Review: Hawkgirl, Injustice - Gods Among Us

                Made popular by her appearance in the cartoon Justice League, Hawkgirl is the only other female member of the Justice League to appear in Injustice: Gods Among Us alongside Wonder Woman. Like the Amazing Amazon, she is a powerhouse fighter whose style emphasizes her warrior training.

                Hawkgirl is one of the easier characters to get a grasp of in the game. Her fighting style revolves exclusively around her mace and each special move shows off a different way to utilize this medieval weapon. As such, Hawkgirl has good range which makes her extremely versatile. Additionally, Hawkgirl is characterized as a tank in the game which means she can interact with the heavy objects strewn around each stage, enabling her to toss such things as motorcycles and large robots at her opponent. Where developers went wrong with Hawkgirl, however, was in her super move and her character power. Her super move sees her hurling her enemy into the air and delivering two high-powered blows to their body with her mace. It lacks the flare some of the other characters have and denies the character the opportunity to really let her opponent have it with her trademark weapon. In terms of her character power, she was given the passive ability to fly upon pressing the character power button. It’s not a very useful ability as battle is best waged on the ground. A better suggestion for her character power could have been heightening the electricity on her mace to cause additional damage for a short period of time.

                Very little is known of Hawkgirl in her narrative aside from the fact that she’s the first Hawkgirl and that her husband Hawkman has died in the alternate universe ruled by Superman. She’s hardly in the story mode and it’s rather disappointing since that makes her one of the only League members not to receive a chapter in that mode. Luckily, her costuming is at least on point. While her default costume is undoubtedly reminiscent of Kendra Saunders’ Hawkgirl costume it is still stylish and features some interesting textures. Her alternate costume is an Egyptian-inspired costume that’s both regal and badass. Having two great costumes in the game is a luxury most of the other characters don’t have.

                Hawkgirl is a treat to fans of Justice League and DC Comics more generally. They took a risk with a winged character and it paid off to some degree. She’s a brilliant warrior whose mace proves to be a rather fun weapon to toy around with on the battle field but the lack of attention paid to other aspects of the character is disappointing. While she’s hardly the worst female fighter in the game, she’s not the best either leaving her somewhere in the middle.

Grade: B