After many delays, Suicide Squad Kill the Justice League is hurling towards its release date on February 2nd. Is this game already doomed towards failure? First announced at a DC Comics fandom event, it was delayed after the first footage of gameplay was revealed during a 2023 PlayStation State of Play. The live service title set in a post-Arkham Knight universe was heavily criticized for its live service elements, including a Battle Pass, and the various currencies that are usually found in Live Service Games. Now that the NDA has been lifted, I wanted to talk about what I played on the Alpha Test not to long ago.
My Impressions From The Alpha
Like everyone who got access to the Alpha, my game started with the Squad breaking into the Hall of Justice and getting signature items that you will use in the game. Deadshot gets a jet pack; Harley snags a Bat Drone with a Grappling Hook; King Shark finds Riddler's hat of invisability (which I still think is an odd choice) and Captain Boomerang is able to teleport with the aid of a Speed Force Gauntlet.
As I mentioned above the story is definately the star of the show here -- with fantastic voice acting from the crew. Tara Strong's delivery as the always upbeat Harley is just a fun as ever -- and hearing Debra Wilson's Amanda Waller in the ears of our "heroes" was very reminancent of Joker's PA annoucements from the Arkham Trilogy.
During the test, you breifly gain control of each of the squad memebers -- usually long enough to try out their special moves. Once you can choose your squad member, I mainly played as either Captain Boomerang or Deadshot. Captain Boomerang's load out main uses shot guns, and his teleport mehanic was fun, although i found it a little bit clunky, and not nearly as intuitive as it needed to be. Deadshot had a better variey of guns, I liked the long range options of his assortment of rifles -- and zipping around in the jet pack was a lot more fluid than the other traversal mechanics.
In terms of straight up shooter mechanics -- I think the shooting is pretty solid -- particulary with rifles and the longer range guns. This is also because many of your enemies, like in the early gameplay, have weakspots than can be targeted. I think the idea of working on different builds with different chracters has great poential -- However I think like all live service titles, its gonna live or die in how deep the combat is. And at its core, this is a shooter -- but alot of the missions are very repeptive. Such as defeat the swarms of enemies until the timer runs out.
Game Journalists and Content Creators were recently given access to the game at a Preview Event, and most outlets left with negative impressions. IGN seems less than sold on the basic premise of the game –namely the Suicide Squad killing the Justice League. The issue seems to be that these story elements are likely not to stick, immediately downplaying the stakes of the entire experience.
Rocksteady finally creates an open world Metropolis-- only to have its signature heroes wiped out of existence? – It is a pretty big gamble and one that likely is not going to pay off. The ultra-violent tone seems like a play done for shock value-- the story itself seems like a soulless play for attention, much like the live service elements contained within it.
Can the Story Save It?
And that might be its biggest problem – its largest draw, being the story-- might not be enough to save it from being a generic shooter with a DC skin, once the story elements are stripped away. One of the biggest reveals from its preview coverage might be the introduction of a reborn Poison Ivy, now in the body of a small child, with no memory of her friend, Harley Quinn. It's an odd choice to reintroduce a character with the intention of killing her, but it also completely undermines her moment of self-sacrifice in the finale of Arkham Knight. That being said, the cutscences and story were clearly given a lot of love, and the team definitely has a place of respect for the source material. But that becomes a moot point if everything is about to get nuked.
While the Suicide Squad characters have always been about chaos, there was a core of a redemption arc built into their narrative, a point driven home even in the recent James Gunn film.
Harley Quinn is arguably the most well-known member of the Squad, and her recent interpretation since 2019 has placed her in a post-Joker world. A DC 2020 comics run also has Harley as an actual member of the Justice League, recommended by Batman himself – citing her PhD and knowledge of the criminal underworld as a resource. Superman #9 sees the Man of Steel revealing his identity to world, with Harley seen with her fellow leaguers in attendance at The Hall of Justice. The Suicide Squad was always about doing bad things for good reasons, putting them in more anti-hero territory than straight up villains.
Time will tell if Suicide Squad Squad Kills the Justice League has any staying power, by the time its February 2nd release date rolls around. The PC version, an Epic Games exclusive, has been delayed to March, with no reason given. While I have faith in the storytellers over at Rocksteady, I am skeptical if it can rise the game above a generic shooter with a superhero skin.
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