Warning: This article contains minor story spoilers for Suicide Squad Kill The Justice League. In addition to being a very long form and multi-Part Review, it will also go over major story beats, and how they tie into the mechanics of this looter-Shooter.
Ever since its reveal, Rocksteady's live service title has been the defintion of an uphill battle. After a disappointing showing at a Playstation Event, the game was delayed, with many gaming outlets and gamers being disappointed in the live service elements. Developer Rocksteady released a series of video dev dairies; that got many hyped, although the videos themselves almost seem like a method to temper expectations.
The Co-Op DC Comics shooter is now out in wild, following an an early access period granted for those who purchased the game's Deluxe Digital Edition. Now that the dust has settled, is the game any good -- or was it always set up to fail? The answer to that is a bit complicated, depending on who you ask. The question of publisher interference is a possibility but there is no concrete answer. This will be the first part in a multi part review.
Task Force X
Suicide Squad Kill The Justice League tasks the titular bad guys with a premise that should familiar to anyone who has seen any of the Suicide Squad source material. The team is being forced into action by resident A.R.G.U.S. badass Amanda Waller, once again played with Debra Wilson -- her performance is dripping with fierce resolve, she has no problem reminding Harley and company that they all are just the mud on the bottom of her government sanctioned boot.
Visually, the game is absolutely stunning. Rocksteady's version of a fully realized Metropolis is a sight to behold, will surely bring a tear to any DC fans' eye. The city is fully of iconic locations such as the Daily Planet, Lex Corp, and the Hall of Justice -- all of which the squad will visit during the game's story. The character designs for Task Force X: Harley Quinn, Deadshot, Captain Boomerang and King Shark-- are also a shining highlight. The models are similar in art design to Arkham Knight and the characters look like they belong squarely in the Arkham-Verse.
The performances here are very guardians of the galaxy adjacent -- with the team reluctantly working together, all the while with all the while knowing --each one of these people would gladly shoot each other in the back. Deadshot's militaristic additude immediately places him in a leadership role, and has a "get it done" attitude that makes him a team player, but only so long as it serves him. As story moves forward, he clearly begins to trust him team -- mostly. Captain Boomerang is jarringly disconnected from the group at times, but does seem invested in not dying and stopping the alien menace. King Shark definitely falls into the Drax camp with being a large and often goofy personality. His softness is a nice counter balance to the rest of team's hard edge. Harley's delivery is sparactic and unpredictable --often hilarious and definitely feels like an evolution of her character from the previous Trilogy.
Following the game's tutorial section, the team comes together to discover that Metropolis has been invaded by the alien menace Brainiac. His gigantic Skull ship looms over the city skyline -- his iconic three circle design used in recent comics made popular by the 1997 animated series. Brainaic has co-opted a brainwashed Green Lantern to power his invasion. The team is recused by an as of yet Unaffected Flash.
The beginning of the game offers you the same slice that was included in the Alpha Play Test that was released a while back. You will first be put in the shoes of Deadshot, giving you a taste of gameplay and acquaint you with the the traversal system of his jetpack. Zipping around as Deadshot is by far the most accessible in the game. You fly in short bursts, and can even hover while shooting. The headshot gunplay is particularly snappy. You will briefly try out each of the characters. Captain Boomerang teleports when he throws his signature weapon popping across the field. King Shark is a large and lumbering character, bounding across the filed with long jumps and ground pounds. Alot of gamers will probably gravitate towards Harley because of her grappling hook traversal -- as its the closest to the traversal found in the Arkham trilogy; however the travel goes in short bursts and you don't cover nearly as much ground as Batman can.
"While the traversal is an interesting mechanic; it just doesn't have the flow of titles like the Arkham series or Spider-Man 2. The slower traversal feels like padding for a game that is already shallow on content even from the beginning of the game."
The Hall of Justice
With the team reunited, they are instructed to meet up in a strange elevator, which turns out to be an iconic location in the DC Universe; The Hall of Justice. There are a ton of Easter eggs here with the hall essentially being a museum for the titular heroes; Kevin Conroy's Batman voice over is always a highlight.
The squad is introduced to the gear they will need for their traversal; Deadshot's Jetpack, Harley's grapple gun and drone, King Shark Invisibilty Hat, and Captain Boomerang Speed Force Gauntlet. After meeting up with Waller, you will find yourself visiting Penquin to acquire more guns.
Mission Types and Not Enough Guns
Suicide Squad Kill the Justice League will begin to introduce its many mission types. These include protecting a truck, defending a point, destroying enemy shields, etc. The problem with the grinding here is that nothing feels like its being done for a purpose. The excellent story is at constant odds with the gameplay itself, with none of the mechanics doing anything to justify their place in the story. There are moments where new mechanics could be used to tie into the narrative. For example, an early Penquin mission involves acquiring more powerful melee weapons; this is accomplished by rescuing soldiers and brining them to another location, a mechanic that, like everything else in game, you'll do over and over.
