One thing is clear from Rocksteady’s latest game: despite being connected to the beloved Arkham trilogy (or quadrilogy, depending on who you ask), it is anything but similar. Batman’s brute force combos that shatter bones on delivery have been replaced with a range of ranged weapons, with different rarities sourced from missions or opponents, and I’m enjoying my time with it.
It’s hard not to mention the negativity to the game pre-launch. Live-service games are like a brand of shame right now, with criticism forming before the title even releases, and for good reason. And seemingly hundreds of leaks prior to launch have contorted people’s opinions before even diving into Rocksteady’s latest adventure in the Arkhamverse. However, I’m here to say that not only is Suicide Squad a pretty good game, but it’s damn fun too.
A few years have passed since Arkham Knight’s explosive finale, which saw Bruce Wayne “die” in an explosion, using Scarecrow’s fear toxin as Batman to strike fear into Gotham’s criminals. Unlike Arkham’s dark, moody tones and storytelling, which were excellent in their own way, Suicide Squad takes on a dark comedy role, where you play as one of four members of Task Force X; Deadshot, Captain Boomerang, Harley Quinn, or King Shark. The mission: completing the impossible task of killing the beloved Justice League.
Suicide Squad’s story is, surprisingly, an amusing time. Not only are the voice actors behind each character giving their all, delivering great performances for each of the villains-turned-anti-heros, but they also have some of the best facial animations I’ve seen in years. What can come across as a fairly basic comic-style story on paper is heightened by a cast that is having fun in their respective roles, with Waller’s monotone, condescending commands met with playful insults and a little bit (well, a lot) of rebellion. I’m surprised Waller didn’t pull the trigger on their neck bombs sooner.
I’m actually hard-pressed to think of a time where a joke didn’t land. Little things like King Shark spending an entire cutscene trying to rub blood out of his eye, or Captain Boomerang sprinting off using his stolen Speed Force gauntlet during chaotic moments keep the characters feeling involved in the world, and not just avatars we experience the story with. Coming from the beloved Arkham series, which delivered a wonderful series of grounded stories with each entry, having such a loveable cast of criminals take the lead is a fresh breath of air, and a welcome one too.
For Suicide Squad, Rocksteady has moved on from the physical, counter-focused combat of Batman’s fighting style to a third-person looter shooter. This type of genre isn’t for everyone, and it’s no surprise that switching to this is a point of contention for many Arkham fans, but fortunately, I love looters. Thankfully, Suicide Squad Kill the Justice League does a lot of good with the genre, allowing you to target specific loot rarities, especially in the endgame, and losing the level-focus on loot to ensure that you don’t have to discard an awesome gun simply because you progressed to the latter half of the story. In fact, one of my assault rifles for Deadshot is something I unlocked in the first few hours of my playtime, despite being in the endgame now.
However, there’s still Arkham-style DNA weaved into Suicide Squad’s shooter antics. Enemies will become counterable during some attacks, allowing you to get the upper hand before they shoot or hit you. It’s been greatly translated from Arkham’s combat, and while it’s not as easy to perform as Batman dodging punches to the face, it has a decent learning curve to it that keeps things interesting. Especially as things get more difficult in the higher Mastery Levels of Suicide Squad’s endgame.
Unfortunately, most of the fun comes from interacting with the combat as opposed to the missions themselves. If you dislike repetitive content, it’s probably best to avoid Suicide Squad, as many of the missions follow the same structure, although, that usually comes with the genre. It’s also disappointing that some boss fights are pretty poor, despite the big names you fight during the main campaign. Fighting the Justice League should feel like it's a big deal, but it often comes across as simply another target in the way.
That, of course, brings us to the live-service elements that will be explored in the coming months. In all honesty, the biggest issue I (and likely many) have with games using service elements is the fact they don’t respect your time, something that I feel Suicide Squad doesn’t do. I have no need to complete daily missions, even if there are Contracts to complete on a rotating basis, or Care Packages to try and receive. The biggest issue is that the conclusion to the base game doesn’t feel like a true ending - likely because it isn’t, and it’s one that I hope the additional content delivers, especially if WB Games decides to pull the plug after the end of planned DLC.
However, I’m genuinely excited to see what Rocksteady has been cooking during the delay. The arrival of the alternate Joker is already something I can’t wait to see, and the continuation of Task Force X’s narrative against Brainiac will keep me coming back, just like a Boomerang. Being anxious about the game’s lifetime comes with the territory of live-service titles, but in all honesty, I imagine there are provisions in place to ensure that Task Force X, and the current Arkhamverse, gets a solid conclusion if new content isn’t in development.
This is probably one of the most subjective reviews I’ve done. Suicide Squad Kill the Justice League will, undoubtedly, be a disappointment for many. But, this is my type of game, and I’m sure there are plenty of DC fans out there dying for a chaotic looter shooter that respects their time, with a great story, entertaining cast, and a solid gameplay loop. Objectively, though, Suicide Squad is easily one of the best optimised games I’ve experienced in recent years, with high framerates on PS5 and PC despite an open-world with lots of events happening all at once, and tens or hundreds of minions trying to kill Task Force X on one screen, at one time.
It’s actually impressive how well this game is optimised. Gotham Knights, a game that couldn’t get away from negativity around launch, suffered from being locked at 30 FPS on current-gen consoles. Suicide Squad doesn’t have the same problem, and arguably looks a lot better too. We honestly need more developers working their magic like Rocksteady does, because it must be some magic talent that this game runs so well with so many things happening at any one point.
Is Suicide Squad Kill the Justice League going to be Game of the Year? Absolutely not. But I’ll be damned if it isn’t one of the most chaotic, fun, hilarious games I’ve played in a long time, and something I’ve been excited to play. I even loved it so much that I doubled down and purchased a copy on PC, because I genuinely enjoy it that much. I’m anxious about the future of the live-service content, and some repetitive objectives can keep Suicide Squad from being a truly great game, but I’ve been dying for a solid looter shooter for years that plays like this, and I’m happy it’s a DC-focused one too.
Reviewed on PS5 and PC with codes provided by the publisher.
