Aside from a few continuity problems I have with this game, I do like how the story mode just ups the stakes in a feasible way. It's really nice to see how they build on the first game, and still set up fights with choices you make. Again it's a bit formulic, but it fits well enough. The fighting has also been retooled a bit and feels less stiff compared to the first Injustice. I do wish there was some fun for the DLC characters to do something in the story or to simply have more characters in the story as a whole, but at least all the guest characters are fun to play with as well. I can't say the same for the loot box system they put in the game however, and it really makes me confused why such a thing exists, as it's largely for two modes that don't really do anything. Still it has a great trial mode, and a better tutorial for more advance techs then most fighting games. If you want to get into fighting games, Injustice 2 would be a good start.

I love the way Netherrealms games play, and increasingly the way they look. I also think they are generally pretty creative about how to incentivize a single player to continue playing their games, especially compared to the only other fighter franchise I've really had any passion for, Street Fighter. Between their towers, their cosmetics, their story modes and even just the general zaniness of each fight and detail of the animations should you ever be foolish enough to log on to an online match, Netherrealms is among if not the most considerate developer of fighting games for single people with no game playing friends.

That said, WHEW is Injustice 2 a bloated and confusing mess. Like Mortal Kombat 11 it features hundreds of cosmetics that affect how and why you'll fight with a given character, earned through a literal handful of currencies (my favorite comment on a random Reddit thread asking to explain these currencies: "I assume by the lack of information in this thread no one understands?" - hoofrog) that make the whole thing idiot proof in that idiots will never penetrate its logic confidently. While baffling in execution, it's a pretty perfect encapsulation of what makes comic book properties so fun for artists AND players as there's a near endless number of looks for each character to embody.

But most of that isn't what I care about, because again I'm a solo player and more to the point I don't find the cosmetic lust all that appealing in its own right without people I eventually want to show them off to, so for me and Netherrealms it all comes down to the story mode. Coming off the heels of the original cut of Zack Snyder's Justice League, and following directly from the events of their own telling of the League's origins three years prior which was pretty strong, Injustice 2 is a whacky, ridiculous hodgepodge of ideas and half-baked dialogue that constantly floats just out of reach of cognition.

It's been long enough I can't really parse what I experienced here anymore - something about Brainiac, Gorilla Grodd (lol) and everyone flipping between being mind-controlled or not? - but I'm not sure I could have even if I'd been aware of this website and written this write-up immediately upon uninstalling the game. Looking back on the game, though, I can tell we never fully gelled: I first fired the game up on January 1st, only made it to the halfway point of the story mode over two months later while only 30% of the people who booted this game (A PS+ offering, I might add) even finished the campaign (I did so two weeks after making it halfway - I recall the Snyder Cut had dropped and I was in a Justice League fugue state). Meanwhile, so many of the other trophies are Civilization VI levels of specific and clearly designed for the hardcore player who, I guess, might've never launched the campaign in the first place.

To reiterate, I think Netherrealms has been on a real heater since rebooting the Mortal Kombat franchise in 2009 and I consider their games essentially must-buys though I often wait for a significant discount before jumping on board due to my heavy bias towards the narrative. Moments like these (and, if I'm being honest, much of MKX) make me feel justified in doing so because Injustice 2 is bizarrely uneven in execution and content despite being so clearly considered and labored over.