Injustice: The plot is just plain garbage. SPOILERS

[Tanthius]

So, as a long time fighting game fan and comic nerd I had very high hopes for this game following the story in MK 2011. I knew they had an opportunity to create something fantastic with this merger and even though it wasn't great the crossover game wasn't bad.

(Spoilers starting now!) Now the plot was interesting and had me going for a pretty long way into the story, until the moment Lex Luthor tried to shoot Superman with the kryptonite laser. That exact moment was when my suspension of belief in the characters on screen came to grinding halt and I realized what was coming. To this point, Shazam had been playing for Superman's badguy team, which was pretty odd considering he's supposed to be the most morally incorruptible character in DC, but I let it slide cause he at least seemed conflicted. But when he watches Lex get murdered by Superman and just watches, doesn't do anything but watch a man get murdered... Who writes this stuff? Right there they could have borrowed from Kingdom Come and set up a finale between Shazam and Superman for the fate of the world and it would have been fantastic and well placed in the story, but instead what happens next is exactly why DC has problems.

Instead of a cool plot finale or twist. The big finish is... Superman vs Superman. That's what it all boiled down to, Superman vs Superman. Instead of trying to write something creative, the big answer to everyone's problems was just to bring the good Superman over to curb stomp the bad one after he runs a train on Black Adam and Doomsday. How is this interesting or even inspiring to anyone? This is a consistent problem at DC too. 99.9% of stories involving Superman end with him simply being too powerful for the bad guy. No plot twists, nothing entertaining, just Superman wins cause... Superman. Only this time, it makes everything laughable because alternate universe Batman could have saved me 4 hours of my time by just getting Superman from the start, after all that's all it took. He literally just comes in and wins the day without breaking a sweat. I actually really like Superman, at least on paper. I like the character he's supposed to be, but the way DC writes him is just garbage. Thanks Injustice, thanks for being exactly like every other DC crossover a.k.a. Our worlds at War.

On a brighter note, pretty good game, story aside.

 

[shrekfan246]

On a brighter note, pretty good game, story aside.

Now, I'm admittedly nothing near what you'd call a fighting game aficionado, but I always figured that if you were playing something not BlazBlue for the story, you were doing it wrong? They're not exactly well-known for compelling narratives, even in the relatively bleak morass that is video games.

 

[Kopikatsu]

No offense OP, but I don't know what you were expecting. Like you even admitted, Superman just makes everything he touches total shit. He's too powerful to be a part of any conflict if you want the conflict to be interesting. That's why Doctor Strange and Doctor Fate just state that they're so busy dealing with cosmic horrors that would Total Party Kill all of Earth's heroes if they were ever defeated, which is why they can't deal with Shocker's latest plot. That's where Superman should be, traveling the universe and dealing with universe-level threats, like the Green Lanterns as opposed to sitting on Earth, putzing around until he can pick on a few normals armed with handguns.

 

[Tanthius]

On a brighter note, pretty good game, story aside.

Now, I'm admittedly nothing near what you'd call a fighting game aficionado, but I always figured that if you were playing something not BlazBlue for the story, you were doing it wrong? They're not exactly well-known for compelling narratives, even in the relatively bleak morass that is video games.

Mortal Kombat had a great story, it was amazingly entertaining. I guess they set the bar too high.

@ Kopikatsu, I think you're right. I guess I've been letting Johns run on JL since new 52 started get my hopes up that Superman won't just win everything every time. Pretty much everything Superman touches does turn to shit...

 

[Galletea]

I think they've probably done the best they could have with an unbalanced roster of characters. Having to give people motives to fight each other is never going to give you the best story, but most people won't be buying a superhero fighting game for the story. They're still producing comics for that.

 

[Gatx]

On a brighter note, pretty good game, story aside.

Now, I'm admittedly nothing near what you'd call a fighting game aficionado, but I always figured that if you were playing something not BlazBlue for the story, you were doing it wrong? They're not exactly well-known for compelling narratives, even in the relatively bleak morass that is video games.

They were pushing the story pretty hard in a lot of the promotional material so I wouldn't fault anyone for expecting something out of it. Also at least it doesn't seem like it's a bad story because it's a barely there fighting game story, but a problem inherent with the source material (or lack of creativity on the part of people working with it).

