Justice League Heroes – PSP – Review

Ok, brief synopsis – The Justice
League was formed many moons ago when a group of superheroes realized that by
teaming up they could thwart threats that otherwise would not be stopped by a
lone hero. In fact, many fans tuned in when in the late 90’s, DC revived the
Justice League when a group of white Martians (i.e. very powerful villains)
arrived on Earth disguised as new heroes and tried to enslave the planet. It
was comic-book storytelling at its finest and the four-part series still sells
well at comic book stores across the land. Then, a few years back, the Cartoon
Network created the Justice League cartoon and instead of the cheesy feel of
the late 70’s/early 80’s Super Friends, this cartoon tried to embrace the
popularity of the comic books. Some characters were as brooding, wise alleck-y and
arrogant as their literary cousins. 

So now we have a game that has
tried to embrace the popularity of a group of heroes that only comes together
when danger on a global scale erupts. And to start off, the game does a pretty
descent job of using the core characters, with the exception of one. Superman,
Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, The Martian Manhunter, The Flash are all
aces in my book; the comic books usually have Aquaman round out the team. The
cartoon on TV has Hawkgirl as their seventh, but in this game, the seventh
core player is the magician Zartana. I would have preferred Aquaman, and would
have tolerated Hawkgirl, but the selection of Zartana has me scratching my
head. For the most part, even casual comic book fans would recognize the above
lot, but with Zartana, you get a character who as far as I know, never had a
hit comic series and has no real fan base.

"Who says ya can’t catch a cab in this town?" 

So when you get down to the nitty
gritty, Justice League plays an awful lot like the very popular Untold Legends
series. Players start off playing the big blue boyscout himself, Superman. Supes
has Batman with him as they proceed to beat the snot out of a bunch of robots
terrorizing the city and attacking S.T.A.R. labs. It’s fairly easy stuff,
using the control nub you move around and use the face buttons to unleash a
series of attacks and combos. Pulling the left trigger allows you to use your
individual’s super powers. For example, Superman has heat vision, super breath
and a power punch, things we all know Superman has. This style of gameplay is
used on all the heroes and while The Martian Manhunter has martian vision and
Superman has heat vision, they both look an awfully lot alike. The same could
be said about several of the other characters. Still, the use of these powers
is limited to a energy meter if you will and I’m not so sure I care for this
as they are finite and do run out quite quickly. Waiting will recharge your
powers as does finding certain dropped or hidden icons scattered about the
levels but I just wasn’t sure I cared for this style of gameplay. I mean, if
Superman can’t throw his mega punches all the time, then you are doing the
character a disservice. Being able to repeatedly launch robots into a brick
wall, shooting his heat vision and generally whooping butt, is what makes him
Superman. You see, when not using the special powers, Supes hits things as
hard as Batman does and we all know that this is not right. 

Now I take this with a grain of
salt – the idea of limiting the heroes powers by utilizing a power meter – and
I realize it could prove to be very difficult to make a game that had the
correct physics and remain faithful to the core license. But you know you want
to play it and with the popularity of Marvel’s Ultimate Alliance title, we all
know it can be done. To me, they could have just leveled the playing field by
saying the initial robots were so tough that it takes Superman several hits to
destroy them and then couple that by having Batman use his explosive batarangs
in a similar fashion. I mean a punch from Superman would be like a hand
grenade right?  

Of course on the flip side of the
coin, I understand the developers may have needed to make the game this way
because the game would be way too easy if all you did was play as Superman and
beat the snot out of any and every thing. Heck, even the characters that can
fly, do so all throughout the game and you control them doing it. So don’t
think it’s a badly controlled or implemented game, just take it with a grain
of salt.

 
"Left, right, left, right."

The game is viewed from a sort of
automatically rotating sky-cam perspective. You know, exactly like Baldur’s
Gate: Dark Alliance. I enjoy this style of game as it is normally heavy on the
action and storyline. As you adventure, your characters will begin to level up
from all the people you have saved and baddies you have stopped. When you
level up you are given a point in which you can use to boost existing powers
or use them to activate new powers. Again, pretty standard fare, but it does
help when you start increasing your character’s recovery ability and when you
really start boosting the super powers.

I liked the fluid looking in-game
animation the game received, it has a certain look to it that tells you that
this was a well-developed game. The levels all have a good bit of variance to
them, jumping on the roofs of buildings battling in the JLA watchtower; I like
how color becomes very prevalent in the visuals. The dynamic over-head camera,
rotates to try and give you the best possible view, but does trap you
sometimes by not allowing you to see a baddie who is standing under an archway
and begins pelting you. Lighting effects are pretty crisp and there is a good
use of shading. Some slight pixilation when particle effects are used and I
noticed some skipping when watching the cutscenes, which by the by, look
fabulous.

Ron Perlman of Hellboy fame leads
the cast of voice actors. I don’t know if his voice fits the mantle of Batman
but he does the character with a generous amount of dread and brooding.
Superman seemed a little too light in the voice; I guess some of us expect
some weight when it comes to voicing the heroes. The voice cast from the TV
show is nowhere to be heard but by and large the voice work is done
professionally. There is some humor, some smarminess and some downright danger
to the voicework. The sound effects are pretty decent even though you can tell
it is the same whack and explosion type sounds you have heard earlier in the
game.

If there is a 400-pound gorilla
lying around, it would be the fact that there is a non-existent multiplayer
function. The game seems tailor made for a multiplayer fight fest since you
spend a good deal of the game running around with an A.I.-controlled partner
anyway. Factor in the fact that not only do you get to play as the core
Justice League members but as you play along secondary league members become
available. Heroes like Hawkgirl and Green Arrow become part of the rotation
and for me this just was the nail in the coffin. Imagine, a game where you
play as the elite team of superheroes and you can’t even ad-hoc up with your
buddy to go whup Gorilla Grod’s backside – sad.

Gameplay: 7.6
I still take issue with the fact
that as you adventure along, your powers both increase in strength and you get
new ones. I should mention that when you are playing with your A.I. partner
you can switch between the two. The game also automatically does this when the
character dies during battle. Of course, all you have to do is make it to the
end of the level with the remaining hero and both will magically appear at the
start of the next level. 

Graphics: 8.4
The heroes all look pretty good
and the environments do a good job of making you realize you are
adventuring/fighting in distinctly different areas. No recycled environments
here. The explosions and lack of slow-down when the action gets intense is a
bonus. This is one of the best-looking games I have seen on the PSP in a
while.

Sound: 7.8
While I appreciate the voice
talents of Ron Perlman and Michael Jai White, I – like others – miss the
voices from the TV show. Sound effects and soundtrack are above par. 

Difficulty: Medium
The game presents itself with some
good challenges but nothing you won’t make it through. Interestingly though
the game encourages you to really think strategically and not just punch your
way through every scenario.

Concept: 7.9
It’s a difficult enough challenge
making a superhero game that does a good job of making the heroes both fun to
play and not stray to far from their comic book cousins. Well Snowblind
Studios should be proud of themselves for meeting that challenge and making
the only Batman and Superman game that I didn’t look away from in disgust. 

Overall: 8.1
Overall I’d say that the game is
fun to play; it’s engaging, it’s dealt with the DC license in an acceptable
way and it manages to make you want to kick a little butt while wearing
tights.