The Marvel
Comics universe certainly does not have a shortage of superhero teams and while
the X-Men stands out among the more powerful groups like The Avengers or the
Fantastic Four, it is DC Comics’ Justice League that is the true force to be
reckoned with since the roster does include the likes of Batman and Superman.
Unfortunately, when it comes to games, Marvel beats out DC with games such as
X-Men Legends and the recent Marvel Legends. Thankfully, we finally get a game
featuring our favorite superhero team with Justice League Heroes but is this the
game fans of the super team have been waiting for?
The answer is
both yes and no. Justice League Heroes features an impressive lineup of heroes
that make up the Justice League including Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, the
Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter, the Flash and a number of other recognizable
heroes that make up the team. Then again, the game borrows from Snowblind
Studio’s repetitive hack and slash Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance so the game
feels like X-Men Legends without the deep role-playing game exploration and side
quests. Still, Justice League Heroes has a lot going for it as well as a good
story written by comic book scribe Dwayne McDuffie.
Justice League
Heroes begins with Batman calling in with a distress signal and Superman just so
happens to answer it. It seems that an invasion of deadly robots have suddenly
swarmed into the city. It seems that the meteor that his Earth has unleashed a
threat to the world, one that somehow involves our heroes worst villains such as
Brainiac, Gorilla Grog and Doomsday just to name a few of DC Comics’ deadliest
foes. While the game forces you to pair up with the basic Justice League heroes
(Green Lantern with the Flash in one segment and then Wonder Woman and mistress
of magic Zatanna), you can later pick a pair of heroes of your choosing.
Thankfully, by this time you’ll have unlocked extra characters such as Aquaman,
Huntress, Hawkgirl as well as Green Arrow.
Much like X-Men
Legends, each hero has his or her own unique powers – or in the case of Batman
and the Green Arrow – his own unique skills. Superman, for example, has heat
vision, the ability to fly, icy breath and his super strength. Meanwhile, Wonder
Woman can deflect bullets with her wristbands as well as use her enchanted
lasso. Aside from their powers, each character excels in packing quite a punch
or kick as well as pulling off combo moves. There is some RPG-styled upgrading,
allowing you to power up various aspects of your hero’s powers or skills.
Therefore, if you want to upgrade Zatanna’s ability to turn half the enemies
within view into harmless bunny rabbits all you have to do is to upgrade her
Polymorph magic. You can even augment your hero’s powers by assigning Boost
tokens you collect during the game. The Boost system allows you to mix and match
six types of Boosts to give your character an extra edge in battle.
Unfortunately,
even with these cool powers, the action is really quite repetitive. You’ll move
through each level taking out numbers of drones and henchman in order to reach
the level boss at the end. There are main objectives to complete with very
little in terms of side missions. In addition, the hand-to-hand combat controls
are rather dull to begin with and the power meter runs out quickly. The good
news is that you can switch from one hero to the other instantly and you can
issue orders to your computer-controlled comrade to go into a defensive mode or
an aggressive attack mode with the D-pad. Even if your companion manages to go
down in battle, he or she instantly reappears at every checkpoint. You will
actually be thankful for that seeing as you will definitely need the extra help
during the game’s epic boss battles.
The PS2 version
of the game doesn’t stand out as well as the Xbox version but this doesn’t mean
the visuals aren’t bad at all. In fact, when it comes to the character models
and the cutscenes the game does look pretty good. Even on both versions the
special effects are dazzling and lights up your screen rather impressively. Fans
will get a kick out of watching Superman’s heat ray vision move across the
screen shattering crates and destroying objects along the way or the way the
Flash zips through the environment at super speeds.
The sound, on
the other hand, is a lot better than the visuals since it’s made up of nicely
detailed sound effects, a great score and good voice acting. The score is
wonderfully cinematic and becomes dramatic in all the right moments throughout
the game whether you jump into a boss fight or attempt to save civilians from an
onslaught of henchman. As far as the voice acting is concerned, there are some
great acting on the part of Ron Perlman (as Batman) and Michael Jai White (as
the Green Lantern). The sound effects are wonderfully detailed as well.
In the end,
Justice League Heroes might be a wee bit repetitive when it comes to the action
but thanks to a great story, loads of upgradeable powers for each hero and a
strong lineup of characters, this games does our favorite super team justice. It
would have been great if the game piled on more characters to use much like
Marvel’s new game but if this is but the start of a new franchise, we can come
to expect good things from the sequel. If you’re a fan of the comics, you will
enjoy this game.
Review Scoring Details for Justice League Heroes |
Gameplay: 7.2
You’ll wish
the hand-to-hand combat moves were wee bit better but thankfully, the majority
of the characters have great powers that do justice to the heroes.
Unfortunately, some heroes just feel a bit off like Martian Manhunter and
Aquaman. The power upgrades are distributed nicely, allowing you to power up
your Justice League character with a number of cool powers.
Graphics: 7.5
The game looks
pretty good on the PS2, although you’ll come across some jaggies. Otherwise, the
cutscenes work beautifully and the character models really stand out. Yet what
will ultimately put a smile on your face is watching the powers light up the
screen.
Sound: 8.0
The game’s
voice acting is handled wonderfully seeing as some great voice talent handle the
role of some of our favorite heroes. Even the soundtrack gives the game its
cinematic feel, growing dramatic in all the right moments. The detailed sound
effects work wonderfully within the game’s action.
Difficulty:
Medium
For the most
part, the game is actually fairly easy since each character can heal rather
quickly but then again some boss fights will certainly give you quite a workout.
You’ll be grateful to have Superman on your side, that’s for sure.
Concept: 8.0
At last, a
game featuring all the familiar Justice League teammates we’ve come to love
since the comic was introduced. The game does toss in a number of unlockable
heroes like Green Arrow and Hawkgirl as well as alternate costumes for just
about every hero (including a classic version of the Flash).
Multiplayer:
7.5
Lacking the
four-player co-op of X-Men Legends, Justice League Heroes allows you and a
friend to take on the game’s story mode together and thus makes for a richer
experience. Really, this is a game you will want to share with a friend.
Overall: 7.5
While its
dungeon crawler roots make for a slightly repetitive action game, Justice League
Heroes is packed with all the right goodies to make this a fun new series with a
lot to offer. With an impressive collection of DC Comic’s finest characters,
fans will certainly have a lot to like about this game.
