Metareview - Justice League Heroes
by Alan Rose 
{ Oct 20th 2006 at 5:28PM }
The success of the X-Men Legends series proved that there is still a market for good hack-and-slash RPGs. But Warner Bros. Interactive wasn't about to let Activision and Marvel Comics have all the fun -- not when the WB is home to DC Comics and some of the most beloved superheroes of all time. The resulting Justice League Heroes falls a little short of its mutant counterparts, despite the efforts of Snowblind Studios (Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance, Champions of Norrath) and Justice League Unlimited writer Dwayne McDuffie. Die-hard fans will be disappointed by the omission of some popular Leaguers, although the alternate costumes and their unique modifiers might make up for that. More unforgivable is that the members of Gotham City's impressive rogues gallery are absent from a JLH villains roster that sorely needs them. How about a Batman Legends next?
- Game Informer (73/100) was generally displeased, but cited a first for The Man of Steel: "It only offers two-player offline cooperative play. Enemy types and environmental architecture are highly recycled. The plot reads like a kindergartner's first attempt at writing. On the plus side, this is the first game that successfully makes Superman a fun character to play."
- 1UP (65/100) wasn't content throwing down with Lex Luthor, Braniac, and Gorilla Grodd: "Maybe the drama would have been more believable if the villains weren't downright dumb. A talking gorilla, an intelligent robot, and a killer bee? That's all you got, DC? Where are all the Batman villains? The Joker, Two-Face, Catwoman -- now those are villains worth fighting. Not some dude who calls himself 'The Key'."
- IGN (64/100) thinks JLH's character balance is a little off: "Surprisingly, Zatanna is the most potent character in the game. She can heal, cast an over-powered fire attack at low cost (when leveled up), and can turn 95% of all enemies into harmless rabbits. Sadly, Batman is easily the most useless and joyless character you can select. Even Aquaman is more fun to play. Batman's powers, such as calling in a fleet of bats, just don't cut it."
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Scott @ Oct 20th 2006 5:48PM
I never understood why they didn't take the art in the direction of Justice League Unlimited. It just looks ugly in its current form.
BklynKid @ Oct 20th 2006 6:01PM
I never understood all the hype around this. The second I saw it I somehow knew it would be mediocre at best.
rpg_man @ Oct 20th 2006 6:03PM
Looks like this one will be a discounted $20 title for me next year. The lack of Batman villains is really lame, but I wonder if they're saving them for a sequel.
Intangible 360 @ Oct 20th 2006 6:13PM
"The plot reads like a kindergartner's first attempt at writing."
That just made my day.
rubaiyat @ Oct 20th 2006 7:04PM
I don't know about the second review.
HOw exactly is Two-Face a more appropriate villian than Gorilla Grodd or Brainiac?? Grodd and Brainiac are affirmed threats to the world...not just homicidal maniacs trying to poison the water supply.
It's lame NO Batman villians are present, but lets be honest...it's not like I expect most of them to be able to fight BATMAN one on one, let alone Superman and the other Leaguers.
I mean..Two-face...will have a couple guns?? Vs a supersmart robot that can physically fight Superman or Gorilla Grodd that can psychically control his enemies?
Jontarou @ Mar 25th 2007 11:00AM
"Batman's powers, such as calling in a fleet of bats, just don't cut it." That's ridiculous.
It's true that most of Batman's popular rogues gallery members really don't fit a game like this. They aren't out-and-out fighters. Bane could have worked, though.
FSK405K @ Oct 21st 2006 2:57AM
Just watched BSG and saw a TON! of ads for this game. Looking at the meta scores here on Joystiq I see why they bought so much advertising.
Beesnipe @ Oct 21st 2006 9:17AM
...... I hate hack and slash.
Icupnimpn2 @ Oct 21st 2006 10:45AM
I've been playing this game over the past few days. It's turning out to be one of those guilty pleasures.
As a whole, it is inferior to the X-Men Legends series. However, there are certain qualities that are difficult to describe that make the game fun to play. Keeping in mind that I haven't played Legends II in a number of months, here's a rundown of what I've noticed, good and bad, in comparison to Legends:
- The non-celshaded character models of JLH somehow make the more visceral. The characters feel like they have more weight, and their attacks seem to have more impact. I've been an advocate of celshading since Jet Set Radio, so this came as a surprise to me.
