Daily Archives: June 12, 2016
Injustice 2 Trailers + Story Speculation
So, the past few days have been exciting for NetherRealm fans. As has been speculated and hinted at for a few years now, we finally have confirmation: Injustice 2 is on the way. What’s not so awesome for me is that, apparently, this game will not be available for any system I own. Once again, bend me over and f** ** ** *** *** for being a Nintendo guy. lol I kid, I get that this happens sometimes, and of course I’ll probably still watch playthroughs of the game when it comes out, but it’s a little frustrating is all. And I’ll get into why specifically, but for now, let’s take a look at the trailers.
Right off the bat, I gotta say how much I appreciate how frigging colourful the gameplay trailer was. Anyone who played the first Injustice game knows just how dark and gritty it looked at times, even when heroes like Green Lantern were on the scene, but this game has so many different bright and shiny colours and effects going on. It’s a marvel to look at, and a bit of a relief since, while I liked the announce trailer, the darker tone of it made me think we were going back there with this game. Instead, the announce trailer is simply to set a thematic tone with its darkness and everyone fighting, while the gameplay will be so much brighter, which makes me wonder a bit about how the story will unfold, if we’ll perhaps see a clash of all the darkness and despair from the previous game’s story going up against a more optimistic and hopeful era.
To explain what I mean by that, let’s look back on the plot of the previous game. And, before anyone asks, I did not read the comics, primarily because I knew I wouldn’t like the depressing and grimdark tone of it, though I do admit to laughing my ass off at some of the bits I’ve seen involving Harley Quinn. Why ISN’T Green Arrow’s hideout called The Quiver? But anyway, the point is, last game, we had the Justice League of a world more akin to what we’d usually expect out of our heroes being tasked with saving an alternate Earth (which I’m just going to call Earth Injustice) where Superman, after being tricked into killing his wife and unborn child, slipped into madness and took over, creating a conflict between his Regime and Batman’s Insurgency. In the end, the good Superman defeated the evil one, locking him away in a prison that robbed him of his powers, the members of his Regime were arrested, and the fallen Earth was given a chance to start over, though it was hinted at the very end that evil Superman still had a tiny portion of his powers left.
So, there’s two ways I think this story can go. The obvious one is to tell what happened on Earth Injustice after the Regime crumbled. After all, the Injustice comic has gone on for five years now, telling the tales of this world and its characters (and killing them off willy nilly), meaning a lot of work has been put into it. Seems like a waste to toss aside, is all I’m saying, especially now that there’s an opportunity to tell what happened next. However, I have a feeling that the story will consist more of “first things were bad, and now they’re worse”. Like I said, everything seems so bright and shiny in the gameplay. Now, that could be because of the better graphics, but honestly, I would take advantage of that. Show that there are people who have stepped up since the collapse of the Regime that have taken great care in building the world back up. Have the optimists trying to deal with fixing the world. Then the trouble starts, likely an invasion of some sort combined with Superman getting free, and have it be a clash between the two sides that shows the brighter, more optimistic side take on the darker and dire side. And when it comes to bringing back the old characters that died, maybe have them be brought back as Black Lanterns or zombies (Atrocitus IS apparently part of the story this time, after all, and he’s delved into necromancy in the past), or have characters like Red Arrow or Mary Marvel step up to take their place, but with a few adjustments.
The other way the story could go is to have it take place on the world where the good Justice League come from. Why do I think that? Well, let’s take a second and look at Superman’s arcade ending in the first game.
Now, before you ask, no, I don’t think the idea here would be to have this world end up exactly like the other. I think that would kind of be a waste and a retread. But what would happen if concern over that got so bad that the wrong person at the wrong time ended up with the control to kill Superman? Or, what if the government found out about what happened there and became worried about it happening in their world? Granted, much like Injustice 1’s plot, this is a story that has been done before in the animated series, but it still has potential to be explored, with different characters and interactions as part of it, and heroes and villains taking different sides in the debate that could lead to different alliances. And before anyone says “Well, Superman’s ending in arcade mode isn’t canon to the main story”, remember this is NETHERREALM we’re talking about. They either take elements of the different character endings and incorporate them in future stories and/or make character endings specifically to tease future events all the time.
Overall, though, I think all the signs point to this taking place on Earth Injustice. What especially gives it away is one of the stages we see in the gameplay trailer where Supergirl fights Atrocitus. We see a statue of Superman holding someone’s body, which I’ve heard many who have likewise watched this trailer suggest could be Lois Lane. We know from dialogue between the two Supermen at the end of Injustice 1 that Lois Lane is alive in the Justice League’s world, so this HAS to be Earth Injustice. This also might explain the new gameplay feature: The armour. In the last game, Batman gave the Justice League and members of the Insurgency super pills that were created by Superman and stolen from the Regime (and yes, as Matt and Pat of the Super Best Friends pointed out, Superman has been pushing drugs in this universe, lol) in order to make them tough enough to go toe-to-toe with some of the tougher superhumans out there. However, in the fallout of Superman’s defeat and the arrest of seemingly all the more powerful members of his Regime, what if they stopped making the pills, or perhaps the stuff required to make it ran out? That would lead to the most likely replacement in dealing with the new threat in the new game: Power armour. Something to augment and adjust their natural abilities to make them able to stand up to tougher opponents.
Regardless of what they do with the plot, though, I hope it’s at least less dark and dire than the last one. I don’t need to rant again about how pissed off some of the decisions with the story made me. Hopefully, the more optimistic tone going on with Rebirth (and apparently the movies now that Geoff Johns is gonna be taking over there) will translate here, too. I’ll go more into what I’d like to see from the game later, though. For now, lemme know what you think of what we’ve seen of this game so far, and let’s see if anything more about the game comes to light at E3. Ja né!
N. Harmonik’s Blind Reaction To Death Battle: Joker vs Sweet Tooth (And I’m There Too, lol)
It’s that time again! Here’s me and N. Harmonik giving our blind reactions to Death Battle: Joker vs Sweet Tooth!
NEXT TIME ON DEATH BATTLE…
Jyger's Rant 