Gaming Trend

Gaming Trend Review

by Keith Schleicher

Growing up I remember watching the SuperFriends.  I remember how the band of superheroes like Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Hawkman, Aquaman, and the Wonder Twins would fight against the Legion of Doom.  Yes, some of it was as cheesy as a full cheese roll of cheddar, but back in those days as a kid it didn’t matter.  This was my first introduction to the Justice League of America.

In 2001, Cartoon Network brought back the SuperFriends using their original moniker, Justice League.  The series featured Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, The Flash, Martian Manhunter, and Hawkgirl.  The series was a huge hit and resulted in the spin-off Justice League Unlimited.  Warner Brothers felt that the time was right for a video game based on the characters and which resulted in Justice League Heroes (JLH).  While the game is based on the comics, comparisons to the cartoon series are inevitable.

The main characters of JLH are rendered with bulking muscles that really show off how skin-tight their spandex costumes are.  Their capes flow while running and flying.  They move smoothly while running or walking without exaggerated movements.  Not only that, but their alternate costumes were created with the same care as the original ones.  They really look like they could have used any of the costumes for the initial costume.

The backgrounds are varied well enough without feeling disjointed compared to the rest of the level.  You’ll go through the streets of Metropolis smashing cars and light poles, as well as traveling through office buildings.  You’ll also find yourself on the surface of Mars as well as fighting on your base of operations, the Watchtower.  Each location looks good with a number of breakable objects in each.  JLH also supports 720p, which makes the game look even better on high definition TVs.

The biggest issue with the graphics is the enemies you battle on the screen.  The enemies may change depending on which location you are fighting against them, but the enemies are generic for each level.  The levels are long too, so you’ll encounter the same enemy over and over and over again.  You don’t even get a chance to battle some of the lesser enemies of the Justice League unless you are fighting a boss battle.  A little more variety in them would have been nice.

The music is intense, like you might expect from a super hero game like this.  Several percussion instruments fill the background while minor chords pronounced by trumpets add to the tension.  Strings bring an air of majesty to the music, giving the music a ray of sunshine in the otherwise stressful chords.

The voice acting is competent for the title, but those who are used to the voices from the Justice League cartoon will find the differences jarring.  It’s not that the voice acting is bad.  In fact, a lot of the voice actors had some experience with Justice League, although in different roles.  Hellboy…er...Ron Perlman does a good job as Batman.  Superman is voiced by the same actor as Togusa from the Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex series, and his voice just doesn’t sound quite right for Superman.  Also, the voices get repetitive very quickly during the fighting, not to mention a bit corny.  Hearing Superman yell “SUPER!” wasn’t the brightest idea in the world.  All of the characters seem to have a catch phrase they like to yell every so often.

While there are some sounds from the backgrounds, there aren’t many background noises.  Superman picking up a car and swinging it around doesn’t have the punch that it should have.  Even the punches feel weak coming from the Man of Steel and the other members of the Justice League.

If you’ve played any other game similar to this, the controls will be familiar, but there are some adjustments you’ll need to be aware of.  Movement is handled with the left analog stick with the right analog stick handling the camera.  Hitting A does a quick attack while B performs a strong attack.  Hitting X picks up objects and throws objects or enemies.  Using Y once jumps, and hitting it twice makes your character fly or glide.  Using the right trigger blocks attacks.  Hitting Up on the D-pad switches characters.  Hitting Left, Right, and Down changes your partner to Defensive, Aggressive, and Normal attack modes.  Pulling the left trigger brings up your super powers menu.  Activating the super powers is done with the face buttons and the right trigger.

Using the super powers can be difficult.  It’s hard to see which super power is associated with which button.  Using the left trigger with the face button while staying in the correct direction of the enemies can be challenging.  While flying, it’s especially difficult to line your character up with the enemies because of the height differences.

The controls are responsive, but there is one issue with attacking.  You can get stuck in a combo attack, even though you might want to stop the combo.  Sometimes this means that you’ll leave yourself vulnerable to an attack because of where you are located when the combo is over.