No offense OP, but I don't know what you were expecting. Like you even admitted, Superman just makes everything he touches total shit. He's too powerful to be a part of any conflict if you want the conflict to be interesting. That's why Doctor Strange and Doctor Fate just state that they're so busy dealing with cosmic horrors that would Total Party Kill all of Earth's heroes if they were ever defeated that they can't deal with Shocker's latest plot. That's where Superman should be, traveling the universe and dealing with universe-level threats, like the Green Lanterns as opposed to sitting on Earth, putzing around until he can pick on a few normals armed with handguns.

I think he was expecting Shazam, aka Captain Marvel, to be the one to showdown with Superman.

 

[itsthesheppy]

Well, it's a fighting game story. So there's that. But there's nothing that says a fighting game story can't be good, but it will be limited by the gameplay's limitations.

That being said you have a point. Superman doesn't do anything at the finale of the game that he couldn't feasibly do if he was warped in right away. You could argue that if he had the world may have been less accepting of Evil Superman's defeat, but honestly, from a practical standpoint, the good guys win when they teleport superman onto the scene.

I was actually really disappointed that Shazam was so easily beguiled. Yes, Billy Batson is 10 years old (which makes his murder in the game a lot more powerful than I think many people will appreciate) but when he's in the form of Captain Marvel he's supposed to have the 'Wisdom of Solomon'. Yet he's little more than a child with superpowers.

Alsi, the way Superman kills him makes little sense. Silences him with ice breath and hits him with eye lasers? Captain Marvel is about as impervious as Superman, and about as strong. In fact, Captain Marvel's powers are magical in nature, which is a weakness of Superman's; Supes has always been more vulnerable to magic.

All in all, it was a poorly written plot arc and I'm with you. Captain Marvel got totally punked out, and it seemed like the writers had no idea how to write the character; odd, since they were clearly working off a robust understanding of the DC universe in many other ways.

 

[Tanthius]

On a brighter note, pretty good game, story aside.

Now, I'm admittedly nothing near what you'd call a fighting game aficionado, but I always figured that if you were playing something not BlazBlue for the story, you were doing it wrong? They're not exactly well-known for compelling narratives, even in the relatively bleak morass that is video games.

They were pushing the story pretty hard in a lot of the promotional material so I wouldn't fault anyone for expecting something out of it. Also at least it doesn't seem like it's a bad story because it's a barely there fighting game story, but a problem inherent with the source material (or lack of creativity on the part of people working with it).

No offense OP, but I don't know what you were expecting. Like you even admitted, Superman just makes everything he touches total shit. He's too powerful to be a part of any conflict if you want the conflict to be interesting. That's why Doctor Strange and Doctor Fate just state that they're so busy dealing with cosmic horrors that would Total Party Kill all of Earth's heroes if they were ever defeated that they can't deal with Shocker's latest plot. That's where Superman should be, traveling the universe and dealing with universe-level threats, like the Green Lanterns as opposed to sitting on Earth, putzing around until he can pick on a few normals armed with handguns.

I think he was expecting Shazam, aka Captain Marvel, to be the one to showdown with Superman.

Yeah, a slightly new, almost fresh version of the Kingdom Come showdown lands in your lap about 4 hours in and they... (More Spoilers!) Have Superman kill Shazam with heat vision while choking him with one hand. There is no fight, he just flies over to him while he's talking and kills him. Because what everyone really wanted was 2 Superman's fighting it out instead. And by fighting it out, I meant the good one curb stomping everything.

 

[Tanthius]

Well, it's a fighting game story. So there's that. But there's nothing that says a fighting game story can't be good, but it will be limited by the gameplay's limitations.

That being said you have a point. Superman doesn't do anything at the finale of the game that he couldn't feasibly do if he was warped in right away. You could argue that if he had the world may have been less accepting of Evil Superman's defeat, but honestly, from a practical standpoint, the good guys win when they teleport superman onto the scene.

I was actually really disappointed that Shazam was so easily beguiled. Yes, Billy Batson is 10 years old (which makes his murder in the game a lot more powerful than I think many people will appreciate) but when he's in the form of Captain Marvel he's supposed to have the 'Wisdom of Solomon'. Yet he's little more than a child with superpowers.

