When Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League was announced, the general consensus amongst the DC fandom was negative overall, stating how Rocksteady was making a game that no one wanted. Everyone wondered, “Where’s the Superman Game?” or “What about the Arkham series,” fully knowing it had been years since the trilogy’s conclusion. Yet, for a developer as bold as Rocksteady, they pushed their boundaries and continued to expand this title, they did so with great taste, creativity, and aspirations for the future of their new live-service game.
What Are We? Some Kind Of Suicide Squad?
There are so many differences between Rocksteady’s universe and DC’s mainline comics, attributing to Rocksteady’s ability to be as creative as they can. And they absolutely delivered while making me laugh, feeling every emotion on the spectrum as I put over 50 hours into their latest trench in the DC universe with no end in sight.
You may be familiar with these B-lister misfits that made a debut semi-recently in James Gunn’s Suicide Squad, but don’t be mistaken, this is not the same team. You have Captain Boomerang, Dead-Shot, Harley Quinn, and King Shark centric in this tale that has never been told before in the DC Universe. I’m sure you have seen the title too, but your mission? Kill some of the most iconic heroes in pop-culture.
It’s A Bird! It’s A Plane! It’s A Bi-Pedal Shark!
On your journey into the Brainiac-infested Metropolis, this new looter-shooter exerts dominance in making you try out each of these misfits to see which one fits you best. With traversal being a main center point to the game’s loop, it has to be fun and unique to each character. Thankfully, all of these marks are hit center-mass and then some. Boomerang uses a speed force gauntlet to teleport and move extremely fast, Harley took one of Batman’s grappling guns and drones, Dead-Shot has Gizmo’s jetpack, and King Shark has…well…he has demi-god powers. On top of the differences in traversal, each villain bears class-like differences in their skill trees, available weapons, and play style with each cementing their own identity when they are center screen creating chaos among Brainiac’s transfigured citizens of Metropolis. Best part? You can switch at any time!
At the core of this loop, I can hardly explain just how fun it can be once the game’s mechanics click. I found myself using King Shark the most, but loved the gameplay so much that I put plenty of time in other characters and am still leveling up my other members of Task Force X to match my Nanaue in the endgame.
I had a blast jumping building-to-building, spraying chain-gun fire, dropping grenades, swinging my scythes, and sliding through mobs. Even jumping like Sonic the Hedgehog just to crash down into an unsuspecting mob of purple freaks set on assimilating you to join the tarnished heroes in Brainiac’s ranks is a thrill. The carnage at your fingertips is addicting and rewarding, making this entry in the Arkham series one hell of a good time.
I Am An Agent Of Chaos
Thankfully, Task Force X doesn’t suffer from the grogginess in 2022’s Gotham Knights. The mechanics present in Suicide Squad really aim to set themselves apart. With momentum propelling you to jump further, shoot faster, and never stop moving, it elicits chaos that matches the craziness of a bunch of B-listers facing off against some of DC’s strongest heroes.
When it comes to the combat, I found myself grinning ear to ear after my combo meter reached 50, accompanied with a jolting sense of euphoria to do it again and again. What is even more clever, some of the combat mechanics are reminiscent of the Arkham Trilogy, giving that familiarity of “I know how this mechanic works” even though you’ve moved from breaking thugs’ legs to painting Metropolis with alien brains. Rocksteady’s influence is ever present in their unique entry in which they have spent years working on.
It Was Never About The Money, It Was About Sending A Message
Much like its foundational Arkham series, the environment is littered with Easter eggs, references, and beautifully-layered art all over the city. I want to add, Metropolis has never looked so good. The city itself is like a colorful onion with layer-upon-layer of vertical spaces, railings, and places to explore. It blew my mind that I could jump anywhere in the city and rotate my camera to find an easter egg or environmental piece of story-telling that added to the already interesting plot I was following. From graffiti murals of Superman to Copperhead, Metropolis has something hidden beneath every brick.
