Justice League Heroes- PS2 (Review)

This is a review for the PS2 game.

I just finished playing through this game for the 4th time last night and the replay value is just insane!

This game is an action RPG made by the same company that developed Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance and the Champions of Norrath games. Like those games, you have a bird's eye view of the action with an adjustable camera. There are always two heroes on each level. You have the choice of having a live second player or having the second hero AI controlled. (And the AI is pretty good, too!)

Although you don't have a choice of what heroes to play until later in the game, you'll play using the core JLAers: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Martian Manhunter, Flash, Green Lantern(John Stewart), and Zatanna (I would have preferred Dr. Fate). As you progress, you can unlock Hawkgirl, GLs Kyle Rayner and Hal Jordan, Jay Garrick, Walter West, Green Arrow, Aquaman and Huntress, in addition to new costumes for the existing heroes!

Throughout the game you pick up power upgrades so that you can choose what aspects of your hero's powers you want to focus on. And the powers are handled beautifully in this game! Even a simple block is unique for each character and incorporates who they are and what they can do! GL's form a shield, Wonder Woman reflects the attack BACK with her bracelets, and Martian Manhunter becomes intangible!

The villains you face include classics like Killer Frost, Brainiac, The Key, Doomsday and one villain that I won't ruin the surprise for!

The frame-rate is as smooth as melted butter and despite being a little too short, the game has incredible replay value as you unlock new characters and your power animations change in subtle ways as they grow in strength.

Although I am partial to the DC universe, I found this to be a better game than the PS2 version of Marvel: Ultimate Alliance. The environment is MUCH more interactive in "Heroes" (guys like Superman can fly around swinging cars like baseball bats on the very first stage of the game!) and the animation and frame-rate is a lot smoother.

If you like action RPGs and haven't given this one a try, go check it out! Saving the world has never been this cool!

Quality: 9.0/10

Relevance: 5.5/10