Injustice 2 is the follow-up to Injustice: Gods Among Us. It introduces loot, character customization, and items to its fighting system. It also continues where its predecessor's story left off, focusing on the aftermath of Batman's successful insurgency against Superman's tyrannical empire.
With the game out now for PS4, Xbox One, and PC, we've compiled our in-depth review and our most important features and gameplay videos detailing everything you need to know about NetherRealm Studio's latest fighter. Check back often as we update this article with additional articles and videos.
The Review
"With AI battles, online and local versus matches, the diverse and ever-changing Multiverse, and an impressive story mode, Injustice 2 offers numerous ways of engaging with its characters and testing your abilities without feeling repetitive. This variety is further bolstered by gear. Despite the needlessly complex economy tied to item management, the value of customization and expression that comes with gear ultimately makes up for it. And with over 25 characters to explore, it's easy to look forward to watching your next character grow while your understanding of the game continues to expand. NetherRealm has delivered a fighting game that can be enjoyed by new players and pros alike in ways that go beyond pure competition. It's a bar that every fighting game should meet, but one that has up until now seemed out of reach." -- Peter Brown [Full review]
Nintendo's upcoming limb-centric fighting game Arms is shaping up to be an entertaining competitive experience for the Switch. Its design is simple and intuitive, and excitement creeps in the moment you throw a punch and realize how capable you are. The fact that Arms' characters and environments are infectiously vibrant and cheery doesn't hurt either. While Arms seems like a simplistic brawler on the surface, its mechanics offer a subtle dose of nuance and complexity that makes it far deeper than it initially lets on.
Arms' intricacies are exhibited by the freedom you have to customize your fighter's arm configurations before each round. Before a fight begins, you're given the option to select from three different arms that are exclusive to each character (the full game will allow you to mix and match all signature gloves regardless of the fighter you choose). This opens up a wide range of combinations and strategies based on factors like weight, elemental attributes, and attack styles.
When playing as the ramen noodle-armed fighter Min Min, you can use her Dragon arm's stationary laser attack to hinder your opponent's movement, while simultaneously sending out charged-up jabs from your electric-powered Megawatt Arm to stun and dwindle their health. Or as the dancing green blob Helix, you can opt for two bouncing Blorb arms: one to limit your opponent's vertical mobility, and the other to damage and blind them. With each arm sporting a unique combat advantage, the ability to mix and match is one of Arms' major highlights as a fighting game thus far.
Adding to the complexity of battles are special abilities unique to each fighter. These offer distinct perks to a fighter's attacks or maneuverability options. For example, Helix's elastic body allows him to shrink and stretch at will, making it possible to dodge incoming attacks; on the other hand, Twintelle can slow down enemy attacks or herself in mid-air. These options imbue Arms' combat with an extra layer of strategy akin to fighter matchups from traditional fighting games. In a fight, a specific arm configuration could prove useful, but if you're not careful, it could be easily countered by an opponent's special ability. Case in point: Master Mummy's slow Megaton arms against Min Min's quick, attack deflecting kick ability.
Despite the varying intricacies of Arms' mechanics, the major concern over its viability as a balanced fighting game is the reliability of its motion controls; if their execution is inconsistent in practice, then none of that is going to matter in the long run. Unintentional punches and missteps aren't unheard of in Arms, and while this is excusable for casual players, anyone looking for serious competition will no doubt be dissuaded by mistakes outside of their control. It has been confirmed that the game is playable using traditional controller setups, but it's currently unclear how that will work in practice.
Whatever your initial reaction to the game's appearance was, Arms isn't just about about flailing about like a crazy person to win--though you're welcome to try (and lose). Rather, it's about carefully considering which arms to use during a round and how they can be leveraged to defeat your opponent. The motion controls may prevent it from becoming a mainstay of the fighting game community, but its mechanics seem to offer a solid framework that makes it far more involved than most motion-controlled games.
We've teamed up with Ronimo Games to give away 10,000 Closed Beta codes for Awesomenauts on PC to redeem on Steam. Closed beta ends on Tuesday, May 23.
This is an instant win and you will receive an email with the code within 24 hours. Scroll down below to enter.
Awesomenauts is a 3v3 sidescrolling MOBA inspired by Saturday-morning cartoons from the 80s and 90s. After five years of continuous support on Steam, the game is going free-to-play on Steam on May 24th. Join the Closed Beta to get early access on the full experience and get a headstart on everyone else!