Even the indoor areas act as a museum, with The Daily Planet and the Arkham Museum standing out in particular. The creativity used to make these locations a way to catch up on the story was genius. Each time I find myself in the “Batman Experience,” I can’t help but reminisce about all of the hours I put into Arkham.
Among the immaculate design of Metropolis, that same love and attention to detail can be found in every character centric to the plot, from cosmetic Easter eggs, like the unicorn on Boomer’s coat, to facial expressions. As such, you can empathize with each character and feel everything they do, even outlandish things like including a giant horrific shark-god and making him smile. Talk about terrifying.
You would think that a game with this kind of graphical fidelity would be difficult for consoles or PC’s, especially in modern times where most games face performance issues on release. I found my experience to be mostly free of any hiccups, jank, or stutters. I did have my game crash a couple of times, but that was due to my server connection in multiplayer. Thankfully, Suicide Squad has an auto-save system, and I simply restarted to find I was exactly where I left off. Aside from that I had no issues playing, even in the end-game when I could spam grenades like a cracked-out machine gun into a mob of purple creatures. Along with other Seasoned Gaming contributors also reporting excellent performance on console, I can’t remember the last time I played a AAA, co-op, multiplayer game with crossplay that was this smooth upon release.
How About A Magic Trick?
Rocksteady aimed to tell a story that had not been touched before and was wholly theirs, and they did just that. As a huge DC nerd, I pride myself on my noggin doubling as a comic book encyclopedia for anything Batman, especially regarding the Arkham-verse. As such, I found this tale to be quite compelling.
The story does not follow an anti-hero Harley; this is the villain who helped Joker kill a five-year-old kid before the Arkham Knight prequel DLC “A Matter of Family,” Boomer is just as scummy as his actions speak in the beginning, Dead Shot bears a serious nature in tune with an S-tier assassin, and Nanaue is a talking shark with a penchant for eating people. Personally, I think his intentions are the best and most ethical of the group. If you are expecting these characters to act exactly like their film or comic counterparts, don’t. You can expect them to grow just like any well-told story, though.
With loads of dialogue as you traverse the city, you get plenty of puns, dark humor, and dialogue on your trek. What is an even greater surprise is how Rocksteady replaced Batman spying on radios and phones from his trilogy. This time, you listen to a very familiar voice talking about what the squad is doing, and there are loads of interactions that will have you laughing. There is one in particular that happens to Boomer that had me nearly on the floor after he loses a few “things” mid-combat.
You Either Die A Villain, Or You Live Long Enough To See Yourself Become The Hero
The plot has a good rhythm as you play through missions, and cut-scenes aid you well in caring for this band of villains. One thing the entire cast has in common is that they all perform beautifully. With moments like hearing Amanda Waller scream, “I’M YOUR DADDY,” to Boomer’s obsession with hands, these actors will have you laughing the entire way through a dark plot, following a team that, thankfully, bears the brand of Suicide Squad on their sleeve while not taking themselves too seriously.
The cast voicing the Justice League is equally as enticing, with my personal hero Kevin Conroy returning as the now evil Caped Crusader, and Nolan North as Superman. I experienced pure joy in seeing the roles reversed, and these beloved characters embrace the story’s narrative. The character building is one of the best things in this new tale that Rocksteady thoughtfully crafted, to the extent that Debra Wilson may be giving Viola Davis a run for her money.
Although many of the events are predictable, I always found myself laughing at the darker, more cynical moments, and even inappropriate behavior that was in-character for some of the team (looking at you, Boomer). Yet the story has plenty of surprises that will keep the average gamer and comic book fan entertained for the short 8–10-hour narrative.
What Doesn’t Kill You, Simply Makes You…Stranger
My first criticism of the latest outing from Rocksteady falls on the mission variety. This is something that many live service games struggle to deliver in a capacity that meets the players’ expectations, but, in this case, it can be especially dry when you look back at your playthrough of the story. The good news is that the combat loop is so damn good that it becomes easier to swallow that same pill over and over because the chaser is delicious, so to speak. Though, I hope we see more variety in the future.
