Gods among us

Spent 2 hours watching all cut scenes of the new fighting game, Injustice: Gods among us (henceforth known as Injustice). This 2D, 3D rendered background, fighting game is developed by the same studio that brought you Mortal Kombat 9-  NetherRealm studios. I was blown away with Mortal Kombat 9; the storyline and fatalities was well done. I'm no DC fanboy but based on what they did for Mortal Kombat 9, I had high hopes for Injustice.

For those who are wondering, "What in the world is Injustice?" Here's the trailer:

I do not own a Xbox or a Playstation 3 so the only way for me to get to the game is through YouTube. Face it, I don't really enjoy playing 1 vs 1 fighting games as much (more on that below) so a compilation of cut scenes illustrating the story is good enough for me. 

In my opinion, the storyline was done nicely and I must say that I enjoyed the corny moments in the script. The story is set in an alternate DC universe where the Joker tricked Superman into activating a nuclear device which leveled Metropolis. A notable casualty was Lois Lane and this drove Superman over the age. Superman killed the Joker and over the next 5 years, sets up a dictatorship to rule over mankind. Heroes and villains of the DC universe either sided with Superman or were killed. The main opposition to this regime is the Batman. The Batman of this universe transported other DC from another universe to help stop superman and this is where the story begins. Go check the video on YouTube- it's worth the 2 hours if you are interested in the world of DC.

"If I had a gaming console would I have bought and played this game? " The answer will be no. I like the storyline but injustice is still in essence, a fighting game. Don't get me wrong, I do not hate the  fighting game genre; I like to play fighting games occasionally. I grew up playing fighting games in the arcades, Street fighter, Tekken, Virtual fighter, Soulcalibur etc. 

So why the apparent 'hate' now you might ask. For starters, I feel that fighting games are way too competitive a gaming genre. There's a lot of dedication involved- learning special moves, combos, generic fighting plan, attack strings etc. Once you get those down pat for a character- you usually have go through the same process for another character. Other genres, which also possess competitive elements, does not punish you the same way as fighting games do. Look at the tempo of fighting games. It's all about tempo, tempo, tempo. You got to keep the pressure up or you are toast.  Add in a time limit and you have a very stressful environment to perform. All you have is 30 sec- 60 sec to prove your "worth". The chance of a comeback mid round is really slim and if you fail to use that window of opportunity, you get thrashed.

Fast paced action with a slim chance of a comeback sounds like a good recipe for stress.  I play video games to relax, not to put on additional stress. So clearly fighting games are not my gaming genre of choice thus spending money to buy the game might be a waste. However, if you past me a controller while playing a fighting game- I will still pick it up and play the game with you. I'm social like that.

EDIT (28 2252 Apr 2013)-- added Injustice trailer from YouTube.