JLH plays very much like any other overhead perspective action RPG.  You move your character around and fight against enemies that appear on the screen.  You pummel the enemies with melee attacks most of the time.  Your health and power meters show how much damage you can take and how much energy they have for super powers.  An experience meter that circles your character portrait fills up as you defeat enemies.  The Heroic Meter fills up when you attack flawlessly with combos.  Once it is full you can perform a Heroic Attack.

When you power up, you can upgrade your character in the stats screen using the skill point.  You can have up to five ranks for each power.  While it’s possible to upgrade your super powers in the powers tab, health and energy can be upgraded here.

You can assign Boosts to each rank within a specific power.  You collect Boost tokens while fighting enemies.  The six Boost tokens are Damage, Efficiency, Range, Luck, Speed, and Duration.  Each of these Boosts effect your powers in different ways.  You are also able to combine Boosts to create a stronger Boost token.  Boosts can be upgraded to the strength of seven.

The levels in JLH feel very linear.  You move from the beginning of the level towards the end of the level.  While you fight against enemies and rescue civilians along the way, there aren’t any real diversions or side paths to go through.  Occasionally you’ll encounter puzzles along the way that actually use the environment, but they don’t provide a huge challenge.

Most of the time you run through the level as a specific Justice League member.  Other levels let you choose the character you want to go through the level as.  This can be detrimental depending who you complete the level as, especially towards the end of the game.  You can’t neglect any of the main characters if you want to finish the game.  Otherwise you might be forced to fight against a powerful boss with an underdeveloped character that is specified for the storyline.

The biggest part of the game is the combat.  You are barraged with a seemingly endless supply of enemies.  Most of the enemies can be defeated using the simple attacks, but this gets quite repetitive.  If you are playing a super hero you want to use the super powers.  The super powers used for each character are accurate.  For instance, Superman has Heat Vision and a Super Breath, while the Flash has a Pinball Attack and a Whirlwind.  Unfortunately these super powers don’t feel very super.  They feel very underpowered, especially at the beginning of the game.  Also, they look the same even if you increase their stats.  It can actually get quite old after a while.

Your energy regenerates slowly, so you don’t have to worry too much when you wind up out of energy.  Your health regenerates when you are able to get away from the enemies and rest.  While you do gain health while blocking, it regenerates slower than while resting and not blocking.

One other flaw of the game is the AI of your computer partner.  Most of the time your partner runs towards the enemy with reckless abandon instead of running away when their health is low, even while in a defensive mode.  Sometimes it is better to let your partner get killed and regenerate them at the most recent checkpoint, which really isn’t in the spirit of the Justice League.

While the storyline can seem to be a bit derivative towards the beginning, a couple of plot twists actually make you want to progress through the game.  Just when you think the game is over, something unexpected happens.  Snowblind Studios should be commended by creating a story that really works with the characters.

JLH gives you the ability to add in a second player at any time.  All you need to do is pause the game, select “Add Human Player 2,” and exit the menu again.  If one of you wants to drop out, you do the same except you select “Remove Human Player 2.”  It’s nice to see this multiplayer, but it would have been nicer if the game supported four players.  Also, the game doesn’t provide any Xbox Live support which would be perfect for a co-op play through.

As you rescue citizens they drop JLA shields.  These shields are used to unlock additional content, such as extra characters or costumes.  While the ability to get new characters is great, using them can be detrimental towards the end of the game.

You won’t be able to accumulate enough JLA shields to unlock everything in the first play through.  Still, there aren’t any new modes to play through.  Instead you end up playing through the game again with the specific characters that you are required to play with in specific situations.

Snowblind Studios is a veteran developer that has specialized in games like this.  They created Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance, and the PS2 Champions of Norath games.  With all this experience, Justice League Heroes feels like a disappointment.  Fans of the Justice League will probably enjoy going through the game for the story and the alternate costumes and unlockable characters.  Those looking for a new super hero action RPG experience might look at Marvel Ultimate Alliance to get more bang for their buck.

Gaming Trend Score

72

1. Graphics: 78
2. Audio: 65
3. Controls: 76
4. Gameplay: 75
5. Value/Replay: 60
6. OVERALL:72