| Justice League: Chronicles | |
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| Developer | Full Fat |
| Publisher | Midway Home Entertainment |
| Director | Paul Adams |
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| Composer | James Barnard |
| Platform | Game Boy Advance |
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| Genre | Beat 'em up |
| Modes | Single player,multiplayer |
Justice League: Chronicles is a 2003beat 'em up video game developed byFull Fat and published byMidway Games for theGame Boy Advance. The game, based on theJustice Leagueanimated television series, features three episodic storylines, each showcasing a pair of the League's members in an overhead beat 'em up format and including a challenge with a 3DMode 7 presentation.
The game was announced as a sequel to Midway's previousJustice League gameInjustice for All under the working titleJustice League: Dark Reflections. Upon release, it was received unfavorably by critics, who faulted its unresponsive controls, repetitive combat, and lackluster presentation.
Justice League: Chronicles is abeat 'em up video game with an overhead view.[1][2] Players controlJustice League members in three episodic storylines ("Dark Winter", "Trial in Ape City" and "Savage Time"), each featuring a specific pair of heroes.[3] Players can switch between heroes in real-time, and each hero has two unique special abilities, such as theGreen Lantern's shield or theFlash's spinning attack.[1] Each episode features a challenge with a 3DMode 7 presentation and concludes with a boss battle.[2][3] Players can interact with barrels and boxes, which can be picked up and used as weapons.[1] The game supports cooperative multiplayer via aGame Link Cable, allowing two players to control the paired heroes.[3][4] A Watch Tower Combat Simulator mode allows players to create custom hero pairings outside the story mode.[1]
In "Dark Winter", theMartian Manhunter is suddenly caught off guard by a powerful psychic presence while surveyingAntarctica. The Green Lantern and the Flash arrive to investigate a science facility in the area and discover thatKiller Frost has taken control of it. The facility's scientists mutter about a black diamond named the Heart of Darkness, which will supposedly unleashEclipso upon an imminentsolar eclipse. Green Lantern and Flash defeat Killer Frost and rush to the Heart of Darkness's location, where they face the emerged Eclipso, who credits his escape to Killer Frost's wicked heart. Upon Eclipso's defeat, he is cast back into the Heart of Darkness, though Green Lantern surmises that as long as darkness exists in the hearts of men, he will always be a threat.
In "Trial in Ape City", the Justice League members are arrested at aUnited Nations meeting by the authorities of Ape City, who charge them with kidnapping their leaders and stealing their technology.Batman, deducing that the League is being framed, suggests allowing themselves to beextradited to ease investigation. Batman andHawkgirl escape their cell to begin gathering evidence; the other members stay imprisoned to avoid cementing their perceived guilt, and they suspectGorilla Grodd's involvement. The pair encounter discolored doppelgangers ofSuperman andWonder Woman, which they later determine is a single shapeshifting creature. Atop the city's royal tower, Batman and Hawkgirl confront Grodd and the shapeshifter,Amazo, an android stolen fromProfessor Ivo. Grodd boasts of his plot to stage a politicalcoup of Ape City before Batman and Hawkgirl defeat him and Amazo. The kidnapped leaders are released and Grodd's plan is revealed to the populace, proving the League's innocence.
In "Savage Time", Superman, Wonder Woman and Martian Manhunter enter a temporal anomaly to correct an error in history;Vandal Savage has brought advanced technology to theAxis powers duringWorld War II, putting theAllies at a disadvantage. Superman and Wonder Woman assist at the front lines while Martian Manhunter seeks out the origin of the anachronistic war machines, eventually uncovering Vandal Savage's involvement. The three infiltrate Vandal Savage's headquarters before he can launch a final assault on the Allies and foil his plot to rule the world as the war's victor, preserving Earth's timeline.
