Fights With Actual Stakes
Who would win in a fight is the classic comic book argument. Most crossover battles end up feeling shallow. Heroes smack each other around for a few minutes, then suddenly become best friends like they did not just try to break each others skulls.
Injustice 2 takes that familiar setup and says what if this actually mattered. Instead of a quick gimmick, it builds a full on superhero civil war where the punches have consequences and the world never really recovers.
The core twist is simple. Superman snaps. After a brutal inciting incident that kills Lois Lane and the Joker, he goes full tyrant and builds a worldwide police state called The Regime. Batman leads the resistance against his former friend, and things spiral into a dark alternate timeline where most heroes have picked a side and a lot of people are dead or worse.
By the time Injustice 2 starts, Superman has been imprisoned for his crimes. Green Arrow has been killed and replaced by a version of himself from another universe. Clock King has had his head blown up. Gorilla Grodd has staged a bloody coup and taken over Gorilla City. It is the kind of wild, anything can happen tone that superhero comics lean into when they are not afraid to break toys.
The clever part is that this chaotic universe gives every character a believable reason to fight everyone else. Traditional fighting games often struggle with story because they have a huge cast and no clean way to justify why they are all punching each other. Injustice just borrows comic book logic. Rival ideologies, multiverse variants, and mind control mean there is always a reason for a grudge match.
Story Mode That Actually Slaps
Most people do not boot up a fighting game for the story mode, aside from the occasional unhinged Tekken campaign that throws relatives off cliffs and drops bears into the mix. Injustice 2 is one of the rare exceptions. Its story feels like a full DC animated movie marathon that just happens to be stitched around a fighting game.
It even shares some broad beats with Suicide Squad Kill the Justice League. Superman is the villain, Harley Quinn has turned into a hero, and Brainiac is the final boss looming over everything. The difference is that here Batman is still Batman in the classic sense. Kevin Conroys version is firmly on the side of the angels, if you count Harley and Catwoman as angels. And you only have to beat Brainiac once instead of grinding through seasonal content forever.
What really sells it is the presentation. Injustice 2 shipped with facial animation that still looks impressive, and the voice cast is stacked. Jeffrey Combs brings creepy intelligence to Brainiac. Robert Englund slides straight from nightmares into Scarecrow. Alan Tudyk fires off laid back charm as Green Arrow. Laura Bailey puts real heart into Supergirl. The performances are far better than a licensed brawler strictly needs, and that extra effort makes the drama land.
The writing also commits to its most ridiculous ideas without winking at the audience. Harley Quinn gets double dosed with fear toxin she says she used to huff it for fun and has to face her worst nightmare. It is not a giant monster, it is the Joker returning and dragging her back into her old life as his sidekick. It is a surprisingly grounded look at abuse and relapse in the middle of a superhero punch up.
The same goes for the big Batman versus Superman rematch. Before they go at it, they admit they miss the people they used to be. Then they proceed to batter each other across the arena. It is melodramatic and over the top, but played totally straight, which is exactly why it works.
The Perfect Mix of Ridiculous and Sincere
Where Injustice 2 really leans into its comic book energy is in the actual fights. Super moves are completely unhinged in the best possible way. Characters casually slam each other into orbiting satellites or through the crust of the Earth with no real consequences beyond losing some health.
The Flash has one of the most legendary supers of all. He runs so fast he breaks time, drags his opponent into the distant past to smack them into the sphinx, flings them at a tyrannosaurus rex, then returns to the exact moment he left just to hurl them into their own body. It is needlessly extra and absolutely perfect.
That chaos sits right next to surprisingly grounded character beats. Green Lantern struggles with guilt for backing Supermans regime and wrestles with his anger. That guilt literally manifests in the form of a Red Lantern, whose sidekick is a cat that vomits blood, while they are all fighting in Atlantis. The tone constantly whiplashes between intimate character drama and full nonsense, and the game never apologizes for it.
Just like long running comics, Injustice 2 treats tonal consistency as optional. One minute you are in a heartfelt conversation about regret. The next you are watching Gorilla Grodd stride in wearing heavy armor and wondering how on earth he keeps that breastplate on. The answer, obviously, is Gorilla glue.
The cast is huge and for the most part nailed. Wonder Woman unfortunately gets sidelined as Supermans enforcer, which stings even more knowing she still has not gotten the big solo game she deserves. But many other heroes and villains are given sharp, memorable portrayals. Even Harley Quinn, a character that can easily tip into annoying, feels fun and likable here.
Underneath all the matchups and multiverse chaos, Injustice 2 quietly answers that eternal fan question about who would win in a fight. And according to this writer, the champion is none other than Swamp Thing. When the embodiment of the green gets involved, everyone else might as well tap out.
Original article and image: https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fighting/why-i-love-injustice-2s-story-mode/
