Injustice: Gods Among Us

In an alternate universe, the Joker drugged Superman, making him inadvertently kill Lois Lane and their unborn child, while setting off a nuclear missile which destroyed Metropolis and everyone in it. After that point, Superman stopped holding back and began killing criminals (starting with the Joker) and anyone else who stood in his way. Five years later, he's the dictator of the world, flanked by a regime of other misguided members of the Justice League as well as a few more than willing supervillains. Opposing them is an insurgency of other surviving heroes and former villains led by Batman and Lex Luthor (who was never evil in this timeline). In order to bring Superman down once and for all, the Insurgency seeks help from the Justice League from a parallel universe more in line with our own.

The game's plot is basically an excuse for superheroes who would normally be on the same side to fight against one another. In some ways, it's a bit farfetched in what it took to push Superman over the edge. While the prequel comics do explain a lot of these events in more detail, whether they were an afterthought or planned that way for the game isn't really clear. As you play, you take control of Batman, the Joker, Green Lantern, Aquaman, the Insurgency's Deathstroke, Cyborg, Green Arrow, the Insurgency's Batman, the Insurgency's Luthor, the Regime's Flash (who at last realizes Superman's gone too far), Wonder Woman, and finally the real Superman who brings his counterpart down once and for all.

The finishing moves look like there is no way the characters could survive after getting hit by them. Some of this is explained by a physical enhancement drug that was engineered by Superman's Regime and hijacked by the Insurgency. Some characters are more easily played than others. Nightwing and Aquaman are particularly good since their staff/trident lets you hit your opponent from farther away. Green Arrow and the Flash are also good melee fighters. Superman, Luthor, Captain Marvel/Shazam, and others are heavy hitters but as is common in this type of game, their strength is often outweighed by their speed. The basic controls are easy to understand, but combos can be hard to implement, and I often found myself executing a move and wondering how I did that. Aquaman has probably the greatest finisher: the stage is flooded with ocean water, he stabs your opponent with a trident, and then a shark swims in and chomps them. He's one of the greatest characters in the game.

The graphics are great, but that's really a given in today's video game industry. The voice cast is a bit more fun. Some reprisals are directly from the DC Animated Universe, others from Teen Titans, Young Justice, and the Arkham games. It's an eclectic mix of characters.

Downloadable content includes extra costumes and playable characters for Battle Mode or 2-player matches. Heroes include Martian Manhunter, Zatanna, and Batgirl. The villains are Lobo, General Zod, and Scorpion (Mortal Kombat). Most of the extra costumes are cool, but at the same time, they leave a lot to be desired. The Red Son and Flashpoint suits are particularly fitting for the game's premise, but Red Son Superman is still treated like the good Superman when you play as him. The Earth-2 suits give you costumes for the Flash and Hawkgirl, but not Green Lantern or the trinity. (I know Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman were killed off at the very beginning of the comic, but they still had their own unique appearances that I would have liked to see put into play here.) The Teen Titans skins include classic appearances for Raven, Cyborg, and Deathstroke, but not for Nightwing, which I think was a missed opportunity to let you play as Robin. There's a Knightfall costume for Bane, but not for Batman. The best skins are probably the ones that let you play as a completely different character, such as John Stewart's Green Lantern, the Cyborg Superman, or Stephen Amell's (Green) Arrow (the latter is incredibly rare). The Man of Steel suits for Zod and Superman are a nice touch too. Some of my other personal favorites are Earth-2 Flash, Flashpoint Batman, and Red Hood Joker (included in The Killing Joke pack). One issue I do have with Superman's alternate appearances is that none of them include the costume's red shorts (except for Regime Superman, and he's the villain). It's been a problem since the New 52 occurred in the comics as well as Man of Steel, and the costume just looks naked without them.

It's incredibly expensive to try and purchase all of those (and some I neglected to mention), so your best bet is the Collector's/Ultimate Edition of the game, which includes all of that. If you get it on PC, I would recommend buying a console controller to plug into it, it'll be much easier to play. Keeping all of this in mind, I still had a lot of fun playing the game, even if it took me a few tries on some levels. I would definitely recommend checking out the prequel comics too, if you're interested in the story, and curious about Superman's fall from grace and the rise of his Regime.

Teen Titans Go!- Let's Get Serious

Teen Titans Go! is a comedic revival/parody of the Teen Titans animated series from nearly a decade ago. While it does have a few good jokes, a lot of the humor falls short since it often comes at the expense/flanderization of characters we already got to know and love. To its credit, the simplified art style is eye-catching, and all of the returning voice actors do a great job and likely have fun recording. The more serious Young Justice lasted two seasons and spent a good amount of time building not only on the core team, but on the DC Universe they existed in. While the original Teen Titans wonderfully juggled drama and comedy, putting the Young Justice characters into Teen Titans Go! couldn't be more jarring.

The Young Justice roster seen here is limited to Aqualad, Superboy, and Miss Martian. Out of all of them, only Aqualad seems to do any talking, probably since he shares a voice actor with Cyborg. Their simplified designs honestly look great, and I wish we could have seen more of them. The best part of this is when he calls the Titans out on their childish antics. This convinces Robin that the Titans need to become more serious, and their character designs change accordingly. Again, I have to give props to the animators once the Titans hit the uncanny valley. While their appearance and movements were often unsettling, the motion is incredibly fluid. Their seriousness lets them take down the HIVE successfully, and when Aqualad congratulates them on a job well done, he also warns them against becoming too serious.

Sure enough, back at the Tower, Beast Boy and Cyborg get into a petty argument which exacerbates into a full blown fight between all of them. Titans Tower is destroyed and the team goes their separate ways. The final shot in the episode, however, indicates they go right back to being silly, since the series has little to no continuity.

It's odd to have low expectations for something, and still be disappointed. Not just in this episode, but in most of the series. They've got a great team of animators and voices, but the writing is never consistent. It's barely even a crossover, since the Young Justice heroes only appear in two scenes. And while it was good seeing certain characters again and hearing this show take notice of its flaws, nothing comes of it and we just keep getting more of the same dumb and sparingly funny jokes.