bringing in many more playable character to this sequel. The trailer itself looks great. The different skins or uniforms to select from on the first game kept the game fresh longer with only a limited number of character from which to choose. They will probably have to shelve a few characters from the first game in order to make room for new ones in this sequel just to shake things up and keep it different, but there is the hope they will return in the form of DLC. This ultimately looks like a fun button smasher for DC Universe fans.
Now Let’s talk about that trailer.
I did enjoy watching the fisticuffs fly between Superman and the Flash. Flash has been one of my favorite comic book characters and superheroes since I was about 12. I plan on meeting John Wesley Shipp this August 21, 2016 at TerrifiCon. He is the original Flash and Earth-2 Golden Age Flash/Jay Garrick on the CW’s The Flash. I think the voiceover is an allusion to the last incarnation of Alfred Pennyworth we saw, played by Jeremy Irons in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. It sounds just like Ironse and the tone is eerily similar to that of Batman or Alfred’s, although I question why Batman would be providing his own commentary if he is in the action, therefore I am going with the latter.
Specifically, the trailer starts out with presumably Batman or Alfred doing an ominous voiceover while Superman and The Flash beat the heck out of each other. They trade having the upper hand against each other exchanging blows. Out of nowhere Batman appears to take charge of The Flash and sucker punches him in the back! First he watches Doomsday hand a beat down to Wonder Woman and Superman in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and just stands there watching from doing nothing to help, now he’s sucker punching Barry Allen (or is it Wally West, I can’t tell), what’s shocking turn can we expect from the Dark Knight next? Is Ben Affleck going to call in Ron Marz to write part of the next Batman solo movie? Maybe give it an Emerald Twilight arc? OK, I am going a bit off the rails and will have to save that for a future article.
My favorite part of the trailer is when Aquaman’s trident goes flying through the air and knocks down Batman. Batman get up and armors-up and glows green with; I presume; a Green Lantern ring or maybe Kryptonite, but Superman hits him from behind knocking him over. Superman’s eyes glow red as he is about to use his heat vision beams to fry Batman, but out of nowhere Superman’s cousin Kara (Supergirl) blast him with her own heat vision. They all stand up and attack one another and the trailer ends with the presumed melee about to begin.
I am definitely looking forward to playing Injustice 2 after seeing the trailers. As I mentioned in one of my tweets, the characters that I think deserve to be in Injustice 2 are Commander Steel (Citizen Steel to some), Booster Gold, Captain Atom, Dr. Fate, Firestorm, Red Tornado and Hawkman. Recently a gameplay trailer was released during San Diego Comic Con and featured actual gameplay with Supergirl versus Atrocitus and Blue Beetle versus Wonder Woman. In the end my ultimate suggestion for NetherRelam Studios is to make a ton of Downloadable Packs with more heroes and villains to keep the options fresh and the fans happy. But what do I know, I am sure Injustice 2 will do just fine coming out before the Wonder Woman and Justice League movies continuing to build on the massive Fandom DC has been generating lately. Stay tuned to GWW for more Injustice 2 news and reveals and until next time, when we figure out how many Robins there are.
Written by: Andew Squires