Injustice 2

and Deadshot on the Metropolis stage Injustice 2 is a fighting game in which players compete in one-on-one combat using characters from the DC Universe and other third-party franchises. Using different combinations of directional inputs and button presses, players must perform basic attacks, special moves, and combos to try to damage and knock out the opposing fighter. Injustice 2 retains numerous gameplay mechanics from Injustice: Gods Among Us, including environment interaction, stage transitions, clashes, and character traits. The trait system, like before, provides a temporary buff or ability that complements each character's playstyle. Players can expend meter to perform new techniques, such as an evasive forward roll, which provides a way to overcome enemy keep-away tactics, or an air recovery, which lets characters escape an opponent's combo early. Most environmental attacks, which were completely unavoidable in the first Injustice game, can now be blocked or dodged; however, certain environmental attacks with large amounts of startup, such as throwing a car, remain unblockable. The Gear System uses RPG-like mechanics to reward players with experience and loot after every match. Every playable fighter is given four base stats: strength, defense, health, and ability, the latter of which impacts special attacks. Rarer gear can include one or more bonus augmentations, which range from new visual effects for special moves to higher yields of in-game currency or experience points. Besides the random loot earned at the end of a fight, all three types of gear are available to purchase in loot crates, known as "Mother Boxes", using in-game currency. The game will also include five separate gear loadouts for each character, allowing players to switch between their setups at the beginning of each match. Players can buy "Source Crystals" using real-world money to purchase cosmetic adjustments for fighters, such as premier skins and shaders, instead of waiting to obtain them through normal play. Similar to the "Living Towers" mode from NetherRealm's previous title, Mortal Kombat X, the Multiverse allows players to travel through series of parallel worlds within the DC Universe and battle against opponents with various handicaps, stipulations, and goals. Players can also form online "guilds" with up to 50 other players. Guild members can collaborate to complete daily and weekly cooperative objectives to earn and share gear exclusive to guild gameplay and climb the worldwide leaderboards. ==Plot==

The game begins with Kara Zor-El and an infant Kal-El escaping from Krypton during Brainiac's invasion of the planet. Aided by Kara's mother, they manage to escape aboard pods headed to Earth, but Kara's ship is knocked off course. Years later, prior to the events of the first game, Batman and his son Robin attempt to stop Superman's Regime from executing Arkham Asylum inmates. Failing to dissuade Superman, Batman fights him but is attacked by Robin, who prefers Superman's methods. Batman defeats Robin, but the latter leaves with Superman to join the Regime anyway after executing Victor Zsasz. In the present, five years after the Regime's fall, Batman and his Insurgency are attempting to restore social order. They learn of a new faction, the Society, composed of villains spearheaded by Gorilla Grodd, who seeks global domination. Black Canary, Green Arrow and a reformed Harley Quinn are tasked by Batman with stopping the Society, and track them down to Slaughter Swamp, where they form an alliance with Swamp Thing. Following the villains to Gorilla City, the heroes are warned by Doctor Fate of an incoming threat. Black Canary and Green Arrow are abducted by Brainiac, the mastermind behind the Society, who intends to add Earth to his collection of shrunken planets. After Brainiac takes over Batman's communications hub, Brother Eye, Batman searches for allies to defeat him. While Catwoman, a double agent for Batman in the Society, rescues Harley, a reformed Flash and Green Lantern join Batman to take down Brainiac. Green Lantern is sent to recruit Aquaman, who agrees to help after Brainiac attacks Atlantis. Meanwhile, Black Adam, Wonder Woman, and Kara (who was rescued by Adam years prior and adopted the Supergirl alias) break Nightwing and Cyborg out of prison in an attempt to re-establish the Regime and defeat Brainiac. They are defeated by Blue Beetle and Firestorm before Batman arrives. Batman frees Superman and forms a reluctant alliance with the Regime members on the condition that no one is killed in the upcoming battles. Cyborg, Catwoman, and Harley go to the Batcave to free Brother Eye from Brainiac's control and defeat Society members sent to stop them. Meanwhile, Wonder Woman and Supergirl fight the remaining Society members in New Metropolis; when the former almost kills Cheetah, Harley interferes, causing Wonder Woman to attack her. Supergirl goes to the Fortress of Solitude to