The story mode’s primary fault is that its reach exceeds its artist’s grasp. Closeups on main characters look good, but when the in-engine cutscenes attempt to depict clashing armies or sweeping cityscapes, bland textures and shoddily modeled buildings erode the visual impact a bit, and neither the PS4’s or PC’s beefier internals do nothing to change that fact.
The meat of the game sits in Story Mode, which sees you jump between characters as you explore a narrative depicting a tyrannical Superman and a well-intentioned Batman. It offers some solid comic book storytelling that’s brought to life thanks to a terrific cast of voice actors who have all played their respective roles in other forms of media.
Highly cinematic storytelling.
The campaign mode is actually one of the better fighting campaign modes around with it taking around six to eight hours to complete - far longer than most fighting games on the market. And whilst the story on paper sounds crazy, it does a pretty good job of explaining why these characters end up fighting with each other and provides some context to the gameplay.
Speaking of improvements, the PlayStation 4 version is noticeably better looking than the PlayStation 3 version. The environment is far more crisp and clear, with the characters looking better than ever. The 60 FPS also helps with inputs and timing, since everything is a lot more fluid this time around. Mind you, these aren’t huge differences, but more than enough to tell the difference between versions.
The PlayStation 4 version sports a visual upgrade, bringing the game up to 1080p while retaining the 60 frames per second of the current-gen versions. Animations are a bit smoother and textures got an upgrade.
With a learning curve this lenient, you'd think the game would be a breeze even on demanding difficulty settings. The truth is that Injustice can and will destroy you and everything you love, given the opportunity. When a stiffer difficult rating is selected, one slipup allows the computer to grind you into a thick jelly by using endless combination strikes and special moves. As you can likely imagine, blocking and combo mastery are paramount in this title.
On the PS4, Injustice Gods Among Us is a very impressive looking game, especially the upscaling of the textures. It is also oozing with DC Comics goodness and when you first boot-up the game, you immediately know that you are in for a treat. All the characters look like their comic book counterparts which really helps in the immersion factor. Some characters look a little over developed such as Superman and the Flash with Wonder Woman’s breast size looking more like Power Girl opposed to our favourite Amazon Warrior.
The most important thing is that the game still plays very well, with environmental interactions a key part of controlling the battle. Even better, it still has one of the best story modes in a fighter to date. Lengthy, full of fan-service and genuinely intriguing to experience, Injustice really is packed with content, before you even hit the online arena.
But despite not being impressed with the upgraded look of the Injustice, it’s still a blast to play. The story mode cribs all the right moves from 2011’s Mortal Kombat, developed by the same team. You’ll weave in and out of different character perspectives with each chapter, giving you access to fan favorites like Batman, Wonder Woman and Green Lantern. The alternate Earth storyline is a unique tale just for the game, but feels right at home within the Multiverse approach that DC Comics is well-known for.
Running at 1080p at such a high frame rate makes all the models and animations appear more vivid. I’m not one to judge on visuals that much, but Injustice on the PS4 is pretty gorgeous. To go along with the new DualShock 4 controller, the game allows the quick time events featured in the story mode and some S.T.A.R. Lab missions to be done using the touch pad. I actually found it more accurate and easier to execute by swiping on the touch pad than using the buttons.
What really stands out is the switch between a battle and a cutscene. It became quickly obvious that the cutscenes were just moved from one media to another without any polishing up of the video.
Injustice: Gods Among Us has a wonderful story, with little to no flaws. The cutscenes transition perfectly into fight sequences, and it allows for the player to feel emotion behind their fights.