Ian Fisher writes: Injustice may have been in our hands for quite some time already, but at the C2E2 media event in Chicago I had the great pleasure and honor of chatting with NetherRealm Studios Creative Director Ed Boon, NetherRealm Studios Art Director Steve Beran, and DC Comics Story Consultant Jimmy Palmiotti.
A bit brief compared to some of my more in-depth interviews, I was nonetheless able to gain some nice insight from these terrific creative figures about what it was like developing and building Injustice: Gods Among Us into the superb brawler and superhero epic that it is.
Within the dynamic realm of interactive gaming, NetherRealm Studios (NRS) stands as a source of both excitement and contention, with discussions spanning visual aesthetics and kinetic animations. Since the debuts of Injustice 2 and Mortal Kombat 11, the studio’s visual evolution has been nothing short of remarkable. An evolution that becomes most apparent in the refined portrayal of character facial models, enhancing both their visual appeal and their ability to authentically render the intricacies of Black skin across various lighting conditions. However, in the midst of this progress, one aspect remains a challenge—the attack animations—an ongoing Achilles’ heel within the domain of NRS games.
My personal opinion would be that they focused less on juggles and more on grounded combos so sticking out a poke and it continues to juggle an airborne enemy should go away. It just looks silly. I love MK and Tekken, but this aspect has always been silly to me. It still has some great looking combos, but the air juggles just makes the animations reset, making those specific combos look stiff.
SF has some of these air juggles, but not nearly as much. I'd much prefer their combos combos which are generally more grounded. I don't think the animations are bad in MK in any way, it's the way they are implemented in gameplay in the juggle state.
MK1 is still a day one for me, but fixing this issue would make a lot of people complain less about MK1's animations.
During SDCC I spoke with Ed Boon and Thiago Gomes about Mortal Kombat 1 as part of a Roundtable.
Ed Boon shares his choices for which Mortal Kombat characters should appear in the next Super Smash Bros. game should a crossover happen.
