Levels are quite large, which is usually a good thing, but often you will run along a path for several minutes without encountering any enemies. These paths appear to have no other purpose than to artificially extend the length of the game. When enemies do appear, they come in large bunches of nearly identical models. Occasionally, you will have to clear a room in order to open a door and move on. Often, there is a lone enemy standing motionless in the corner or behind an object that you have hunt down in order to continue. This kind of thing happens all the time. Level design is poor and enemy behavior is nonsensical. Again, Young Justice: Legacy feels like a title that should have been released a decade ago.
So, how are the cooperative elements? You would expect a game based on a superhero group to have strong elements of teamwork. Co-op in Young Justice: Legacy is a mixed bag. Up to three players can play locally, which is better than the co-op minimum of two. Additional players can drop in or out at any time, which is always a nice feature. Online co-op is supported. Players can easily revive one another in order to get back into the fight. A “teamwork move” is included in the form of Squad Boost. When all three teammates fill their respective boost bars, you can perform a Squad Boost, which does a burst of damage and also powers up the team briefly. It’s not nearly as impressive as the fusion attacks in Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2, for instance, but at least there is something there to alleviate the tedium a little bit.
I’ve been quite negative so far, and justifiably so, but Young Justice: Legacy does have some good qualities. The voice acting is excellent, featuring the same actors as the TV series. The story of the game takes place between season 1 and 2 of the show, and fills in some of the blanks from this time period in the team’s history. The developers clearly loaded this game with content for fans of the show, and in this respect, they did a great job. The superb voice acting and canonical storyline stand in stark contrast to the game’s other shortcomings.
In the end, your enjoyment of Young Justice: Legacy is going to come down to your affection for the TV show itself. If you are a big fan of the characters and are hungry for details about what happened during this time in the team’s history, you will likely find enough of that here to make the game enjoyable for you. If you are simply looking for a good video game experience, though, you will not find it here. Go play through Diablo 3 or Marvel Ultimate Alliance again instead. Young Justice: Legacy is one more piece of evidence for the “tie-in games are always bad” argument. Even super heroes couldn’t save this one.
This review is based on the Xbox 360 version of the game, a copy of which was provided by the publisher.
Verdict
Co-Op Score
Overall
The Co-Op Experience: Play as your favorite character from the Young Justice: Legacy with up to two of your friends as you battle some of their greatest foes
Co-Optimus game reviews focus on the cooperative experience of a game, our final score graphic represents this experience along with an average score for the game overall. For an explanation of our scores please check our Review Score Explanation Guide.