It’s a stupid person to look at a balanced game aimed mostly at younger players and immediately dismiss it as a bunch of old bums.
Of course, most of the time they’re absolutely right – we still have the occasional nightmare about that time we played Hotel for Dogs on the Wii – but every now and then a licensed game will go above and beyond to deliver real quality.
DC’s Justice League: Cosmic Chaos is one such game. While it would be easy to shrug it off and assume it’s a half-hearted superhero game designed to keep the youngsters occupied for a few hours, what it actually delivers is a fun action game with a decent-sized campaign and some genuinely funny writing.
The game revolves around Superman’s occasional villain, Mr. Mxyzptlk, who has arrived in Happy Harbor, Rhode Island (the location of the Justice League’s Secret Sanctuary) to interrupt the mayoral inauguration of former Justice League member Snapper Carr. Calling on his supervillain Starro and capturing Snapper, Mxyzptlk declares himself the new mayor and plans to take over Happy Harbor for his own mischievous deeds.
It’s up to Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman to save the day, and the player can switch between the three at will during gameplay by switching between them using the d-pad. Of course, each has their own abilities and special moves, more of which are acquired throughout the game, but from the start, Batman has his batarangs, Superman has his laser eyes, and Wonder Woman can use her lasso to pull enemies towards her.
Combat is generally handled well enough and could probably be described as Diablo-lite, offering a similar isometric perspective as you beat up waves of enemies, whittling down their energy bars and collecting loot as they are defeated. The dodge move is handy for dodging last-minute attacks, and the ability to switch characters mid-battle makes it easy to juggle each hero’s unique powers and unleash, say, one of Superman’s more powerful special moves while Batman’s charges up.
It’s hardly reinventing the wheel, but it’s also sloppily done, with standard attacks falling flat with just the right amount of satisfaction. What’s more, five difficulty levels – ranging from ‘Story’, where the combat is very easy, to ‘Heroic’, which will test even the most hardened players – should ensure that this is a game that appeals to more than just kids despite its cartoonish appearance.
Driving this point home are the numerous unlockable suits that can be obtained by collecting comic book pages scattered throughout the game’s open world. These costumes span each character’s entire comic book history, going all the way back to the suits they wore in their first incarnations. Many of these outfits will likely be lost on younger players, but will appeal to longtime fans of the comic, further clarifying that this isn’t just a game for kids.
All this fan service would be for naught if the game itself wasn’t fun, but the wide variety of missions and side missions are ably supported by genuinely well-written, entertaining dialogue that should appeal to young and old alike. We’re wary of venturing into spoiler territory, so instead we’ll give an example from the game’s (slightly choppy) animated intro.
At one point Mxyzptlk asks Superman what his favorite food is, to which he excitedly replies “pretzels”. Mxyzptlk then promptly turns Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman into giant pretzels, causing Superman to apologize to his friends, explaining that “pretzels are my kryptonite”. Because of this, a frustrated Batman reminds Superman, “Kryptonite is your kryptonite.”
The often hilarious script is carried out by an all-star cast, with Nolan North (Nathan Drake) as Superman, Vanessa Marshall as Wonder Woman (she’s played her before in previous animated films) and animated Batman veteran Deidrich Bader taking over as the actor. The Caped Crusader again. The main villain Mr. Mxyzptlk was supposed to be played by comedy legend Gilbert Gottfried, but he passed away last year so Dana Snyder (best known as Master Shake in Aqua Teen Hunger Force) which is absolutely the best in performance.
So it checks the box for fun and the box for funny, but Cosmic Chaos isn’t a perfect game, especially when it comes to its performance on the Switch. The framerate is all over the place and constantly squeals and stutters, especially when exploring the larger open world area of Happy Harbor. Things pick up a bit when you’re fighting indoors, but still never threaten to achieve stability.
Switch to manual mode – which, by the way, we struggled with at times as the game occasionally failed to understand that we were no longer using a Pro Controller and didn’t want to accept the Joy-Cons until we were out on the Switch OS – and performance improves a bit. Unfortunately, however, the sharp anchor visuals become more blurry as a result, which is a particular shame given its shadowy style.
The fact that there is no cooperation in the main story mode is also a shame. There’s an ‘Instant Action’ mode that allows two players to play together, but we found it a bit pointless, with no real progress to speak of (it even unlocks all your abilities and all your costumes, meaning there’s really nothing to play for ). With co-op in the main story, this could have been a viable new alternative to the Lego games.
Despite its flaws, anyone looking for a solo adventure that will appeal to the whole family could do a lot worse than Cosmic Chaos. The average player will get through the story in about 10-15 hours (depending on whether you go through all the dialogue and take on all the side quests), and it’s written well enough to make you want to keep playing. It’s just a shame that the performance isn’t as polished as the script.
Conclusion
DC’s Justice League: Cosmic Chaos is a fun action brawler with a wide enough range of difficulty levels to appeal to both younger gamers and older superhero fans who aren’t above watching funny cartoons. Technical issues and lack of cooperation let it down, but what is there is a fun game that will last you decently.
