Justice League Heroes renews my faith in games based on licensed properties. It takes a franchise with a long and storied legacy (recently renewed by several cartoon series including Justice League and Justice League Unlimited) and serves it up with an alternate storyline packed with DC Comics universe references, fun characters, a strong line-up of bad guys and a decent storyline . But even if you ignore all of that, it's really hard to ignore the various layers of gameplay icing on this super hero powered cake.

The console versions of the game tell the story of a series of robot attacks, but what starts out as an isolated incident leads to some strange happenings in locations around the globe further leading to multiple super villains that seem to be working together in an overarching and nefarious plot that dangers all of mankind. Fans of the Justice League comics and the animated series will feel comfortable with the storyline and the multitude of familiar characters (and villains) they encounter and eventually do battle with.

What makes this game particularly enjoyable is the attention paid to each hero and the number of choices you have as you progress. In this roster are such popular heroes as Green Lantern, Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Zantanna and The Martian Manhunter. You'll start out with two heroes at the beginning of the game (Superman and Batman) but as the game progresses you'll be zipping around as The Flash, turning bad guys into cute little bunny rabbits as Zantanna, shape shifting as Martian Manhunter, deflecting bullets as Wonder Woman and blasting baddies with your power ring as Green Lantern. As you collect Shields in the game, you'll be able to get new optional heroes like two more versions of Green Lantern (Kyle Raynor, Hal Jordan), Hawkgirl, Aquaman, Huntress and Green Arrow.

Whatever your favorites, you won't always be able to select who you want in all the missions, so it's always a good idea to build up whoever you're going to get stuck with the most. This isn't necessarily a bad thing because most of the heroes in the game really work well and have some awesome attacks in their arsenal that get the job done - the "job" being kicking ass and taking names.

As you progress through the game defeating robots, bees, White Martians, Gorillas and other bad guys you'll collect experience orbs, power-ups and shields that all serve a purpose in your growth and in the reward system that game uses. You'll also collect strange orbs called "boosts" that you can use to further enhance your powers.

As you collect experience you'll gain levels and be given ability points that you can use on the basics and advanced skills. These basics include things like health, energy (used by your various special powers), regeneration, combat and recovery (which dictates how fast you regenerate energy and health). The rest of these points you get as you level up are used for more powerful skills tailored towards your character. For example, if you were The Flash, perhaps you'd use these points to enhance your Pinball attack or speed enhancement, or if you're Zantanna maybe you'd use these points to enhance your polymorph skill. The character development system is surprisingly deep and chances are you won't be able to max out your character even after going through the game twice on several different difficulty levels.

As we mentioned, in addition to adding points to your skill set you can further enhance these powers by using what are called Boosts. There are a myriad of different types of boosts that you can collect but basically you "slot" these items much like you would a gem in a bracelet. Using these items will allow you to enhance aspects of your powers like how much damage it does, how much energy it uses, how long it last, etc. You can only carry 35 boost items at a time but you can combine boost to create more powerful types. But don't think that means you should stop collecting boost items as you play because there are plenty of opportunities to use them.

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 (X,B,Y, A). 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 X-Men Legends then you already understand how this type of control scheme works. Needless to say it's easy as pie.

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 high 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 if you so desire.

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.