Some innate abilities of the characters surface in basic hand-to-hand combat, and you'll find that physically inclined characters like Superman and Martian Manhunter are better suited to fisticuffs. In addition to having inherently stronger attacks, certain heroes can also pick up objects in the environment like light posts, cars, tables, and boulders, then swing or throw them at enemies. However, it's the special powers that make each hero unique. From the start, each hero has access to three special powers, which you activate by holding a button to pull up an onscreen context menu. It's here that you'll find most of the heroes' trademarked abilities and gadgets, which not only make the combat flashier, but prove all but necessary when facing swarms of enemies or particularly tough bosses. Some of the abilities feel similar among the heroes. For example, Superman's heat vision, Green Lantern's plasma bolt, Martian Manhunter's psychic pulse, and Zatanna's fire bolt are all similar ranged attacks. Still, Zatanna's the only hero with a healing ability; Superman can make himself virtually impervious to physical attacks for a short time; Batman can summon a swarm of bats; Martian Manhunter can shape shift; The Flash can use a pinball attack where he bounces around the room seemingly at random; and so on. It's a little weird how The Flash runs around at the same speed as everyone else and how flying characters can hover only a few feet up in the air, but the five unique special powers available to each hero go a long way in making them feel like their comic book counterparts.

Between experience points and boosts, you have a good number of customization options.

As you beat your way through hordes of alien warriors, a wide variety of killer robots, freaky interdimensional monsters, and the regular boss encounter, little green orbs will spill out of your enemies. Collecting these orbs increases your current hero's experience. And as you gain experience levels, you'll earn points that you can put toward your existing special powers or that you can use to unlock new special powers or to increase basic characteristics like combat, health, energy, and regeneration. Enemies will also drop "boosts," which are special power-enhancing orbs. If you've put experience points toward abilities or characteristics, you can apply these boosts to them. There are six types of boosts--damage, efficiency, range, luck, speed, and duration--and they can be found in seven different quality levels. You can also combine three unused boosts into a single, more powerful boost. Your heroes can be wildly affected by how you distribute your experience points and boosts, but they'll still generally play as you'd expect the characters to play. Still, none of these upgrades affect the heroes' appearances. For that, you'll need to pick up special shield icons that are hidden in dark corners throughout the game. With enough shields, you can buy all kinds of alternate costumes, which actually have an effect on the heroes' abilities as well their appearances. Additionally, the shields can be used to unlock all-new heroes, including Aquaman, Green Arrow, Hawkgirl, and the Huntress, among others.

The action in Justice League Heroes is pretty straightforward. Most of the time, you're simply making your way from one end of a level to the other, tearing up as many enemies as possible along the way. On occasion, though, you'll be charged with rescuing civilians or destroying specific machinery, which are tasks that the game makes apparent with a persistent onscreen compass. You'll also come upon locked doors that you'll need to unlock by entering a specified button sequence in a limited amount of time, which adds some quick minigame action to the proceedings. The levels are usually designed to funnel you in a specific direction, but if you get lost, there's a handy minimap that gives the lay of the land and highlights important points.

Both versions look pretty sharp, but 720p support gives the Xbox version an edge.

Justice League Heroes appears to use the same basic technology that powered Snowblind Studios' first real hit, Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance. Dark Alliance was arguably one of the best-looking PlayStation 2 games of its time, but that was nearly five years ago, and standards have changed. Justice League Heroes still has a really clean look to it, especially when running in 720p on the Xbox version. The environments, while relatively small, are packed with detail and cover a wide range of locations. Though there's not a terrific variety of enemies within each level, the enemies you'll face change as you travel to new areas. And these new areas look pretty good. The overhead camera perspective keeps the action from feeling as grand as you might expect from this band of superheroes, some of the outdoor environments look a little grainy, and the occasional overuse of light and particle effects can create a little slowdown. At this point, it's not going to blow anyone's mind, but considering what the game is working with, Justice League Heroes just looks well put together.

While it shares a lot of its components with Snowblind's past dungeon crawlers, Justice League Heroes has a pretty unique flavor. It flexes the strengths of the DC universe quite well. Although there's undoubtedly some bellyaching over stuff like the inclusion of Zatanna and the omission of Justice League anchors like Captain Marvel, there is a respect for the source material that should satisfy fans. The character customization gives you enough freedom in shaping the heroes without betraying the characters, and at about 10 hours, it's a healthy-sized adventure. The game does both the comic book and the dungeon-crawler parts well enough that it has the potential to turn fans of one into the other.