Justice League: Chronicles was published byMidway Games and developed byFull Fat under the direction of Paul Adams, with Midway's Nathan Rose,Warner Bros.' Jason Ades andDC Comics's Ames Kirshen acting as producers.[5][6] The game was programmed by Florian Raoult and Crispian Daniels. Adams and Peter Ranson were the game's concept designers, with Jamie Byrne and Jamie Bamborough designing the levels. The artwork was created by Byrne, Bamborough and Tony Chen, with Andrew Nixon working on the cutscenes. James Barnard created the game's audio. The stories and scripts were written by Eric DeSantis and Chad Lowe.[6]
On May 9, 2003, Midway Games announced atE3 that it would release a sequel to its 2002 titleJustice League: Injustice for All, titledJustice League: Dark Reflections, and displayed the game at the company's booth the following week.[7] It was shipped to North American retailers under its final title on November 10, 2003.[8]
| Aggregator | Score |
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| Metacritic | 43/100[9] |
| Publication | Score |
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| Game Informer | 3/10[10] |
| GamePro | 8/20[11] |
| GameSpy | 2/5[3] |
| GameZone | 6.5/10[1] |
| IGN | 4/10[2] |
| Nintendo Power | 14.5/25[4] |
Justice League: Chronicles received "generally unfavorable" reviews according toreview aggregatorMetacritic.[9] Pong Sifu ofGamePro and Craig Harris ofIGN derided the game as sloppy and rushed.[2][11] Jeremy Zoss ofGame Informer and Raymond Padilla ofGameSpy were particularly dismayed at the wasted potential of aJustice League video game.[3][10] Padilla andGameZone's Tha Wiz suggested that fans of the property might tolerate it,[1][3] though Harris warned that even fans would be disappointed.[2]
Critics panned the controls as unresponsive, laggy, and imprecise. Zoss described them as "floaty".[10] while Padilla noted frequent input lag and poor collision detection, leading to frustrating button-mashing.[3] Harris highlighted "horrible imprecision" and issues with character-swapping mechanics,[2] and Pong Sifu called the controls "abominable".[11]
The combat was widely criticized as monotonous and overly reliant on button-mashing. Padilla described it as a "poorly-executed mess" with limited move sets,[3] and Pong Sifu noted "pathetically limited" moves and weak superpowers.[11] Harris criticized the lack of a combo system and "loosey-goosey" collision detection,[2] while Tha Wiz called it a simplistic "arcade-style beat-em-up" with repetitive boss patterns.[1]Nintendo Power noted the characters’ actions were limited to basic running, jumping, and punching, despite their potential for more.[4] Zoss and The Wiz criticized theAI, particularly for the non-controlled partner hero; Zoss called the helper character "useless as a second appendix", and Tha Wiz noted that the AI partner often stands idly by, undermining the teamwork concept.[1][10]
The presentation was deemed lackluster. Padilla described the graphics as "mediocre", with dull environments and poorly animated characters.[3] Harris criticized the "stiff and lifeless" animations and bland backgrounds, though he and Padilla noted the 3D Mode 7 sequences as a minor highlight.[2][3] Tha Wiz praised the hero designs but found the backgrounds boring and repetitive.[1] Zoss described the characters as bland and was baffled by Superman's resemblance toJay Leno.[10]Nintendo Power, on a minor positive note, called the characters "big and bold".[4] Tha Wiz described the music as "canned" and lacking impact, with no voice-overs and generic comic-style sound effects.[1] Harris found the music oddly haunting and mismatched with the superhero theme.[2]
Critics acknowledged some variety in level design, with horizontal scrolling, vertical scrolling, and pseudo-3D flying sequences, but found it undermined by poor execution. Padilla noted the variety but wished for more refinement,[3] while Harris found the platforming elements frustrating due to poor controls.[2] Tha Wiz appreciated mission switches, like third-person viewpoints, but found the level layouts uninspired.[1]
Game Informer ranked the game at #10 on their list of "Top 10 Worst Games of 2003", writing that "Not since theWonder Twins has something brought so much shame to DC's mightiest heroes".[12]