Forget for a moment the mediocrity of Gotham Knights and the upcoming Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League (which seems to be in the same vein). Ultimately, despite DC’s patchiness when it comes to movies, the truth is that it’s done pretty well in terms of video games, with Batman being perhaps the comic book hero with the best titles of them all.
Then there are the Injustice games, the Lego franchise, and even DC Universe Online, which was very successful and very popular to this day. With that and the first impressions of our UK colleagues in mind, it’s no surprise that when DC’s Justice League: Cosmic Chaos came my way, I quickly grabbed the review code. In some ways it felt like Minecraft Dungeons, and considering all the hours of gameplay I put into it, I couldn’t wait to get started.
Advertisement:
And the intro didn’t put me off. The Justice League was shown enjoying themselves in the aptly named idyllic harbor town of Happy Harbour, when they are suddenly faced with a series of fifth dimensional troubles in the form of Mxyzptlk and his minions. Starro also accompanies them and together they take over almost the entire Justice League. And I say “almost” because Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman manage to escape in an incredibly wondrous, beautifully animated intro.
This colorful trio make up the options you can select from in the game, which is surprisingly well-designed to appeal to both long-time DC fans and younger ones, who I suspect are the target audience. My initial hunch that the game would be similar to Minecraft Dungeons turned out to be pretty accurate, but we can also compare it to Lego games. Ultimately, DC’s Justice League: Cosmic Chaos feels like it’s a mix of the two.
Happy Harbor has a lot to explore, and as it should be, it’s full of secrets to discover, for example hidden comics that also give you cosmetic bonuses, but also fast travel points and much more. Exploring is fun, especially since you can do it with other players in co-op, but the world serves as a basic RPG premise (there are even side quests). As a result, you may find yourself visiting places you are not yet prepared for and getting a good scare. Thanks to this aspect, the colorful adventure is more or less difficult even for me, who is an experienced player, although the youngest will also be able to have fun. Of course, there are also difficulty levels to further balance the level of challenge and ensure no one gets bored.
Advertisement:
The graphics are very attractive and done in a beautiful style reminiscent of popular cartoons from the 80s and the first half of the 90s. Thanks to the surprisingly well-written story, the presentation of this game is on another level. . If we add to that a magnificent dubbing and a good fan serviceLike Batman flaunting his massive wealth all the time, the result is a true DC delight.
Combat is of course a very important part of DC’s Justice League: Cosmic Chaos, but unfortunately it doesn’t live up to any level of the game. The problem is that the system really lacks depth and so everything becomes a bit monotone. Of course, we can also protest against the lack of variety of the fights if we compare them to the beat them classics, but these were usually only an hour or two long and had an extraordinary depth of difficulty for anyone who wanted to go deeper. Variety in this game is mostly about different characters with unique characteristics, which boils down to certain characters automatically being better against specific enemies.
However, little by little, the trio of superheroes acquire more abilities and you can choose which ones to activate. Personally, I think Wonder Woman is my favorite for her ability to cause shockwaves to hit enemies around her and ensure there aren’t too many enemies around her. Each character has a super attack, which has a time limit so you can’t abuse it. Additionally, the Justice League members you freed from Mxyzptlk and Starro can come to your aid as if it were some kind of bonus attack.
Like I said before, I had high hopes for DC’s Justice League: Cosmic Chaos, even though it didn’t seem like a Game of the Year contender to me. It turned out to be exactly as I expected. An entertaining co-op superhero adventure, a beautifully written storyline, and lots of DC love for all ages. Of course, it would have been nice to have a deeper combat system and a bigger game world, and in fact no song from the game’s soundtrack comes to mind. However, if you like Lego, Minecraft Dungeons, and DC games in general, I highly recommend it. Without a doubt, my rating (a 7) is much closer to an 8 than a 6.