Justice League Heroes (PS2)

Justice League Heroes is a game released for the PS2 console as well as many other contemporary consoles, and it focuses on the battle of the most famed superheroes of the Justice League (Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern, etc.) as they foil attempts by multiple villains (The Key, Gorilla Grodd, Killer Frost, Queen Bee, Doomsday, etc.) to assist Brainiac in his endeavor to conquer all of the world. However, there is a special twist at the end that I won't reveal, suffice it to say it involves a really powerful enemy with a large head.

This is a reasonably enjoyable game, I think. I really liked the ability to go in and play as some of the Justice League characters who I knew and loved growing up, and still do. The combat moves were something great; they really lent a unique feel to the characters in that they weren't simply melee attacks (although believe me, there were plenty), but also special moves, like Batman's batarangs, Superman's laser eyes and ice breath, and Green Lantern's light hammer. One thing you gotta give this game is that they really did a good job from the hero standpoint.

Except when it comes to some of the less important ones. Like for example, who on Earth is Zatanna? I'd never even heard of her until now, I guess she's from a bunch of comics or something, but she just felt a little overly arrogant and out of place with all these really famous superheroes (and before you start going on about the Flash, just leave him out of it). Anyway, the character designs on a few of the unlockable characters were terrible. Take Aquaman for example. Try taking Aquaman's body, make it as pale as a baby's and then put a baby's head on it. That's literally what he looked like. Green Arrow looked good, but they guy who voiced him sounded like a cross between Ian McShane and Columbo, when he's supposed to have a proper English voice. However, Huntress and Hawkgirl were done pretty well.

One pretty iffish thing about this game is the story. I mean, sure, it was actiony, the level designs were good, and the graphics are actually really good for that era, but everything that was going on just felt all-over-the-place. I mean, the Justice League pretty much just kept splitting up and dealing with crises as they sprung up; all they knew for sure is that Brainiac was somehow involved, slightly. The thing is, they didn't really put it together more and more as time went on, and the game should have had a bit more of a cohesive feel to it. This isn't to say that the story of the game wasn't pretty good in the end, but it leaves you with a bit of a "what just happened?" kind of feeling.

I'd say the game's biggest flaw is the gameplay. Like I said before, the levels themselves were pretty good, but you only played in teams of two every time, and the process was almost universally the same: run through the level, find where you need to go, and do what you need to do. It just sort of felt bland, and uninteresting; there was no pizzaz that made me overjoyed to play through the level.

So what's my opinion on this game from a complete standpoint? I like most of the characters, but some of them were done too terribly for words. The levels looked pretty good, but after a while, it just felt like a tedious 1-2-3 process with little variety, so it's not too replayable. If you're going to get this game, you're going to have to be one of those people who likes to do one thing repeatedly. However, something inside me about the game prevents me from saying that it's bad, because it feels like it was a hearty, honest attempt at a good game about the Justice League, and to a great degree, it was! Still, this is a pretty small game, so if you're interested in it, I'd say it's only worth a rent, because you'll have done about all you can or want to do by the time you return it.