Gameplay is pretty simple to understand if you've played Snowblind's previous action RPG titles like Champions of Norrath or Return To Arms. Basically you take on missions with two characters which you can switch between at your leisure at any time. Players have access to a weak and strong melee attack, the ability to jump or fly, a guard stance of some type and an array of special powers. Special powers are used by holding down the right trigger and hitting a corresponding button (Triangle, Circle, Square, X). Once you get the hang of how things work, it's pretty easy to enjoy all that the game has to offer. If you've played Marvel Ultimate Alliance then you already understand how this type of control scheme works. The PSP version of the game has flawless controls, though the camera can be a bit of a pain once in awhile.

There are a few other things worth noting about the gameplay. Depending on how strong you are you'll be able to pick up massive objects in the environment and use them as weapons. You can swing a tree like a bat, smash someone with a car or a truck or simply toss it at them and watch it all explode in a fiery beautiful wreck. The environment is highly destructible, and susceptible to many of our hero's awesome powers. This really adds to the feeling that you are controlling an ultra powerful being that can do a lot of collateral damage . A great example of this is Superman's Flying Strike; Superman flies forward smashing into everything in front of him - and if there happens to be objects in the way they are smashed to bits. The same goes for Flash's whirlwind attack - he spins around lifting up everything around him that is small enough - with the end result being a handful of dead things and bits of debris. It's very fun to watch these heroes unleash their destructive powers on the environment and anything stupid enough to be in their path of destruction.

It should also be noted that Heroes uses the tried and true method of Champions of Norrath - checkpoints. These checkpoints are liberally scattered throughout each level so dying isn't as dramatic as one might think. If both characters die then you head to the last check point but if one of you dies you can simply head back and instantly revive them and continue on. This method works flawlessly and makes dying less frustrating, though sometimes these checkpoints can be spread out a bit farther than they should be.

The game world is presented from a top-down perspective but this view isn't as restrictive as it is in most games presented in this manner. The world of Heroes is fully 3D and looks crisp and beautiful even on the PSP. It's tough for the various versions of the game to compete with the Xbox version's crisp 720p resolution, but the PSP version's graphics are very nice just the same. This world is populated by civilians, bad guys, and all kinds of objects like buildings, vehicles, trees, street signs and more that really fill out each area and make it feel like the fictional places they are modeled after. Add to that the highly destructive nature of these heroes' powers and you have the makings for a very interactive game world indeed.

When you've completed the storyline you can continue the adventure with all your characters and their progress intact from the beginning on a higher level difficulty to further grow your heroes or try your hand at the PSP exclusive challenges. One of the strong points of the console game was it's co-op play. The cooperative play in this game is so much fun, so it's hard to understand why it's not supported via ad-hoc or infrastructure mode on the PSP. In place of co-op is a poor substitute in the challenge missions. Don't get me wrong, the challenge missions are fun enough to play after you've completed the main storyline at least once, but the are certainly no substitute for the ability to play with a friend through the story mode. The challenge modes are simply extra missions with a specific objective. Some of these events are simple ones like kill "X" number of bad guys, but a few others are timed missions that can be quite challenging. There are a total of 4 challenge missions to choose from.

Justice League Heroes for the PSP is a nice solid action role-playing game that is surprisingly good and a lot of fun. Sure it's the same game as the Xbox and PS2 versions, and yes the multiplayer aspect was a very important part of the game that should have been implemented in one form another. But despite these minor gripes, I have no problem recommending the game to action RPG fans. Gamers looking for a super hero fix and think the DC Comics universe of heroes is "all that" should really give this game a shot.