GAME REVIEW: DC’s Justice League: Cosmic Chaos

From UK-based game developer Outright Games and in association with Warner Bros. Interactive comes Justice League: Cosmic Chaos after almost a year since its stylised teaser trailer. Every now and then, a DC or Justice League-themed comes out with an all-ages approach and DC’s Justice League: Cosmic Chaos fits right into that niche little collection. 

Don’t let the cutesy cartoon setting fool you, this is a DC Universe packed with heroes and villains from every age of comic books, even the most obscure ones. And, that’s where the story begins, Lucas Carr, or “Snapper” is elected the new mayor of Happy Harbour but Mr. Mxyzptlk invades with his limitless 5th-dimensional powers all in the name of annoying Superman. He even summons the first threat that the Justice League ever faced together – Starro the Conqueror – along with an army of fish-like aliens that are no friends of Atlantis. 

The player takes control of the Trinity – Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman as they quest to save Happy Harbour, their fellow Justice Leaguers, stop Starro and drive away Mxyzptlk. Happy Harbor functions as the open world between and during missions where the player can interact with locations as part of the main mission and side missions which include other villains that must be stopped. The whole city is overrun with Mxy’s fish army and is full of interactions based on character and enemy levels. The player can transverse the New England community by flying as Superman, gliding as Batman, and swinging from the clouds as Wonder Woman. 

The combat is heavily focused on rotating through the Trinity as opposed to lingering on just one in order to keep the combos going. While the combat isn’t in-depth with major button combinations and is more of a matter of timing cooldowns, abilities like Superman’s heat vision, Batman’s Batarangs, and Wonder Woman’s bracers allow you to be diverse when it comes to dealing with damage. There are also plenty of other powers like the freeze breath and grapple gun to unlock and upgrade as the player defeats enemies and progresses through missions. The only thing that could make the combat better is a system that keeps track of your combos and awards you for them. 

The best part about DC’s Justice League: Cosmic Chaos is how ingrained in DC it is. Like the Harley Quinn series, the creative team behind it knew their DC lexicon. In addition to the inclusion of lessor known characters, the game knowingly references and even includes comic books as collectible items. They can be exchanged for alternate character skins and costumes for the Trinity with Booster Gold in the game. The player can get costumes like the ones from their very first appearances, Kingdom Come Superman, Dark Knight Returns Batman, Issue #600 Wonder Woman, and so much more. Each costume, including the default one, references the comic it was featured in with the actual covers themselves. 

What is also especially interesting about the game is the portrayal of Superman. Without The Flash in action off the bat, that leaves him as the one with the strongest wise-cracking abilities. Superman here is perhaps that big, loveable galoot that James Gunn has been talking about. Nolan North reprises his role as Superman and almost seems to give him the Deadpool treatment here and there. Diedrich Bader and Vanessa Marshall return as Batman and Wonder Woman, while Dana Snyder as Mr. Mxyzptlk is a joy to hear and experience. 

Here’s a look at some of the official gameplay:

DC’s Justice League: Cosmic Chaos is available on the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and S, Nintendo Switch, and PC. 

Star Rating: ★★★/★★★★★