confront Superman over the incident, and learns of his tyranny. As Brainiac prepares to destroy Earth after collecting enough cities, the Insurgency and the Regime attack his ship, but fail to get through its shields, and seemingly lose Superman. The group decides to weaken the shields by using Aquaman's trident as a conduit for the magic of the Rock of Eternity, which Black Adam and Aquaman proceed to retrieve. They are followed by Grodd, who has brainwashed Black Canary, Green Arrow, and Blue Beetle, but they defeat them, and Aquaman executes Grodd. Black Adam and Aquaman weaken Brainiac's shields enough for Batman and Supergirl to board his ship. They are captured, but a still-living Superman rescues them and helps Batman defeat the brainwashed Firestorm and Swamp Thing. Doctor Fate, ordered by the Lords of Order to help Brainiac, fights them, but he is defeated and freed from the Lords' control before Brainiac kills him. After defeating Brainiac, Superman takes control of the ship to restore the stolen cities, but inadvertently destroys New Metropolis and Coast City. As the others join them, they become divided over Brainiac's fate: Batman, the Flash, Green Lantern, and Supergirl want to keep him alive so they can learn how to restore the cities, while Superman, Wonder Woman, Black Adam, and Aquaman want him executed for his crimes. The tension between them escalates into a fight, prompting the player to choose whether to fight as Superman or Batman. Both sides proceed to fight each other until Batman and Superman are the last ones standing. The two reminisce a final time before engaging in a final fight. The game features two endings depending on the outcome of the final fight: • If Superman wins, he kills Brainiac and reforms the Regime. He visits an imprisoned Supergirl, telling her he has restored Earth's cities and asking her to lead his new army. When she refuses, Superman reveals that he has brainwashed Batman using Brainiac's technology, threatening to do the same to her if she does not comply. • If Batman wins, he permanently depowers Superman with Gold Kryptonite and imprisons him in the Phantom Zone. He then offers Supergirl membership in the re-established Justice League, which she accepts. ==Characters==

The base roster for Injustice 2 includes 28 playable fighters, consisting of both new and returning heroes and villains. The game also features 10 additional characters available as downloadable content (DLC). Red Hood, Starfire, and Sub-Zero made up Fighter Pack 1, while Fighter Pack 2 brought in Black Manta, Hellboy, and Raiden, and Fighter Pack 3 introduced Atom, Enchantress, and the TMNT. Darkseid was a pre-order bonus and later made available as standalone DLC from the Fighter Packs. New playable characters are listed in bold, while guest characters are listed with an underscore. • Aquaman • Atom • Atrocitus • Bane • Batman • Black Adam • Black Canary • Black Manta • Blue Beetle • Brainiac • Captain Cold • Catwoman • Cheetah • Cyborg • Darkseid • Deadshot • Doctor Fate • Enchantress • Firestorm • Flash (Barry Allen) • Gorilla Grodd • Green Arrow • Green Lantern (Hal Jordan) • Harley Quinn • Hellboy • The Joker • Poison Ivy • Raiden • Red Hood • Robin/Nightwing • Scarecrow • Starfire • Sub-Zero • Supergirl • Superman • Swamp Thing • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles • Wonder Woman Additionally, several characters are playable as "premier skins", which transform characters from the existing roster into other characters from mostly DC Comics Universe with unique voices, dialogue, and in certain cases, altered normal/special/super moves and character powers. • Batwoman • Beast Boy • Bizarro • Black Lightning • Bruce Wayne • Deathstroke • Grid • Flash (Jay Garrick) • John Constantine • Killer Frost • Lord Joker • Martian Manhunter • Mr. Freeze • Orm Marius • Peacemaker • Power Girl • Raven • Reverse-Flash • Robin King • Shazam • Scorpion • Silver Banshee • The Batman Who Laughs • Vixen • White Canary • Zatanna : Available as downloadable content.: Mobile-exclusive character ==Development==

Injustice 2 was announced by NetherRealm Studios and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment on June 8, 2016. Following the release of Injustice: Gods Among Us, NetherRealm Studios sought to do "something unexpected and long-term" for its sequel, as well as give players "a level of control that makes playing [their] games a truly personal experience." Due to the success of the original Injustice, which earned NetherRealm Studios the trust of Warner Bros. and DC Comics, the development team decided to pitch their progression concept for the sequel, which was approved, leading to the implementation of the Gear System. NetherRealm Studios collaborated with DC Comics throughout Injustice 2s entire development process, including conceptualizing characters and determining the direction of the story. As with Injustice: Gods Among Us, NetherRealm was afforded