Justice League: A Hero's Welcome

The Justice League unites, this time for a video game featuring the DC Comics superheroes. (Warner Bros. Interactive/ign.com)

With the success of Activision's Marvel Ultimate Alliance, it was only a matter of time before Warner Bros. and DC Comics released a similar game with their biggest stars. Thus comes Justice League Heroes, which easily holds its own in the superhero gamer market.

In Heroes, you face Brainiac and an array of villains, who, of course, are trying to take over the world, because that's what super villains do, after all. At your disposal in the fight against evil are some of the DC universe's finest: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, the Flash, Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter and Zatanna. (Well, most of them are DC's finest, but a magician can always come in handy when the world is being taken over.)

Gameplay is eerily similar to that of Marvel Ultimate Alliance, but purposefully so, considering the success of that title and the genre. You can play alone or with a second player, going up against various baddies, many of whom are gigantic robots waiting to be pounded in with super fists. Each character has unique abilities, which are enhanced the further you get in the game. Superman has strength, flight, heat vision and super breath. The Flash is super fast, and Batman is the man in hand-to-hand combat. Though many of the characters can fly, Batman's cape glide is one of the coolest character features of the game and is surprisingly addictive. Martian Manhunter's change from humanoid to alien form is also a sight.

The overall look is smooth, with graphics that do the characters justice. The dialogue has an occasionally corny one-liner but overall is solid for the genre. Although not completely on par with Marvel Ultimate Alliance, Justice League Heroes is worth a spin.

-- David Betancourt

Justice League Heroes Teen; Xbox ($20), PS2 ($30) Warner Bros. Interactive/ Snowblind Studios