I’ve been doing a bit of father-daughter bonding lately with Tiger Lilly via one of the Xbox games I received for my birthday: Justice League Heroes. In it mixed duos of superheroes fly and fight their way through a less-bloody version of the Baldur’s Gate II universe (the games were designed by the same people). Though you can play individually, the game works best with a real partner and Tiger Lilly’s just the person you want to take with you into a dark Gotham or Metropolis alley – fast thumbs, sharp eyes and a diabolical “heh, heh” when she unleashes a devastating A-B-A combo on a pitiable robot or para-demon, or — if she’s playing as Zatanna, Mistress of Magic — when she turns them into white rabbits.

You start out with your basic A-list of superheroes: Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Zatanna, the Martian Manhunter, the Flash and the guy I’m kind of partial to — Green Lantern (who’s secret identity is John Stewart). As you go along you can earn shields (points) that allow you to unlock more characters such as Aquaman, Hawkgirl, and the Huntress. On some levels you get to pick your character from the entire roster, but most of the time the duo is predetermined (to fit the cut-scene segues) and you only get to pick between the two — which means I sometimes get the opportunity to explore my inner Wonder Woman (laugh and I’ll bounce a tiara-boomerang off your head so fast you’ll feel like Jimmy Olson).

Each character has a different set of super powers and it’s fun learning how to best apply them. Superman, for example, has a super-assortment that includes heat vision, freezing breath, a high-speed flying strike and the Super-Punch, which takes a moment to load up but does tremendous damage. Still, he can be a bit of an oaf. On one level where I’m playing as Superman and Tiger Lilly is Wonder Woman, TL takes great delight in letting me fly out to punch a laser-shooting creature…and then using her lasso to snatch the villain right from under my nose (or fist) so she can deliver a knock-out kick. The best part though, in my opinion, is the job the artists and writers did in getting the personalities of the characters into the game. Superman and Batman, for instance, don’t really like each other (well, to tell the truth, Batman doesn’t really like anyone) and trash-talk each other throughout the game and there’s girl-talk between Zatanna and Wonder Woman (Z: “Just between us girls, don’t you ever get cold in that outfit?”).

As in Baldur’s Gate, if you let your characters stand still too long they get antsy and let you know about it in ways generally true to their character. Zatanna, for instance, will say, “Hey! Pay attention to me!” or “Want to see a real magic trick? Pull my finger!” Her friend Wonder Woman will say, “You can tell that a man designed this costume,” or, “If only I could remember where I parked the invisible plane.” Superman, always the Boy Scout, will finally say, “I don’t mean to be pushy, but ‘places to go, people to save,’ you know?” or “Have you ever noticed there always seems to be a lot of kryptonite lying around? Really, what’s up with that?” My favorite, though, is the Batman: “Robin used to make me wait; ever wonder what happened to him?” — or the all-time winner, “What’s the matter, Precious? Your mother kick you out of the basement?”

Besides having fun, I’ve even developed some super-powers of my own. For instance, Tiger Lilly can have her nose buried in a book, or be heading for a cuddle with Mom and all I have to do is interlock my fingers, raise my thumbs and twiddle them and she jumps up and runs at super-speed to the television. Now if I can only get that to work when it comes to mowing the lawn…SHAZAM!

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