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You might want to keep your eyes on this one...

When it came to Injustice: Gods Among Us, my initial reaction was a resounding “meh”. Don’t get me wrong – I’m actually a huge fan of DC Comics, and fighting games for that matter. A few weeks ago, Injustice was a game that I couldn't care less about. I didn’t like the character designs. I wasn’t sure I wanted to learn a new fighting game. And I definitely thought the stage interactions were extremely gimmicky. However, now as I type this, I couldn’t be more pumped to get my hands on the game and explore its intricacies. So you might ask, “What changed your mind JD?” In a nutshell the answer is this – good marketing.

NeatherRealm and DC Comics have launched an interesting campaign in order to get fans riled up for Injustice. I admit, though I wasn’t all too interested in the game, I was curious to see how it would pan out over the span of time. I then noticed their “Injustice Battle Arena” campaign, where each week they would pit certain characters against each other in a tournament style bracket. While the results are staged to reflect fan votes, the footage they have provided thus far has done a good job demonstrating both the potential of the fighting engine and the immense amount of fan service within the game.

Each battle is a one-on-one bout between any two of the game's 24 character roster. DC fans will be excited to see a diverse (and cloneless) roster. Characters range from obvious choices like Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and Green Lantern, but the game also features more obscure choices like Raven and Black Adam. One fight that really demonstrated the potential of the game for me however was a match between Flash and The Joker.

The first thing I noticed about this fight was how true to form a character like Flash was. Known for being the “Fastest Man Alive”, he has quite a reputation to live up to. This is reflected in the game in a couple of ways. By analyzing the footage, the most apparent one is that his speed is reflected in quick, yet less damaging combo strings. It’s safe to assume that Flash has the fastest attack speed in the game, and will likely build up a lot of hits on the combo meter. 

Along with Flash’s swift attack speed, I also noticed that he has special attacks that allow him to speed across the battlefield. While the most optimal usage of this ability is a bit unclear to me, it seemed like you can use this to quickly close distance when fighting ranged opponents, and even execute full screen melee combos.

One of the coolest instances of Flash’s ability comes with a special attack that has him vibrate in place. Doing this move makes projectile attacks phase through Flash for a short period of time.  While minor and situational, this move also seems to have more uses than just phasing. For example, by the end of the fight, Flash does an extended combo on Joker and in between hits, uses the phase to seemingly cancel the animation and continue on with the combo. This was the first moment that got me to acknowledge that this game wasn’t just for show, but that there might be more depth than I gave it credit for.

Each of the videos in the “Injustice Battle Arena” has been entertaining in its own right, demonstrating many of the characters' insane special moves and combat abilities. And while it was cool, it still didn’t necessarily get me into the idea of the game. What did was DC’s tie-in comic, also titled Injustice, that sets up the story.

I won’t dive into spoiler territory here, but the story is shaping up to be one of DC’s finest – and that goes for all of its current New 52 comics. The basic premise of the game involves two sides, the Regime and the Insurgency. The regime, led by Superman, is out to control the world in order to stop humans from committing crime and disaster. The Insurgency is led by Batman, and is fighting to stop Superman from his quest for control. Fans of Superman might be dumbfounded to see that come to fruition, but to find out why, check out the comic. You may be in for a few surprises.

Along with some cool looking gameplay and a great story, Injustice is also touting a huge wealth of features and training options, perfect for a fighting game fan like me. Injustice seems to be an easy to learn, hard to master type of game. This happy medium should surely please many fans. People picking up the game just because of their love for all things DC will be able to play just fine, but those looking for a competitive experience have all the tools necessary.

I’ve made the early decision to try and learn Injustice to the best of my ability. It will be a long and frustrating road, but I cannot wait to dive in and learn what there is to learn about the game. I will even chronicle my progress here, so be on the lookout for that upon its release. Injustice: Gods Among Us is set to release on Xbox 360, Wii U and PlayStation 3 on April 16, 2013. A demo will be out on April 2nd for PS3 users, and April 3rd for 360 players.