- Environments in JLH are somewhat less destructable, but are more detailed. In the Gorilla City levels, there are baskets of fruits around. When you pick up the basket and heave it over your head, some fruits pop out. When you throw the basket in someone's face and the basket breaks, the rest of the fruits tumble to the ground. If you throw a piece of machinery at someone, tiny flaming pieces of shrapnel will remain on the ground until they burn out. These little details impressed me.
(to be continued)
Icupnimpn2 @ Oct 21st 2006 10:44AM
More details from Justice League Heroes:
- The special attacks really make characters feel distinct from eachother. There's no mistaking Green Arrow (with his five long range attacks) for Superman (with a couple range attacks but also charge moves and an uppercut).
- At first, I thought that Batman's moves were odd, but now I enjoy them. His batarang has a very good chance of disarming an enemy, something batman does all the time in the comics and cartoons. Many enemies have multiple behaviors, including ground-fighting, flight, and distance and melee attacks. One of the easiest ways to die is to be engulfed by enemy lazer fire or bullets. Batman can disarm these foes from a distance and then it's safe for you to move in and pummel them. Batman also has a fun grappling-hook move that pulls you straight up to the enemy and gives them a whack.
- The cinema scenes are really, really lame. They're more Superfriends than Justice League. And the character renders are honestly ugly.
- The levels, on the other hand, are fun. As I mentioned, the environments are detailed. But more importantly, the levels are diverse in setting. One has Superman and Wonder Woman flying around in outer space destroying devices on the outside of a space fleet. That's something you don't get to do in X-Men Legends, but is appropriate for the DC Universe.
- Characters aren't as customizable as they are in X-Men Legends. That, plus 2 playable characters at a time vs. 4 in Legends, makes JLH feel more like an old-school beat-em-up than a RPG hybrid.
- Some of the heroes can pick up really, really big objects. It is satisfying to smash enemies with such gigantic props. Characters can even fly while carrying something like a van.
All-in-all, I am really having fun with this game. If you play it, pretend the X-Men Legends series doesn't exist. JLH is not as well-developed, but I really hope they put time in to make a sequel. It could be stellar. JLH is goofy, satisfying fun and is at least a little bit better than professional reviews have been making it sound.
Icupnimpn2 @ Oct 21st 2006 10:46AM
OK I posted those out of order, but I hope they give some insight.
Wat Tsu @ Oct 21st 2006 9:33PM
I was kind of excited for this game, but the footage I saw didn't really impress me. If it's a decent multiplayer game, I might rent it though, because my ladyfriend loves the Justice League and we had a lot of fun playing through Gauntlet: Seven Sorrows together.
This should have unquestionably been based on the Timmverse Justice League, especially if McDuffie wrote the storyline. No disrespect to Ron Perlman, but I was very disappointed when I found out he was doing the voice of Batman. My kingdom for Kevin Conroy!
But that's just one hopeless nerd's opinion. Wonder if Ultimate Alliance will be any good...
Wat Tsu @ Oct 21st 2006 8:39PM
And one more thing: Batman may have the best rogues' gallery ever, but most of them are simply not on the level of the Justice League. Bane, maybe, and the Joker is always a convincing threat, but the League's not going to get mobilized for a bunch of mobsters and asylum escapees.
...Yeah, that's enough out of me.
Batfreak @ Oct 23rd 2006 10:51AM
This game was disappointing. I beat it in under 20 hours and the X-Men Legends series far outshines this game. I was hoping for more cuusotmization of characters. I was disappointed that all the Green Lanterns had the exact same powers. Martian Manhunter was decent but the pwnage crew was Zatanna and Superman. Her buffs and heals along with her timeshift and turning baddies into rabits complimented all characters, but mainly complimented Supes the best. I was also able to beat Doomsday with just Batman after my inferior Green Lantern bit the dust.
All in all I give this game 2 out of 5 stars.
tom @ Jan 3rd 2007 2:49PM
how do you kill doomsday? keeps kickin my ass?