Justice League Heroes is a console video game for the Xbox and PlayStation 2 platforms. It was developed by Snowblind Studios, published by Warner Bros. Games in conjunction with DC Comics and was distributed in Europe by Eidos Interactive. Based on the long-running comic book series Justice League and was written by comic book writer Dwayne McDuffie.[1] It uses the Dark Alliance Engine.[2]
Three handheld Justice League Heroes games were released at the same time for the Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS and PlayStation Portable. The Nintendo DS game shares a similar visual style and gameplay mechanics to the console game, but serves as a prequel to its story. This version was developed by Sensory Sweep Studios. The GBA version is titled Justice League Heroes: The Flash and focused primarily on The Flash. The game featured 2D sidescrolling action gameplay and a sidestory to the console game’s plot. This version was developed by WayForward Technologies.
Plot
The story of the game begins with Superman and Batman foiling the S.T.A.R. Labs ambush by robots controlled by Brainiac. After Batman and Superman defeat what they think is Brainiac, they discover that they have merely been diverted by a duplicate while another has raided the vaults of the Lab, taking Kryptonian DNA and a chunk of meteorite. Meanwhile, Zatanna and J’onn Jonzz (the Martian Manhunter) face off against Queen Bee and her drones, who are being assisted in their gradual conversion of Metropolis by some of Brainiac’s robots. After Metropolis has been saved, the League responds to a series of attempted nuclear missile hijackings; firstly, The Key attempts to hijack a missile before he is subdued by the Flash and Green Lantern (John Stewart), followed by an attempt by Killer Frost which is foiled by Zatanna and Wonder Woman. Despite the League’s efforts, one missile is launched undetected during a worldwide communications blackout caused by Brainiac.
However, the League realize it has been upgraded; capable of breaking Earth’s orbit, the missile has actually been fired at Mars in an effort to free the White Martians, who will invade Earth upon being reawakened. Superman and J’onn J’onnz travel to Mars to stop them from escaping; but this has been yet another diversion from Brainiac who, anticipating their success, took the opportunity to steal vital equipment from the White Martians. Brainiac has also freed Gorilla Grodd from imprisonment, who intends to take revenge on his jailors and humanity with use of his Earthquake Machine. While Wonder Woman assists Superman in stopping the few White Martian vessels that managed to escape Mars and J’onn Jonnz returns to the Watchtower, the rest of the League (including any unlocked characters the player may have accessed by this point) work together with Solovar to stop Grodd. Alone on the Watchtower, J’onn is ambushed by Doomsday who takes him prisoner and takes over control of the Watchtower while Brainiac steals a Mother Box from the League’s vaults. Regrouping in an emergency bunker, the League manage to retake the Watchtower, free J’onn and defeat Doomsday, before confronting the real Brainiac in his lair.
