While EA’s Mass Effect Andromeda was panned when it launched due to some dodgy facial animations among other things, Bioware has managed to redeem themselves weeks later and after a few patches. Memes aside though, for those who purchased the game on day one (like us) and played through the massive adventure, having dodgy animations (whilst not game breaking) simply made conversations either comical or lost the presence of the characters. NetherRealm’s Injustice 2 face isn’t tired and highlights how to do excellent facial animations right out of the gate, no patches required to fix the make-up here. Take a look at the Injustice 2 Harley Quinn fight intros video to see some varied expressions that are quite lifelike indeed.

One can argue there is far less dialogue to work with and a more simplistic game by design with Injustice 2 when compared to a massive open world action role playing game like Mass Effect Andromeda, so NetherRealm pumped more resources into the character models/animations. Then again, LA Noire from Team Bondi didn’t have any issues at launch when it released back in 2011 and that was a massive open world game (no doubt with an equally large budget). Perhaps there is an issue of budget and resources then, or being more cynical (considering patches fixed the problems) games being released in an unfinished state; the bane of the current gaming industry which is happening more frequently now and almost considered the norm. It seems when the love is poured in, the results speak for themselves and Injustice 2 Harley Quinn highlights that sentiment perfectly. Other developers take note.