Genesis

Justice League Task Force

Squint your eyes when playing this game and you swear you're playing Power Instinct, Fatal Fury, Art of Fighting or any other fighting game. That doesn't mean Justice League Task Force is bad, it's just another fighting game that isn't any better or worse than the gazillion that are already on the market.

It's unfortunate that a great idea like a superhero fighting game is bogged down by poor control and lack of imagination. Looking for great fighting? Look elsewhere, because this be-League-red cart wouldn't fill Underdog's boots.

Well, it's a cool intro with Darkseid talking to you about taking over the world or something. Seriously, Justice League would be a cool game if, of course, the control was tweaked. Many of the moves are just darn near impossible to get off. Save for some basic charge moves, everything else you do is too much work to be any fun. What about the music, you ask? Yikes, turn it down. If you do manage to perform any moves, you'll be disappointed at how few there are.

16-bit fighting games, super hero or otherwise, must ultimately be compared to the Mortal Kombat series and the Street Fighter series. Stacked up against these ground-breaking heavyweights, this game falls flat. The controls aren't nearly as responsive, and the fights aren't as hard hitting or exciting.

Though the concept was great, the Genesis Justice League game just doesn't shine when you compare it to the more colorful characters, more interesting backgrounds and cooler moves of the Super NES version. Could there be a Marvel Comics fighting game in the works?

As an aside, the game does work well on the Nomad. The colors are brought out nicely, and the audio is crystal clear, with the sound effects really shining when you use headphones. The blurry screen doesn't cause much of a problem, barring the Superman eye blasts, that are just too quick to really block or avoid anyway, let alone when their size is messed up due to blurring making them appear larger than they are. This game isn't a shining beacon for either the Genesis or the Nomad, but at least the Nomad doesn't make it all that much worse than it already is.

Combined with an uninspired fighting engine, cheap AI, and a small character roster, Justice League Task Force is so shameful that not even the combined might of Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman can defeat this game's overwhelming wretchedness.

Superman and Aquaman have long, flowing hair that makes them look more like Fabio than superheroes, and Green Arrow looks like a complete ass in that Robin Hood outfit. Also included are three villains I've never heard of: Cheetah, Desperdo, and Darkseid. The backgrounds are static, and with the exception of Batman's Gotham City, are extremely uninteresting. The gameplay is equally uninspired. The special moves aren't very special, and the collision detection is suspect at times. The sound effects are terribly muffled, and the low, rumbling background music is barely audible. If not for its famous cast of characters, Justice Task Force would have been a complete bust.