Video Game Wednesdays criteria include a) being electronic in nature and b) being a game
So, this game happened. I saw it, picked it up, hoped for the best. It’s okay at the most.
__________
It’s a well-known fact that tie-in games can be anywhere from amazing to horrific. (Remember ET?). I’m a huge fan of Young Justice, and really, really wanted to like this game.
I was not whelmed.
One of the better graphics moments, I think. Image courtesy of the internet.
For starters, the graphics. Legacy – even allowing for the budget generally given to these types of games – has sub-par graphics for a 2013 3DS game. While the idea of taking the 2D renderings from the show and putting them on a 3D model was an interesting idea, the resulting characters are often poorly proportioned and can look jagged during animations. The animations themselves are uninteresting, even during super-powered attacks. During an attack by Kid Flash, I want to see a blur of color and then have him right back where he was. The animation for Kid Flash makes him look slow for a normal person. When Artemis fires an arrow, it looks wildly off-course. The locations are fairly generic and come dangerously close to stock graphics. Overall, it’s not visually pleasing.
The graphics. Image is also courtesy of the internet.
However, I can generally overlook graphics in favor of gameplay. The RPG-type game can easily become boring and repetitive. Unfortunately, Legacy falls into that territory quickly. After three or four levels, I was already feeling the grinding feeling you get after running a dungeon or boss battle half a dozen times. And these were normal battles with half a dozen minions. The boss battles were either ridiculously easy or ridiculously hard. Some of them were fun, with steps required to defeat the boss rather than just pounding away. Those seemed to be the rarity, however. The controls are clunky as well. It took me quite awhile to figure out how to move my characters and attack. I’ve never had that much trouble figuring out controls. Maybe because most games have something resembling a tutorial level that tells you exactly what to do. Legacy doesn’t, as far as I can tell. Worst superhero training ever.
Despite the terrible graphics and gameplay, the storyline itself was decent if you like Young Justice, although it’s not overly memorable, as evidenced by the fact that I can’t remember the plot only a few weeks after playing the game. Something to do with an artifact, I think.
The bright spot in this game was the voice acting. Using the original actors from the show, the acting was superb for one of these games. From Kid Flash continually getting his foot in his mouth to Robin with his new words, the characterization is the one thing I have zero complaints about.
________
Overall, I’d only recommend this game for avid fans of the cartoon, over 11 years, with patience to spare (I only fit two of those categories). For those of us looking for a super-powered game with graphics and gameplay to spare, maybe try Spider-Man 2 or one of the LEGO games. Much as I wanted to like this game, I have to give it a 5/10 for the voice acting and bias toward the show and characters in general.
