On a certain level, it’s hard not to feel bad for a game like Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League. It’s a game that is straddled with a litany of expectations on it. From Looter Shooter contemporaries that have had years of head starts in terms of content and continuous growth, to a legacy of single-player story-driven comic book excellence, it seems the external expectations on the game are insurmountable for any developer.
However, Rocksteady is far from just “any developer”. Throughout the Arkham Trilogy, the team had defined themselves as the definitive voice in superhero video games, and almost a decade after Arkham Knight, it is a crown I’d argue they still hold. If anyone could smash past these expectations, it’d be them. But, were they up to the challenge, or was this frankly a suicide mission all along?
The answer, frankly, is a bit of both. Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League is an almost textbook case of a mixed bag. It has incredibly high highs, but the lows are rather low.
However, to start with the positives, the core gameplay is a blast. Rocksteady is a team that mastered the traversal and arsenal of Batman in an immersive and exciting way. With Suicide Squad, they are tasked to make four characters unique enough to play differently, but aligned in many facets of control and weaponry to remain approachable. If they go too far in the former direction, they run the risk of becoming a title like Redfall wherein the characters play well individually but struggle as a team. If they go too far in the latter, they risk feeling like Marvel’s Avengers; diverse characters such as The Hulk, Iron Man and Ms. Marvel can feel at times frustratingly similar.
With full credit to Rocksteady, they threaded the needle with the utmost proficiency. Harley Quinn feels different from King Shark who feels different from Boomerang and Deadshot, but each of these evildoers has the right skill set to feel unique while keeping the overall game balanced.
Immense praise also needs to go to the presentation of the game. In many instances, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League can look outright gorgeous, with fiendishly detailed models of the titular fiends, detailed lighting and stunning environmental work. These benefits are emphasized in some incredible cutscenes that are among the best we’ve seen this generation.
Moving on to the mixed bags, storytelling can be considered one of the game’s strong suits… if you are willing to overlook the game’s place in the Arkhamverse. To put it this way: Kill the Justice League is very literal in its title, and combining such an Elseworlds premise with a beloved universe was, I would argue, rather misguided. It’s not unlike, say, Star Wars: The Last Jedi. There are some facets of the story that, under a different set of circumstances, might be seen as brave and bold. However, there is a world in which this premise could work well, and maybe it’s not the one gamers have fallen in love with over the past fifteen years.
The world design is also destined to be divisive. Metropolis is every bit as stunning as Gotham with multilayered streets, mile-high buildings and unique and diverse areas. There are a plethora of activities to enjoy, from Riddler quizzes to sidequests to daily challenges. However, the world itself can often feel rather lifeless with limited enemy encounters and no friendlies in sight. It feels a bit like a LEGO set… impressive to take in and easy to admire, but hard to necessarily become immersed in.
Where the game struggles the most, however, is with the mission design and endgame. The mission variety of Suicide Squad is quite frankly far too repetitive. Except for a few incredibly pleasant story-driven segments, a bulk of the game’s missions involve one of a few objectives: destroying a tower/series of towers/points of interest, activating a bomb, protecting a giant plant or escorting a car. These modes feel less like fully-fledged story missions or co-op activities and more like playing a round of Overwatch against the AI. The Endgame content doubles down on these mission types, and I found it hard to stay engaged, even with some neat loot.
With all of this being said, the boss fights deserve considerable praise. They are immensely clever, and tricky and have a strong narrative drive behind them. You are the Suicide Squad, armed with MacGyver-like gadgets, tasked with facing off against a series of corrupted Gods. You feel the struggle and you feel the triumph.
Finally, to touch briefly upon value, Kill the Justice League is a full-priced retail release. The campaign itself can be beaten in about ten hours, but the endgame content is decently vast. How much enjoyment you’ll derive from the game frankly comes down to how much the repetitive missions can keep your interest.
Overall, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League is a bit of a mixed bag. A top-notch diversified combat system coupled with top-shelf presentation is weighed down by some questionable narrative choices and incredibly repetitive mission design. I enjoyed my time with the game, but some notable flaws keep the Suicide Squad from reaching the heights set by its Arkhamverse predecessors.
