Justice League: Chronicles – GBA – Review

There has been a long
running debate over which one is better … Marvel or DC comics. Personally, I
tend to lean a little more towards Marvel simply due to the fact that I am a
huge Ghost Rider, Iron Man and Juggernaut fan, but I’m also a huge fan of
Batman, the Flash, and Hawk Man too. Anyways, I’ve really gotten into the
Justice League cartoon on Cartoon Network over the past year or so, so I was
happy to see that they have released the series for portable enjoyment on the
GBA system … but for fans of the series like me is it worth the price of
admission?

Justice League Chronicles actually lets the player play
through three different TV episodes broken out into various acts. GBA owning DC
fans can play through such episodes as Dark Winter, where Green Lantern and the
Flash have to stop Killer Frost and Eclipso from utilizing a mysterious black
diamond from bringing Eclipso to full power, Trial in Ape City where Batman and
Hawkgirl fight to prove the Justice League’s innocence against Gorilla Grodd and
Amazo, and Savage Time which stars Wonder Woman and Superman traveling back in
time to World War II Germany fighting against the Nazis and Savage himself to
revert the time stream to normal.

One unique feature about JLC
is the fact that there are two super heroes that can be selected at any time
during gameplay. Both show on the screen at the same time and while only one is
controllable, a quick hit of the select button will change over to the other
one. This can be useful in various examples, such as using Green Lantern’s
shield if a lot of enemies are melee based or changing over to The Flash if you
get rushed since he can perform a spinning attack and hit multiple foes at once.
Each character has two different special powers that they can use, and they come
in handy in a pinch … not to mention if one hero gets low on life you can change
to the other one which helps in progressing and keeping each other alive.

Another nifty feature to JLC
is the Watch Tower Combat Simulator that can be selected rather than Story Mode.
Basically, each stage has a set two heroes that are used and cannot be changed,
as you read in the first paragraph. In the Watch Tower simulator however, you
can create your own “dream team” from your favorite two characters in the show,
like teaming The Flash up with Batman or Superman with Hawkgirl. While this
option would have been neat to go through the actual story mode, it was nice
that it was included and can help with the replay value.

One downside to JLC that I
found right off the bat revolves around the AI for both enemies and the heroes
themselves. JLC essentially is simply an arcade style “beat em up” game, so
enemies tend to just run around in the direction of your super heroes shooting
or hitting at them. The AI issues with the heroes come in with your partner,
since I figured that two of them emphasized “teamwork” … JLC proved that there
truly can be an I in team since the hero that you are not sing at the time tends
to just idly stand by and offers little to no help while you are getting
pummeled by an onslaught of enemies. Boss battle also simply have a repeat
pattern to their attacks, so more often than not beating them is only a matter
of watching, waiting, moving in to hit, then repeating the process over again.

Graphically, JLC does a good
job in representing the heroes themselves, but backgrounds tend to be a little
boring overall. While they contain items like barrels or boxes that can be
picked up and used as weapons by the heroes that you are playing with, the
overall layout looks a little too dull and uninspired for the most part with
simple color schemes and repeated textures. There are some good mission switches
here and there to break monotony, like switching to more of a third person kind
of viewpoint which helps out a little bit overall.

The sound in JLC was
mediocre at best as well, with canned music tracks that really didn’t do much
more than add in some background noise and no voiceovers from the heroes
themselves (I would have loved to hear wisecracking Flash as he zipped around
pummeling bad guys). Other than that, standard comic style whooshes and crashes
made up the majority of background and action noises.

Overall, JLC proves to be
enjoyable for a little bit if you happen to be a DC fan, and the ability to team
up with a buddy in multiplayer mode or pick your own set of two super heroes may
add to the overall longevity for a while. This could be a good purchase for your
younger DC fan for the upcoming holiday season, but I’d recommend doing a little
more shopping if you’re simply looking for a new action title to play on the
go. 

Gameplay: 6.8
The ability to
play as some of DC’s characters from the hit cartoon show on Cartoon Network was
nifty, but the AI issues and repetitive action scenes tend to get a little
boring after a while. The Watch Tower Combat Simulator helps a little bit in
being able to match up two of your favorites, but overall it’s going to be the
same action you encountered before.

Graphics: 6.3
The heroes were
done well, and there is even a nifty bio option that you can choose to go in and
read up about your favorite caped crusaders. The levels themselves tend to be a
little duller though, and while not horrible looking … they did get repetitive
quickly and seemed a little less exciting.

Sound: 6.0
The music is
designed to be somewhat intense, but consists of canned or looped tracks that
tend to simply fill in as background noise. There are no voiceovers in the game,
and the action consists mostly of the comic style whooshes or smacking kinds of
sounds.

Difficulty: Medium
Many of the
stages are pretty simple to figure out how to get from point A to point B, but
the action can get a little difficult at times. The fact that your partner
offers little to no assistance the majority of the game doesn’t help much
either.

Concept: 6.7
The concept of
playing through as some of your favorites from the show was neat, but the AI
issues and overall repetitive action may cause the fun to get boring after a
while.

Multiplayer: 7.2
Playing with a friend can definitely help to make
the game a little more fun as you can jump right into story mode with the
selected heroes and go at it with the bad guys and gals.

Overall: 6.5
Fans of the
Justice League cartoon will probably be the target audience for the game
obviously, but even die hard fans may get a little tired of this one as they go.
I would recommend checking it out if you are a DC fan, but definitely hang onto
the receipt just in case.