Injustice: Gods Among Us - Review

It’s hard to be unbiased when dealing with a game that includes characters from theDC Universe, most of them very deep to my heart. But, I put personal bias aside for The Avengers, so I think I can manage. Now, before we begin. I will wholeheartedly admit that I am no fighting game fanatic, unlike some people I know. When it came to my childhood, I was very partial to SoulCalibur and occasionally Mortal Kombat if it was available to me. Thanks to SoulCalibur IV and Mortal Kombat: Deception and Armageddon though, I had pretty much lost touch with both properties, and Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe and SoulCalibur V didn’t do a single thing to sway me otherwise. But, prior to SoulCalibur V, was Mortal Kombat (2011), or MK9. Mortal Kombat brought the franchise back to its roots, and nicely rebooted the franchise with a re-telling of the original three games. So, when NetherRealm announced that they would be making a new title solely focused on the DC Universe by itself, I was somewhere between curious and wary.

The mediocrity of MK vs. DC attributed to both feelings. I was curious to see if they could take what they had established with it and greatly improve and fine-tune it, and on the other hand I was worried it might be an MK9 clone or just MK vs. DC without the MK, which wouldn’t be an improvement. Thankfully, the Injustice Battle Arena matches hosted by WB Games had impressed me, and after talking about it with friends, I was convinced to buy it. Well, not just buy it... pre-order the Collector’s Edition.

The backstory is more touched upon in the comic.

Now, I want to be fair and judge the title on its own merit but comparing it to MK9 is somewhat inevitable, so I’ll touch on that at some point. Injustice: Gods Among Us from a narrative standpoint chronicles the events of an alternative universe where The Joker has infected Superman with Scarecrow’s fear toxin, which made him harbor the delusion that he was in battle with Doomsday, before the effects wear off and he realizes he had been battling Lois, killing her and her unborn child. Upon this moment of grief and hysteria, Superman murders The Joker and institutes martial law of the entire planet under his rule to eliminate any potential crime. Batman, upon accidentally stumbling into this alternate dimension along with the Joker, joins the Insurgency, a group of rebels on a crusade to end the Regime; Superman’s dictatorship.

Given that the game is not scripted by any experienced DC Comics writer, it’s impressive how well-crafted and balanced the story is, albeit a brief one. But, considering most titles in this genre never bother with any semblance of a storyline, it’s appreciated here. NetherRealm also made the right decision in bringing in DC’s Chief Creative Officer, Geoff Johns for referral and advice for accuracy to the established lore these characters hail from.

Now, getting to comparisons, the Injustice fighting structure is as you’d expect, fairly similar to that of MK9, but with some major contrasts. For one, battles are not split into rounds, fights instead having two health bars given to both combatants, and there is a short break once the initial bar is diminished, with no damage allowed to bleed over into the latter. This allows players to better prepare and strategize when and when not to utilize their character powers, specials, or a stage transition. Another contrast is the environmental interaction, such as knocking your opponent into the Batcomputer sitting in the background if you happen to bring your opponent near context sensitive area, or slamming a car onto your opponent if your character has that kind of strength.

New 52 Batman is my fave. Collector's Edition exclusive.

There are enough elements in Injustice for it to speak for itself and not be overshadowed by NetherRealm’s previous game. Characters are varied and I don’t feel starved for a good roster, especially when no character seems to branch outside of what their styles and limitations and power or lack of have been in the comics. However, even while I may have just said that Injustice holds up as its own game, I’d be cheating myself I wasn’t honest... Injustice could honestly afford to be a little more like Mortal Kombat, and not necessarily from a general gameplay perspective. 

MK9 seemed to be bursting with content, especially in the wake of Marvel vs. Capcom 3, which offers barebones. Not that Injustice is comparable to it, it’s just... where’s the Tag-Team mode? Where are the non-DLC unlockable characters and other content? S.T.A.R. Labs missions are a nice distraction and are better than typical fighting game mission modes with some interesting criteria, but an Elseworld’s Finest Flash skin doesn’t seem worth all that effort and time. Also, characters need to be balanced, but that’s kind of a given with any new fighting game on the market.

240 Missions, not including DLC like Red Son.

Regime Superman is thankfully no Shao Kahn, but I’m not surprised that he still remains a somewhat obnoxious end fight for Classic Battle mode, the equivalent to Arcade Mode. As far as properties go, I think NetherRealm could make this into a franchise, I wouldn’t mind a sequel to this a few years down the road. Overall, the game may leave a little something to be desired to a non-fan, but it’ll be pretty minute, but there’s quite a lot of fanservice for myself and friends. So there’s not THAT much to complain about, but there’s definitely room for improvement. For what we got though, I’m happy about it. 8.5 out of 10.

Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time - Review

If I’m to be completely honest, the PlayStation 2 is my favorite system. It just has the most enjoyable library of games that are closest to me. Final Fantasy X, Kingdom Hearts, Shadow of the Colossus, Dragon Quest VIII, the Dragon Ball Z Budokai’s and Budokai Tenkaichi’s, God of War, Okami... Metal Gear Solid 3, I could spend all night writing a list of great titles for this particular system. The point is, one of the many gems to spawn from to spawn from the sixth generation was Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus, Sucker Punch’s first great success. The cel-shaded cartoon adventure-stealth platformer followed the exploits of the Cooper Gang and their battle against the Fiendish Five. Its success spawned Sly 2: Band of Thieves and Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves, which had seemingly concluded the series; as Sucker Punch later moved onto their current franchise: inFamous.

Headed by Sanzaru Games; who previously worked on The Sly Collection for the PlayStation 3, Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time brings back the Cooper Gang for another adventure. After the events of Sly 3, titular character himself has settled into civilian life with Carmelita, having made that decision at the end of the previous installment. But, when the pages of the Thievius Raccoonus seem to be going blank, the gang deduces that a time-traveler is altering the past in order to reap the benefits, and is erasing the Cooper family history. The Cooper Gang travel through multiple periods in history to save the Cooper ancestors and restore the natural order and all that good stuff.

Now, the Sly trilogy was great for the time and still holds up. Sly 3 was a definite conclusion to said trilogy, so theorizing any kind of future for the franchise ran the risk of undermining the events of Sly 3 no matter how hard you may have tried to avoid it. Much like Indiana Jones 4, this is a case of fans wanting another installment even if they may not realize just how much they don’t need it. Also, like Indy 4, given what I’ve just said, while both had the potential for an interesting narrative, especially given the time between installments, they both fumble. Now, neither franchise is by no means deeply philosophical or even remotely complex, but they’re carried by memorable casts and colorful characters. So, it’s only natural we’d like to see what they’ve been up to in all this downtime.

So, we know Sly 4 wasn’t going to have much of an interesting call to action when compared the original three. That was kind of inevitable. The concept is there but there’s not much in the way of execution. Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, we can discuss other things. Aesthetically-speaking, the game is vibrant and colorful, and uses the time periods to its advantage, including but not limited to Feudal Japan, The Old West and Medieval Europe. Most of the characters, especially the Cooper family, have impressive new designs that translate well for seventh generation, even if we are at the end of the PlayStation 3’s life cycle. Murray and Carmelita’s new looks however, leave something to be desired.

From a mechanic standpoint, this installment is neither as smooth nor as balanced as its predecessor (Ninja Spire Jump, lookin’ at you.) but it is not without redeeming qualities. As far as most platformers go these days, it’s above average, and while the Cooper ancestor abilities might not have been as creative as I might’ve liked, they do vary gameplay well enough throughout the main story. I just wish we could’ve gotten something beyond climbing a bit faster or jumping a bit farther than usual. As far as the voice acting goes, all the cast (except Carmelita, of course) returns to the fold and none of them phone it in. The humor, while not as clever, does invoke a few chuckles. So overall, the general gameplay is solid; it’s just not as good as what we’ve had before.

Now, onto the game’s most definitive detriment: events. What I mean by that is instances of gameplay outside of the normal jumping and running and pickpocketing, etc. For example, the dance with Carmelita in Sly 2 or the very entertaining ship battles in Sly 3. Those were fun. The ones here... aren’t irredeemable, so much as lazy. And while I do appreciate variation for Bentley’s hacking and a pretty funny nod to 80’s training montages... why am I using SIXAXIS controls in 2013? Also, that final boss fight. Really, Sanzaru? That’s it? That’s the most effort you could muster? Now, it may seem like I dislike this game, but that isn’t the case. This is an enjoyable title, especially if you love the characters. It makes mistakes, but they’re forgivable here and there. When it’s good, it’s very enjoyable. For new players, I’d recommended The Sly Collection instead. For fans of the series, I’d say it’s worth another adventure just for novelty’s sake. Also, the cross-save capability for the Vita is greatly appreciated. 7 out of 10.