The other larger complaint is a big one. It falls on the boss battles. The first two were absolutely great, made sense, and felt engaging. Yet, after that point, each battle let me down more and more, with the last boss being a copy of the first with more mobs. One of these battles, in particular, is built up to be absolutely insane, but it is reduced to just shooting until you can’t anymore and hopping in place. This is the biggest problem I have with Suicide Squad.
Also, while the gunplay is fun and character designs are smooth, the city can feel a bit empty. This changes a bit as you play through the story, but, for the majority of my playthrough, I felt like Metropolis was just a colorful and beautifully detailed playground for me to traverse. Near the endgame, the population of bad guys rises, and you do see some environmental changes throughout the story, so this isn’t too terrible of a gaming sin in my eyes. It’s just something that improves with time.
More good news is that, since this is a live-service game, we can expect that feedback will influence Rocksteady to build off of our criticism from the game’s release and improve the story going forward into next year. The ball is in their court, and I have faith that they will surprise me as new content gets added.
Did Anyone Check To See If The Weasel Could Swim?
The end-game is sink or swim. Reminiscent of other popular looter-shooter live service titles, Rocksteady took what I consider to be the best qualities from each in forming their own build-centric system of top-tiered missions to drown in. It can be difficult to explain how building works post-game, but you have two weapon slots along with a grenade, a melee option, and four others to influence your stats and gunplay, as well as a paragon system that applies to all four characters. Building up to the point where everything made sense, I often had to ask myself, ‘Which perk works best with (x) piece of gear,’ and, by the end of the game, I was enthusiastic to play test builds to see just how far into masteries I could get. As the new loot missions got harder and harder, you have to learn to get more creative with building.
The end-game content also brings a new mission type that is one of my favorite additions to the genre: a horde mode. Timed and with the option for players to leave when they know they are overwhelmed, this is where I push myself to my absolute limit and have spent the most time whenever I have an abundance of Suicide Squad‘s endgame currency. Currently, as I listed before, there isn’t an abundance of variety in the end-game; it’s just the same ol’ missions, but harder. Yet, I still find myself hitting start every chance I can to test my build and mettle as a member of Task Force X. Plus, March brings a new season and story to engage with featuring The Joker, too!
Are You Going To Get Ballistics Off A Shattered Bullet? No, Fingerprints!
Apart from my discrepancies, Suicide Squad offers a multitude of in-game systems that encourage you to be competitive, from clan leader boards to MVP awards at the end of an incursion. Among these systems and the hub of the world, you have a cohesive web of services enabling freedom to the player to do as they please. Encumbered with swearing, death, alien guts, and addicting fun, I found myself loving this unique tale created away from popular comic trends and plots.
After pouring countless hours into the genre with The Division, Destiny, and Avengers, I can’t help but adore this new addition to the much-maligned live-service genre. I found my time with Suicide Squad to be a whimsical deep dive into a world I found familiar, yet different. Crafted with an immense love of their own franchise, Rocksteady’s Suicide Squad might very well be flawed, but it bears a cross that has “fun” etched deep into the wood. Seeping with chaos, comedy, and violence, Kill the Justice League has filled a hole I didn’t know I needed filled. Suicide Squad is not the game many wanted, but the one we needed. Brainiac’s guts included.
I Am Vengeance, I Am The Night, I Am Batman
In closing, I want to pay my respects to the late Kevin Conroy. As with many, my childhood wasn’t so great, and in those not-so-great moments, Batman was always there for me in the form of a VHS tape. His message was a simple one: that anyone could be Batman. I could rise above anything the way Batman did. Combating adversity wasn’t taught to me by a parent or a loved one. Instead, it was by a man who lent his voice to an icon, to the point that he became the icon for me. Seeing his performance in this game has brought me an immense joy that I can safely say is one hell of a ride. The tribute Rocksteady placed in their credits being a digital monument to his contributions brought tears to my eyes but gave me happiness to know that he meant just as much to so many others. Thank you, Kevin, and thank you, Rocksteady.
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