Alsi, the way Superman kills him makes little sense. Silences him with ice breath and hits him with eye lasers? Captain Marvel is about as impervious as Superman, and about as strong. In fact, Captain Marvel's powers are magical in nature, which is a weakness of Superman's; Supes has always been more vulnerable to magic.

All in all, it was a poorly written plot arc and I'm with you. Captain Marvel got totally punked out, and it seemed like the writers had no idea how to write the character; odd, since they were clearly working off a robust understanding of the DC universe in many other ways.

Yeah, I was blown away by the one handed choke death. I guess you could argue that Shazam wasn't fighting back, or wasn't trying but he was being murdered... Shazam is as strong and arguably more durable than Superman because he can suffer massive injuries that would kill non-magic beings. He was turned inside out once by a tesseract bomb and his powers popped him back to normal, but it still almost killed him.

What angered me the most though was that as soon as I saw Shazam fail to stand up to him after murdering Luthor... I knew we were about to see Superman fanboyism at its worst. My gut sank and I knew the good Superman was going to come in and save the day by himself. Every DC story ends like this, and it gets more depressing every time. Darkseid attacking? Call the Justice Lea... Oh wait just get Superman. Starro is back, call the... just get Superman. A giant Kryptonite Sorcerer is ravaging the city, who cares! Superman still wins! Unless he's bad Superman, then he gets roflstomped.

 

[hazabaza1]

Sorry, but any setting that has a character called "Shazam" that gets his super powers literally by saying "shazam" I'm going to call it fucking stupid.

 

[Kenbo Slice]

So you hate the plot because Superman killed Shazam? I really liked the plot. Even if Shazam could beat Superman, it still didn't murder the plot for me.

 

[Kopikatsu]

I think he was expecting Shazam, aka Captain Marvel, to be the one to showdown with Superman.

The only person I could see ever going toe to toe with Superman that isn't a Kryptonian is...well...nobody, really. Mongul, Darkseid, and Black Adam have all given Superman a run for his money before, but Superman explicitly holds back against pretty much every opponent as it is. Whenever he 'cuts loose', then he wins. The only time that he didn't win was against Doomsday (Who is Kryptonian), and Superboy Prime (Also Kryptonian.)

 

[Tanthius]

So you hate the plot because Superman killed Shazam? I really liked the plot. Even if Shazam could beat Superman, it still didn't murder the plot for me.

I didn't even mention this in my original post. So no, this is not why. The plot was murdered when the big answer to the entire plot was go get Superman. That's it, that was all it took to win, get the good Superman. What is the point of even having a Justice League when 99.9% of the time, go get Superman is all it takes. This is literally worse than DBZ for it's anti-climactic predictable hero worship. I actually find DBZ entertaining, but Superman makes Goku look like a low powered chump. I call that boring.

 

[itsthesheppy]

Sorry, but any setting that has a character called "Shazam" that gets his super powers literally by saying "shazam" I'm going to call it fucking stupid.

Technically the character's name is Captain Marvel, but they can't call him that because of lawyers. Shazam is just the magic word he uses.

 

[Fappy]

Honestly, I can't really think of a super hero video game that had a good story. They are usually fun, but they tend to be poorly done rehashes of old crossover stories. MUA 2's rendition of Civil War was somehow even stupider than the actual event.

 

[Maximum Bert]

So what is the explanation that Harley Quinn can go toe to toe with Superman along with all the other super powerless characters?

As for the plot havent played the game so dont know but I am expecting an entertaining ride and just to pop my brain on the side while I play through. Going to wait until its cheap before I buy it though I dont think I will be playing the game much after the story and challenge modes are completed but I could be wrong it could grow on me. Does it have an online pass?

 

[Tom Waits' hat]

Why are you looking for a plot in a fighting game. I guess that's one of the reason why I'm not a fan of fighting games.

 

[Smooth Operator]

Well considering it's NetherRealm Studios they should have made something decent after MK9 campaign turned out brilliant (for a fighting game anyway, fastest kid on the short buss let's say).

But then again the genre is know for being spoon deep and more then that everyone who had their hands on Injustice was saying this is as bad as it gets.

 

[Gearhead mk2]

It has Superman. The only time Superman is anything other than a god-mode Sue is when they're exploring his character and the challenges he faces as he struggles to figure out who, what and where he should be or when the downsides of living in a world made of cardboard come in. But this is a fighting game, so he has to... well, fight. And that instantly breaks the story.