Most of the game you will find yourself doing these same mission types over and over again. Side missions only vary from story missions because the latter has a cut scene. You will perform these missions for different characters throughout the game, but the other than some gameplay modifiers, will rarely change.
Taking a cue from Borderlands, you will find various gun manufacturers that can be unlocked such as LexCorp and S.T.A.R. Labs. Unlike the the guns in the aforementioned Gearbox games where you will be swimming in guns, the gun selection here is pretty sparse, and other than image modifiers there seems to be little difference in guns -- on top of that grinding insnt a guarantee of better guns, even in Missions where it tells you that is the point. The grinding is a system that is designed to pad the experience and waste time, like an arcade machine that is intentionally difficult because it eats quarters.
The Batman Museum
Early on, the team will have an encounter with Batman, who will use stealth to hunt each member of the Suicide Squad down like he would be doing in an iconic predator sequence from the Arkham Trilogy. Batman will even attempt to knock you out using explosive gel from the series. The red lit stealth sequence is unlike anything else in the game. It also confirms that Batman has been taken over and has gone completely homicial, leaving a trail of bodies in his wake. I also think that this lends to the theory that Batman was taken over first, and was likely the only member of the League that could have stopped members of his former team without killing them.
I miss you, Red
We would be remiss in covering the story if we didn't mention the dramatic character shift that was done to Poison Ivy. At the begining of the game, Harley noticed an artifact of her former friend in the Hall of Justice. Poison Ivy's sacrifice during Arkham Knight's final hours was a defining moment for the eco-terrorist turned Super villain as she helped Batman stop Scarecrow.
In this post-Arkham universe, her self sacrifice is even mentioned and confirmed to be Cannon. However as the team begins their search to ways to fight against Brainaic, Harley find that she has been re-born as a psychotic little girl, with a pension for violence against humans. Amanda Waller and A.R.G.U.S. co-opt her into making afflictions, elemental effects that can be tied to your melee weapons. Even though It feels cheap, Ivy adding ice damage your weapons is the games' best attempt to tie a mechanic to a narrative beat.
The Price of Being a Hero
Amanda Waller tasks the Squad with trying to Lex Luthor, after she discovers them going to Lex Corp to attempt to remove the bombs that she implants in their heads. This also leads to you unlocked Lex Corp Guns, one of the more comic accurate color way options in the game.
After an emotional run-in with Wonder Woman and The Flash; your goal remains clear. Its true: The only way to stop the invasion is to kill the Justice League. The Flash, now fully under Brainiac's thrall, delivers a chilling and powerful turn as a villain and shows just how quickly each member got taken over.
Where did they get these Wonderful Toys
When the Squad is back at the Hall of Justice, an unknown intruder is able to break in. It turns out to be young genius Hero Okamura. This version of Toyman was first introduced in 2011's New 52 arc and is a clever addition to the Arkham Verse lore. Toyman missions will also allow you augment your melee weapons. This also introduces a cruicial part of the story; Toyman developing anti Meta-Human Tech. He grants Waller access to the Tech for access to the Justice League Inner Sanctum, because he is a Justice League Super Fan. Toyman missions typically involve you protecting a truck as you collect data fragments are dropped by enemies. It remains to be seen in Toyman will have an emotional reaction to the death of his heroes.
The Flash Boss Fight
With Anti-Speed Force tech, you are finally ready to fight The Flash. The Fight will have you using your counter move to stun The Flash with Toyman's tech, temporarily disabling his connection to the Speed Force. You will control this boss fight while playing as Captain Boomerang, shooting Flash while hie is stunned.
The Flash moves pretty quickly even while stunned. Your counter move will often knock him backwards. Since this fight has you playing as Boomerang, he will likely be using a shotgun. Since this is a short range weapons its a good strategy to attack him at close range.
While the boss fights are definitely the highlight of combat, there just isn't enough variety here that hasn't been introduced in previous systems. Captain Boomerang's connection to Flash seems a bit nebulous here as well. Flash's death is treated like a joke and little no no effort is done to forward the Australian villians' Arc.
Episode 1 Final Thoughts
With the first Leauger taken care of, there are some interesting story beats and the premise has potential. However, the story cannot separate the generic sameness that the shooter brings. While the game using some unique and iconic chracters, the way each character plays is basically identical. The traversal is meant to give each character a unique playstyle, but the travel stop and start flow makes the traversal feel like padding. On top of that, the weapon load out are not unique either, each weapon type can be used by any character.
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