extensive freedom with DC Comics' properties when designing characters. The biggest challenge presented to the writers was extending the series' narrative without repeating the core Batman versus Superman conflict. The developers considered the characters' lore, personalities, abilities, popularity, participation in the story, and relationships with other characters during the roster selection process. He teased the possibility of third-party DLC characters, which were well received in Mortal Kombat X, eventually resulting in the inclusions of Hellboy from Dark Horse Comics created by Mike Mignola and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles from Nickelodeon, originally created by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. Due to the success of Scorpion in the previous installment, who was the most downloaded DLC fighter, Boon also entertained the likelihood of NetherRealm including other Mortal Kombat characters as downloadable content, leading to the inclusions of Sub-Zero and Raiden. Characters' facial animations were created with a custom photogrammetry facial scanner, which utilized 44 DSLR cameras with 50 mm fixed lenses. Character Art Lead Brendan George stated that 16 facial expressions were captured to create a single character; the 16 scans then took two to three days to process through their workstations. An online multiplayer beta test for both the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions was announced on January 19, 2017, which began soon afterwards on January 24 and lasted until February 21. The game's original soundtrack was composed primarily by Christopher Drake, with additional compositions from Richard Carle, Dan Forden, and Dynamedion. Injustice 2 runs on the Mortal Kombat X engine (Unreal Engine 3), with the mobile version running on Unreal Engine 4. ==Release==

Injustice 2 released in North America on May 16, 2017; Australia on May 17, 2017; and most European countries including the United Kingdom on May 19, 2017, for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Aside from the standard edition of the game, a Digital Deluxe Edition and an Ultimate Edition were available for purchase. On May 8, 2017, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment announced the Injustice 2 Championship Series, a global eSports program. The series offered amateur and professional players throughout North America, Europe, and Latin America a chance to compete in different programs for a portion of a prize pool. The event took place in Atlanta, Georgia, from October 21 through November 10, and was streamed worldwide through the ELEAGUE website, Twitch, and YouTube; matches were also broadcast live on TBS in the United States. On April 10, 2018, NetherRealm announced that the Pro Series would return for a second season. On October 24, 2017, Warner Bros. announced that a Windows version developed by QLOC, who had previously taken over development for Mortal Kombat X's PC port from High Voltage Software, was due for release in Q4 2017, with an open beta stage beginning on October 25. However, the beta was postponed for unspecified reasons, ultimately running between November 6 and November 11. The Windows version was released on November 14, 2017. Creative director Ed Boon has also discussed the possibility of a Nintendo Switch version. Mobile version Like its predecessor, a free-to-play mobile app based on Injustice 2 was iOS and Android devices on May 9, 2017, and May 11, respectively. The app was soft launched in the Philippines App Store in February 2017. It maintains several gameplay features from the original, including the swipe-based fighting mechanics, card collection, and three-on-three battles, but introduces various changes to the game's overall formula. Players are given the ability to move around the stage freely during combat, as well as use jumping and crouching attacks. The stamina management system returns; however, instead of each character receiving their own allotment of stamina, the player is given a single pool of stamina which depletes after every match. Downloadable content According to Boon, NetherRealm Studios planned to take a more "aggressive approach" for downloadable content in Injustice 2 compared to their previous games. Red Hood was released on June 13, 2017; Sub-Zero was released on July 11, 2017; and Starfire was released on August 8, 2017. Fighter Pack 2, consisting of Black Manta, Mortal Kombats Raiden, and Dark Horse Comics' Hellboy, was revealed on August 23, 2017, at Gamescom. Black Manta was released on September 12, 2017; Raiden was released on October 3, 2017, alongside the Black Lightning premier skin; and Hellboy was released on November 14, 2017. On October 3, 2017, during the finale of The CW's documentary television series Chasing the Cup: Injustice 2, Atom was revealed as the next DLC addition. The third DLC pack, Fighter Pack 3, was unveiled during the finals of the ELEAGUE Injustice 2 