“Clearly having the best superhero studio on the planet wasn’t enough”
I really wanted to like SUICIDE SQUAD: KILL THE JUSTICE LEAGUE, alas…
WHO DOESN’T LIKE THE IDEA OF FIGHTING A SKYSCRAPERSIZED GREEN LANTERN?
After 15 hours with Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League,I rolled credits. And in many ways, I regret those hours. By now there’s a good chance you will have heard about the polarizing reception to the new third-person action-adventure shooter, where Harley Quinn, Deadshot, Captain Boomerang and King Shark go head-to-head with Superman, Batman and co.
As someone who is increasingly trying to spend less time online, it’s been a little difficult to not get sucked into the ‘dead on arrival’ narrative that has plagued the game months before release, yet I went in hopeful.
This is Rocksteady after all—the studio that brought superhero games into the 21st century. And the Batman Arkham games have stood the test of time. Seriously! Check out Arkham Knight. It’s gorgeous! There has to be some good stuff here, right?
During my first few hours, I found Suicide Squad enjoyable. Like a 7/10 that comes with mindless gameplay but offers a decent hook to keep you going. Here that hook is the story and characters. It sports some fun comedy and engaging writing when it comes to the four main leads, each taking jibes at one another while surveying the Hall of Justice or failing upwards across the open world city of Metropolis.
Later, a Batman Museum treats players to the happenings of the Dark Knight’s past adventures on top of filling in the blanks between the last game and now. Boss battles have their moments too, even if they all surround shooting and nothing else. I mean, who doesn’t like the idea of fighting a skyscraper-sized
Green Lantern who constantly conjures up an arsenal of giant glowing green weapons?
HOLY CASH COW!
The problem is that general combat mostly surrounds fighting a bunch of purple-glowing aliens while being encumbered by what feels like an ever-increasing number of currencies and a never-ending tutorial. We get it, Warner Bros! You want your own Fortnite. A never-ending cash cow to print money (I give it six months). Clearly having the best superhero studio on the planet wasn’t enough.
It’s a real shame, considering the superb character animations and fantastic voice work gone into making these DC villains come alive.
In his final, posthumous, role in videogames, Kevin Conroy offers a nuanced take on something we’ve never seen from the man: a Batman gone bad. Thankfully, the veteran voice actor delivers every line just as well as you would expect. When his voice erupts over the soundwaves,
I’m instantly transported back to the halls of Arkham Asylum in 2009. That’s something that can never be taken away.