INJUSTICE 2 : LEGENDARY EDITION – CODEX

About the game:-
ABOUT THIS GAME
Power up and build the ultimate version of your favourite DC legends in INJUSTICE 2.
•EVERY BATTLE DEFINES YOU: With every match you’ll earn gear to equip, customise and evolve your roster.
•A NEW THREAT RISES: Picking up where Injustice left off, Batman struggles against Superman’s regime, as a new threat appears that will put Earth’s very existence at risk.
•THE BEST OF DC: Choose from the biggest DC Universe roster ever and battle across iconic locations in epic-scale battles.
•BUILT BY NETHERREALM: Developers of the best-selling and critically acclaimed MORTAL KOMBAT franchise.

INJUSTICE™ 2 – LEGENDARY EDITION

Power up and build the ultimate version of your favorite DC legends in INJUSTICE 2 – winner of IGN’s best fighting game of 2017.
•ALL DOWNLOADABLE CONTENT CHARACTERS: Includes 10 additional characters and 5 Premiere Skins – including Hellboy and TMNT.
•EVERY BATTLE DEFINES YOU: With every match you’ll earn gear to equip, customize and evolve your roster.
•A NEW THREAT RISES: Picking up where Injustice left off, Batman struggles against Superman’s regime, as a new threat appears that will put Earth’s very existence at risk.
•THE BEST OF DC: Choose from the biggest DC Universe roster ever and battle across iconic locations in epic scale battles.
•BUILT BY NETHERREALM: Developers of the best-selling and critically acclaimed MORTAL KOMBAT franchise.

REVIEW:-
The opening to Injustice 2 is almost identical to the animated movie Superman: Unbound, itself an adaptation of the comic book arc Superman: Brainiac. It shows a young Supergirl escaping the destruction of Krypton by Brainiac and arriving on Earth after Superman – and into the middle of the mess created by the first game. Superman turning into an authoritarian dictator is a common theme in DC lore and, unlike the movies, Injustice 2 is sensible enough to borrow visuals designs, story cues, and even fighting moves from the comics and cartoons. The only downside is that the sprawling story doesn’t make the least bit of sense, as the excuses for why only two people are ever fighting at once become ever more contrived. The script is very clunky too, which is a particular shame given the incredible effort that’s gone into the facial animation. Plus the excellent voice cast that includes a number of veterans from the Justice League Unlimited cartoon. NetherRealm has always been rightly mocked for their inability to do faces, but the animation here is some of the best we’ve ever seen in a straight action game. It is inconsistent though, with lots of unintentional overacting, but even then few other games have ever managed to look this good. The efforts are a little undermined by the garish art design though, with some very ugly outfits and strange takes on well-known characters. But we’ll get to our bigger issue with the costumes in a minute

Just as impressive as the visuals is how technical a fighter this is. Warner Bros. clearly have one eye on the eSports crowd, and this has encouraged NetherRealm to add far more layers of depth than we’d expect from a game with such a mainstream licence. The best thing is that it manages to stay accessible throughout, by not only ensuring that anyone can play using the basic controls but ensuring it has an in-depth tutorial that explains everything properly and with examples. For fighting game novices you can get by just using the three main attack buttons. When you get used to that you can move onto the throw, and the interact button that lets you use pieces of scenery as projectiles or to smash your opponent’s face into. Each character gets a super move, powered by a separate power meter, but they also all have a unique gimmick, which varies from Batman having a collection of little robot bats that fly around him to Wonder Woman calling upon a random buff from the gods (literally). From there you can start to learn some of the special moves, most of which are very simple and often involve just a quarter circle or back and forwards motion plus one button press. Then you learn the move that knocks your opponent through the edge of the arena, resulting in a hilariously over-the-top cut scene that has them being smashed through buildings or accosted by cameoing supervillains. But even that’s only scratching the surface. The burn meter allows you to power-up special moves, and extend the size of a combo, by sacrificing a bit of your super meter. That’s easier to pull off than it sounds, but by then you’re deep down the rabbit hole that continues on with bounce cancels, roll escapes, air escapes, and other even more obscure techniques that are there for the hardcore but more casual players can remain in happy ignorance of.

You could argue there are no big new ideas in terms of the fighting system, but that doesn’t take anything away from how well thought out and enjoyable Injustice 2 is. In fact, the most unique idea in the game is probably the one we’re least keen on. One of the central gimmicks is that you earn loot with each fight and use it to customise your character with armour and weapons that increase your stats. The stat bonuses don’t count in ranked matches, but they’re on by default in unranked fights and the option to turn them off is easily missed and has to be agreed on by both players. Frankly, it all seems an unnecessary complication, that can easily lead to accusations of cheating and unbalanced characters. It also makes no sense in the context of most of the heroes (why does Superman need armour?) and prevents having proper representations of iconic costumes from the characters’ histories. As long as you’re careful the gear system doesn’t take anything away from the game, it just doesn’t add to it either. Although it does at least offer extra incentive to play the single-player some more, as the best place to get more gear is in a separate mode called The Multiverse. Here you can complete randomly-generated challenges for specific gear and, much like SoulCalibur, these add special limitations or rules such as the screen blanking out or hidden traps.

In Short: Probably the best single-player experience ever in a fighting game, on top of being an extremely accessible and highly technical multiplayer brawler.

 Pros: Multi-layered combat system that’s very easy to pick up, with plenty of varied characters. Excellent story campaign, with The Multiverse mode for added longevity. Excellent graphics. 

Cons: Apart from an excuse to keep grinding for loot the gear system adds very little of value. The plot and script are pretty nonsensical. Art design sometimes seems a bit off brand.

Score: 9/10