Nvidia has released a new low-end graphics card in the GeForce GT 1030 for entry-level and budget-minded users. It's the latest GPU within Nvidia's 10 series (all equipped with the Pascal architecture), and is priced around $75.
The GTX 1030 provides a little more power than what an integrated graphics processor (IGP) offers and is targeted to those who mainly play less demanding games such as League of Legends or Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. It's also useful for 4K home theater setups, since many older IGPs cannot do 4K.
The single slot GT 1030 from EVGA.
The GT 1030 itself has 2GB of VRAM, a 64-bit memory interface, 384 CUDA cores, and includes ports for HDMI, DVI, and DisplayPort. Its small form factor of 4.7 by 6.7 inches makes it easier to fit into compact systems, and the 30 watt power draw means it doesn't need much juice. Reference models have a 1468MHz boost clock speed. However, there are many different SKUs from several manufacturers, some offering fanless passive cooling solutions and higher core clocks.
AMD's low-end graphics card--the Radeon RX 550--is priced around $80 and features 2GB VRAM, a 128-bit memory interface, and a core clock around 1200MHz depending on the SKU.
AMD is also set to reveal the upcoming Vega line of GPUs on May 31 during Computex, so stayed tuned to our coverage on the latest in PC hardware. For now, check out our reviews of the newest graphics cards from AMD (the RX 580 and RX 570) and Nvidia (the GTX 1080 Ti).
Blizzard will once again offer a freebie for Hearthstone players this weekend. This time around, it's just a single card, though getting it is incredibly easy.
By logging in tomorrow, May 20, all players will receive the Fight Promoter card pictured below. There's no requirement that tasks you with playing or winning matches--simply hopping online with the game on any platform is enough to add it to your collection. But you'll need to do so on May 20, as this is a one-day-only offer.
Fight Promoter is a six-mana 4/4 card. It features a Battlecry that causes you to draw two cards if you control a minion with at least six health.
When Destiny 2 was first announced, one of the first big pieces of news was that, unlike the first game, it would be coming to PC in addition to consoles. The PC version has remained something of a mystery over the last two months, but we're now beginning to learn more about what computer players can expect.
Destiny 2 PC lead David Shaw recently spoke with PC Gamer and revealed, "We do not have dedicated servers for Destiny 2 on PC." That said, Shaw did say Bungie and Vicarious Visions (which is working on the PC version) are aware of concerns related to lag in Destiny, though they are not yet ready to share any specifics regarding tickrate.
Similarly, required specs for the PC version have not yet been confirmed, though he suggested more details might be shared around E3 in June. He did offer some reassurance for those who might want to play the game on PC but don't have high-end hardware, saying, "[N]o, you absolutely won't have to buy the latest and greatest hardware to be able to play the game and have a fun, quality experience."
Shaw offered what might be a glimmer of hope for those hoping to move from the console version of Destiny to the PC version of Destiny 2. While we already know that gear won't transfer, your appearance will, and returning players will be eligible to receive some kind of "honor" in the new game. Shaw said, "We definitely have gotten strong feedback that people are interested in [migrating from consoles]. At this time, we don't have anything to announce. We think it's super interesting, we totally get it, but we don't have anything really to say about that topic today."
Pressed on the issue by PC Gamer, he continued, "We've already got a pretty sizable history with Destiny and we expect a long one in the future, so I would say there are lots of things we would say, today, we're not doing, but that are on the table. This is something, certainly, I personally think about quite a lot."
The new collection, which features shirts based on Pokemon, Animal Crossing, and a host of other Nintendo properties, is the result of Uniqlo's most recent T-Shirt Grand Prix. The annual contest asks fans to submit designs based on a particular theme; the winning designs would then be produced and sold at Uniqlo stores. Nintendo was the theme of this Grand Prix, and all of the winners were chosen by Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto. More than 16,000 submissions were entered in the contest, from which only 25 designs were selected. You can see the full gallery of winners here.
The first-place design, featuring a giant pixelated rendition of Nintendo's iconic plumber Mario, was submitted by Takashi Kawazoe, who won $10,000 and a Nintendo Switch autographed by Miyamoto. Shino Yamazaki took home $3,000 and an autographed Switch as well for his second-place design, an Inkling squid formed out of paintball splatters, while the third place Legend of Zelda-inspired shirt won its designer, David Ricardo Flores Gomez, $500.
Fans can purchase the t-shirts in stores and on the Uniqlo website. Men's and women's shirts retail for $14.90, while kids' shirts run for $9.90 each.
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