A couple of weeks ago, the Scotsmontonian and I played all the way through Justice League Heroes in three days. I found the gameplay engaging without being innovative in the least. Think Baldur’s Gate Dark Alliance with superheroes. A solid, honest game that does the job, without revolutionizing anything.

Its big plus is the coolness of the heroes you get to play. For superheroes, you just can’t beat the player fantasy of being Wonder Woman, Superman, or Batman. The big minus is that for most of the game you don’t get to choose who you play, and end up having to be Zatanna and the Martian Manhunter at times. Eh. There are seven playable characters in total.

Marvel Ultimate Alliance, on the other hand, has a seemingly endless number of playable characters, including my Marvel favorites Thor, Iron Man, Elektra and Daredevil (though the latter is still locked after about five hours of play). However, in a game where some of the fun comes from upgrading and strengthening your character, do you really want to spread your effort across twenty of them, including some like Spider Woman or Ms. Marvel?

Gameplay in MUA is very similar to JLH, with satisfying melee and ranged fighting mechanics, as well as a decent variety of upgrades. However, MUA suffers from some annoying UI problems, such as the “unpause” button being different from the pause button, and “Accept” being on the circle. Also, the character customization system can only be used by one player at a time, forcing one to wait while the other spends level-up points. AnnOOOOying…

The graphics are much better in MUA than in JLH, and in fact the opening cutscene is probably the best I’ve ever seen. Unfortunately, the high amount of detail on the characters actually ends up being a disadvantage, as they blend in excessively with the detailed background.

Overall, each game is fun and worth a try, but I wouldn’t necessarily recommend playing both, unless you’re a huge superhero fan like I am. In this duel JLH comes out on top, but it’s by no means a crushing victory.