Marvel may be beating DC in a lot of areas recently as most comic book fans and general geeks will say that stuff like The Avengers and even how Marvel is handling their comic books is leagues better than what DC has done. Now I’m not trying to ignite a mass fanboy war of some kind, but there will always be those who dig what Marvel does and in some ways it’s obvious that DC is lagging behind in some form. Whatever may have transpired in the past DC may be on the way to beating Marvel when it comes to one specific area: providing a good fighting video game.
A true surprise announcement, WB Interactive today announced Injustice: Gods Among Us. A new fighting game from NetherRealm Studios, the makers of Mortal Kombat, Injustice features our favorite DC heroes and villains doing battle against one another. It may sound like Injustice is merely an extension of Mortal Kombat or is a spiritual successor to MK vs. DC minus the MK quotient, but it seems like the game will have much more to offer us and could become one of the true surprises this generation.
So far the basics on Injustice is that it borrows the recent 2D plane based combat found in the last Mortal Kombat game but ratchets the action up considerably since folks like Superman are capable of dishing out more damage than Liu Kang. NetherRealm is still keeping a few gameplay elements close to their chest, but the game will feature different environmental interactions – both of the staged variety and other scenarios in which gamers can use the environment to their advantage to beat their opponent.
Even better, it appears that NetherRealm is really keen on taking a more outlandish approach to Injustice as the game will feature super moves. What exactly constitutes a super move in Injustice? Well how does Superman punching the Flash so hard that he exits the Earth’s atmosphere sound? Yeah, game could be exponentially badass if NetherRealm pushes the right buttons on what makes us geeks smile with glee.
NetherRealm is putting their own spin on the DC universe once again and so far I like what I see. With characters such as Batman, Superman, and the Flash sporting body armor as opposed to wearing tights the game has an edgy look to it that doesn’t look too silly. I’ll admit that I hope that the main Batman costume is modified a bit, but NetherRealm’s Ed Boon has already confirmed the inclusion of multiple costumes based on different eras of the DC universe.
What’s interesting about Injustice is that it’s slated for release next year on the PS3, Xbox 360, and Wii U. The inclusion of the Wii U is good news for potential owners of that platform, but the 2013 release date does in a way confirm that we won’t see a new MK game until 2014 – possibly on the next-gen platforms pending what WB Interactive desires. Previously it was assumed, or at least roughly planned, that a new MK game would accompany the forthcoming film that’s slated for release in 2013 but plans may have changed based on this most recent news. Either that or NetherRealm is receiving a massive staff upgrade to accommodate two core projects running concurrently.
Superhero based fighting games may not have had the best luck in the past as the offerings from Marvel either sucked or were cancelled, but Injustice looks like it may buck the trend. With an established developer at the helm that knows how to make fighting games and a good approach being taken thematically, Injustice may end up being the long sought after superhero brawler gamers have been waiting for.
Yes please. Though, to be fair, I am one of those people that did thoroughly enjoy MK vs. DC.