World Championship on November 11, 2017, which includes Atom, Enchantress, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT) protagonists Leonardo, Donatello, Michelangelo, and Raphael. Atom was released on December 12, 2017; Enchantress was released on January 9, 2018; and lastly, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were released on February 13, 2018. Players can select which TMNT member to play as using the Gear System; equipping one of four weapons — katana, bō, nunchaku, or sai — swaps between Leonardo, Donatello, Michelangelo, and Raphael, each with their own unique move sets. In April 2019, two years after the game's release, Ed Boon revealed on Game Informer that he wanted to include Neo from The Matrix as a guest character, but plans fell through for his inclusion. Related media During NetherRealm Studios' Injustice 2 panel at San Diego Comic-Con on July 22, 2016, Boon announced a digital comic book series which will detail the backstory to the events of the game. The series is written by Tom Taylor, who had previously worked on the tie-in comic books for Injustice: Gods Among Us. Beginning on April 11, 2017, the series was released in weekly chapters through various digital retailers, including ComiXology, Google Play Books, the Kindle Store, and DC Comics' own mobile app. Print versions became available for purchase on May 3, 2017, each containing multiple digital chapters. It was announced on April 26, 2018, that the game would cross over with Mattel's Masters of the Universe series as a comic sequel to the game's "Superman's side" ending. The comic received six issues, from July 18, 2018, until January 2, 2019. Injustice 2: Legendary Edition On February 28, 2018, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment announced Injustice 2: Legendary Edition. Similar to the Ultimate Edition for Injustice: Gods Among Us, the Legendary Edition includes all previously released downloadable content for Injustice 2. It also introduces new features, such as an expanded tutorial system called the "Learn Hub", new gear items, and an increased character level cap. In addition, those who pre-order the Day One Edition of the Legendary Edition received a collectible coin, a steelbook case, a "comic exclusive download steel card", and 11,000 Source Crystals to use in-game. The Legendary Edition was released on March 27, 2018, for PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One. ==Reception==

Critical response Injustice 2 received generally favorable reviews, according to Metacritic. Eurogamer Wesley Yin-Poole praised the game's narrative and visuals, describing them as "impressive" and a "significant step up" from Injustice: Gods Among Us. GameSpot Peter Brown found collecting gear and outfitting characters to be enjoyable, stating that "watching a character's traditional outfit transform into something fresh or unexpected, and seeing their stats grow through leveling up and equipping gear, grants a satisfying sense of ownership over your accomplishments and possessions." Sales Injustice 2 topped the United Kingdom's multi-platform physical sales chart during its first two weeks after launch, with the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions simultaneously taking the first and second spots, respectively. This marked the first time a fighting game had taken the top spot since Mortal Kombat X in April 2015. It reached number 2 in Switzerland. It became the PlayStation Store's most downloaded PlayStation 4 title for May 2017, with Darkseid being the third best-selling DLC of the month. The Ultimate Pack and Fighter Pack 1 were both in the Top 10 downloads in June 2017. Three months later, Fighter Pack 2 also made the Top 10. By the end of May, Injustice 2 was the ninth best-selling game of 2017. Time Warner declared the game as "the highest-grossing console game in the second quarter of 2017," selling approximately 1.5 million copies in the first three months of its release. Awards In June 2016, Injustice 2 received "Best of E3 2016" awards for "Best Fighting Game" from the Game Critics Awards, IGN, Game Informer, and GamesRadar. The game was nominated for "Best International Game" at the 2017 Ping Awards, for "Best Xbox One Game" in Destructoid Game of the Year Awards 2017, and for "Best Multiplayer Game" and "Studio of the Year" (NetherRealm) at the Golden Joystick Awards. In Game Informers Reader's Choice Best of 2017 Awards, the game came in first place for "Best Fighting Game", third place for "Best Competitive Multiplayer" and fifth place for "Game of the Year". EGMNow ranked it eleventh on their list of the 25 Best Games of 2017, while GamesRadar+ ranked it 23rd on their list of the 25 Best Games of 2017. The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences awarded Injustice 2 with "Fighting Game of the Year", while also receiving a nomination for "Outstanding Achievement in Sound Design", at the 21st Annual D.I.C.E. Awards. ==Notes==