Injustice: Gods Among Us is a 2D fighting game from Mortal Kombat creator Ed Boon that seems to take the DC heroes part of Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe and turn it way past 11. It is a gorgeous, over the top free for all that pits DC’s top heroes vs their top villains in a fight to the not quite finish…you know, cause it is DC and has to be T rated and all.

I am a big fan of Mortal Kombat, particularly the new game and Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe so I was pretty excited to check out this new DC only fighting game. As mentioned above, the fact that it is DC limits the amount of gore and violence but what they lack in mature content they make up for in  batshit crazy action. I got to sit in on a theater demo of the game and while there was no hands on available what I saw made me super excited for this one.

During the demo we were shown two different fights. The first was between Superman and the Flash and the second was between Batman and Solomon Grundy (he was born on a Monday just as an aside). The two different fights highlighted the difference between types of fighters available and how their playstyle differs.  These break down into the ‘power’ and ‘gadget’ categories obviously in these two fights Superman and the Flash are power types whereas Batman and Grundy (who was christened on Tuesday) are gadget types.  This may not seem like a big difference on paper but in the game it makes a lot of difference in terms of how you play your character and what moves that character will have. In this way, the game breaks away from the Mortal Kombat tradition of having the same basic move sets with different specials.

The Superman/Flash fight took place in the Batcave and it really highlighted not just how nuts the powers are but also how destructable and interactive the backgrounds are in the game. Elements in the background being affected by the action on screen isn’t really new as it is a staple of fighting games but the depth and variety of interactions in this game definitely are unique. The background elements will interact with each character differently and, once used, will alter the occupied space for the rest of the round. One example of this came when Superman grabbed a generator from the Batcave’s ceiling and smashed it over the Flash’s head. That left dangling exposed wires overhead that Flash could then uppercut Superman into for a nice bit of electrocution.

Stage transistions are another feature of the backgrounds. We’ve seen these a fair amount in Mortal Kombat and Dead or Alive amongst others but here the stages do more than just drop from one level to another. Stage transitions here will switch to levels above, below and to the side of the original stage and offer a whole new set of background assessts with which to interact. The animations between these stages are pretty crazy too. In the Batman/Grundy (married on Wednesday) fight, Grundy (took ill Thursday) knocked Batman through several buildings to a new stage. This stage also featured a car that Batman slammed Grundy (grew worse on Friday) face first into the hood of and was then picked up by Grundy (died on Saturday) and slammed into Batman’s head. Obviously, the game is not going for any sense of realism in the damage department.

Nowhere is the lack of realism more evident than in the super moves the characters have. Superman’s super move had him punching the Flash INTO OUTER SPACE then flying to space and PUNCHING HIM BACK DOWN TO EARTH. This obviously hurt the Flash quite a bit. The Flash did HIS super move which involved him running around the earth (including over the ocean cause he is just that fast) to sucker punch Superman in the back of the head. That might sound like a bit more work than is strictly necessary but hell if you can do it then why not. Batman’s super move was much more down to earth but no less blistering as he pummled Grundy (buried on Sunday) into the ground with some impressive martial arts and gadgetry. Grundy (that was the end) retailiated with his super move that involved pulling cleavers out of his back and ultimately smashing a tombstone over Batman’s head.

Everything in this game is big and larger than life, much like you would expect from these sorts of characters. The characters confirmed so far are Batman, Superman, Wonderwoman, the Flash, Harley Quinn, and Solomon Grundy (born…okay I’ll stop).  With awhile until release, there is still a lot to learn about this game including the additional fighters but what I have seen so far has me really excited. Also, Kevin Conroy is voicing Batman so right there you now the game is legit. I am very excited for this one.