Amy Reads the Week (of May 25th, 2007)

I’m not much of a gamer, Gentle Reader, but when I do sit down to game, I do so with every intention of playing a Powerhouse of a Character.

That is, I’m not very *good* at gaming. I’m a masher of The Highest Order. As my hand/eye coordination is rather limited, I can’t remember to press buttons in the correct order to get the best possible moves. I understand it as a failing, of course, but it doesn’t bother me all that much. Rather, I have skills in other arenas, and I’m quite happy with The Ones I Have. So when I choose a video game character, I often look towards those who can Smash ‘Em Up, Bash ‘Em Up with the best of them. They are, ultimately, the characters that serve mashers such as Myself, the best.

Mr. Reads is The Proud Owner of a Nintendo Wii, and the older Nintendo system, the GameCube, both of which, I suppose, by law, I am The Proud Owner of, as well. But I think of them as His Systems because he is, ultimately, the Gamer in the Reads Family. When we were waiting, and waiting, for the Wii to become available, I asked him if he wouldn’t rather have a Playstation or Xbox, or any of the other numerous systems out there. He responded in the negative because, as he suggested, Nintendo is in the business of Making Games and Gaming Systems. The quality, therefore, is much higher.

I admit, Gentle Reader, that my questioning was somewhat selfish because I knew that The One Game I wanted to play Above All Others was not available for the Wii. Rather, Justice League Heroes is Playstation ready, and Xbox ready, but not so much for the Wii. That is not to say that I regret the purchase of Our Darling Wii. Quite the contrary. For a novice gamer such as myself, I find the Wii to be quite User-Friendly, and Rather Fun.

But still, the lack of Wonder Woman goodness plagued me.

That is until Our Dear Friends went out of town and loaned us use of their Playstation while away.

Mr. Reads and I immediately ran out and rented Justice League Heroes, and while I admit that I was Quite Terrible At It from the Beginning (Batman’s skills were a bit beyond a mere masher such as This Humble Author), Mr. Reads was, on the contrary, Quite Skilled, and he played, and played, until he unlocked all costumes, all characters, all suits. And in the end, because Mr. Reads saved her just for Me, I got to play as Armored Wonder Woman.

Gentle Reader, dare I even express my Joy and Amazement over playing as The Amazon Princess, and in her Royal Armor, no less? Her powers, her flight, her agility, her healing, all of it allowed me, yes, even This Humble Author, to stay alive a lot longer than I was ever able to stay alive in a game before.

And in the end, when Mr. Reads and I lined up our teams, I had Quite The Powerhouses on my side: Wonder Woman, armored, Hawkgirl, Zatanna, and Huntress. Mr. Reads lined up Flash, Batman, Green Arrow, and Superman. And we went into the final level, to defeat Darkside.

What’s so interesting about this final level is that you line up four team members for each player, because defeating Darkside is Very Difficult Indeed. And you line them up, in the order you wish to play them. When one character runs out of power, your next character comes out to play. This is The Justice League, after all. This is a Team of Superheroes, always ready to Get One’s Back, if needed.

When we defeated the game, Mr. Reads was playing as Green Arrow, and I was still playing as Wonder Woman.

Friends, let me remind you that *I am not very good* and Mr. Reads is *very good indeed*. Mr. Reads not only has Excellent Hand/Eye Coordination, but also, he has what some might call “mad skills” with Strategy. For This Humble Author, not so much. So let that speak to the ability of the Wonder Woman character in Justice League Heroes. Let that serve as proof that this character, this Amazon, is A Powerhouse Indeed.

Sadly, we had to return both the game and the borrowed gaming system, but we both wait, with Anticipation, for the availability of said game for the Wii. Because I for one—yes, even This Humble Author, Gentle Reader!—would like to give this game another run.