Injustice: Gods Among Us is one of a new batch of games where the console game and the mobile version go hand-in-hand. Injustice allows you to fight on iOS and unlock costumes, extras, and abilities to use on the console and vice versa. So how did the iOS game stack up? Lets take a look.
Overall the iOS game achieves the goal it was looking for in translating the console experience to a handheld device. Sure it sacrifices some of the finer points of the console version with the elimination of the stage effects, the ability to activate moves at any time, and the stage transitions, but it does a great job at making you feel like you’re playing the same game.
To make up for the loss of the console features the iOS game has added a variation of a collectible card game using “money” that you earn while playing and leveling up to buy more cards. These cards can include new characters, abilities which add new powers to the characters you already have, or support cards which add extra health, energy regeneration, or damage to your characters. These can be either purchased individually or through booster packs. If you choose you can buy more credits with real money which some gamers on a budget might not appreciate.
Each character’s moves are a variation of either tapping the enemy to jab or kick them with a light attack or swiping for a hard attack. Blocking involves tapping and holding the screen with two fingers which sometimes doesn’t work very effectively. Once you build enough energy from either hitting, or being hit, you can use a power move which is different for every character. There are three levels of moves you can unlock for every character each more devastating than the last. These usually involve swiping a certain way or tapping a target as fast as possible to build up a damage meter before the move fires. It does take a little bit of strategy to decide when and how to use these moves.
Do you wait and build up to a second level power to KO your opponent, or use level one now and whittle them down? If you wait too long, your power might get drained and you’ll be left with nothing. Should you stagger that opponent first, missing with the first part of the power but connecting with the second, or risk having the move blocked entirely? The way the powers are handled is a nice change of pace and a good way of dealing with the transition from console to mobile device.
The one drawback of the game would have to be the repetition necessary to level your characters properly to be able to finish the larger fights and maximize your time spent on the game. This is done to make you want to spend real money on the game, as each character has to spend “energy” to fight and you have to have three characters per fight. That means you are spending three to six energy for the basic stages and a bar for each character consists of ten energy each. Once each character’s energy bar is exhausted that’s it until you wait the requisite amount of time to recharge their bar, or you fork over the cash to buy an energy crystal to refill it. To be fair, they do provide you with ten crystals to start and you gain three per boss fight once you beat the boss for the first time only. Being a mobile game there shouldn’t be too many times where setting the game down and taking a break would pose a problem.
The amount of time one battle takes is perfect for those moments when you are waiting in line or during a commercial on TV. It does exactly what a mobile game should do: provide you with quick entertainment for those breaks throughout the day, provide you with something to keep coming back for with the collectible card game and the leveling up of the characters, and serve to help market the other versions of the game by allowing you to link your WB ID and unlock console items by playing. The best part is, it’s free with the exception of the optional credits and energy that you can pay for, but it doesn’t feel like you are being pushed toward that like most games do. If you are a fan of comics, fighting games, or just want a nice game for your iPhone 4s or iPad 2 (or higher) download it and give it a try. You won’t regret it.
