The “Injustice: Gods Among Us†Battle Edition includes the video game, three skins and a fight stick.Accompanying the release on Tuesday of “Injustice: Gods Among Us,†the new fighting game from Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, was a range of supporting products, including comic books, action figures, an album and a mobile app. One of the largest accessories is a fight stick that is included with the Battle Edition of the game.
A fight stick is hardly the agile combat weapon it sounds like; it’s basically a large, boxy game controller used by serious gamers for tournament play. It’s designed to mimic arcade-style game play, complete with a joy stick. It looks like a throwback to a more primitive era of video games, when Pac-Man was chomping ghosts on an Atari 2600 console.
But the “Injustice†fight stick has its advantages. First, it weighs a mere 3.5 pounds, light enough to rest on your lap. And it has a nonskid surface on the bottom, making it coffee table friendly (although it takes up a lot of real estate).
The biggest benefit, however, is the arrangement of the controls on the top. Eight oversize, illuminated buttons are clustered near the joystick, making them easy to reach with one hand.
The Battle Edition does not come with a manual, so thankfully the setup is intuitive. It has only a single 10-foot USB cable that connects directly to the console. I wish it included a wireless connection.
This was my first experience using a fight stick, but it made playing the game so much easier. Even with its ergonomic design, my Xbox controller was giving me tendonitis. With the fight stick on my lap, I could sit back on the couch and really enjoy the Mortal Combat-style battles among the superheroes and villains of the DC universe.
The “Injustice†Battle Edition is available exclusively at GameStop for $150 and is compatible with PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 consoles. Included with the fight stick are the “Injustice†video game and three downloadable skins for Batman, Wonder Woman and Superman. I don’t know how much excitement the fight stick would garner among casual game players, especially at that price, but for serious gamers, bigger is better.
