Rocksteady, the developers who made quite the amazing series “Batman Arkham Knight” within the DC Universe. The developers, known for setting the bar high when it comes to action-packed cinematic games, are about to embark on a new journey in their career… they made an online live-service game within the Arkham Knight Universe. With all of this top-notch quality gaming, nothing can go wrong or can it… Let’s talk about it.
“Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League” is the title of Rocksteady’s latest and it gives everything away to know what their new game is all about. The game lets you play as one of the popular enemies that Batman probably had to face once in his all-time “fighting crime” career. All of these villainous characters are placed into a task force to clear out Metropolis City, the city that’s been filled with Brainiac’s goons and it also managed to take over a great portion of the Justice League. However, he’s not there yet… some heroes are still running around trying to clear out the evil that’s been spread across the city and the suicide squad will try to do their part… In whatever way possible.
“It feels like the character design just scratched the surface and the developers didn’t fully unleash their potential…”
So you take on the role of one of the 4 introduced characters: Harley Quinn, King Shark, Cpt. Boomerang and Deadshot. Each character is supposed to have their unique movement, combat skills, and talents but it feels like the character design just scratched the surface and the developers didn’t fully unleash their potential. So let’s start with what I liked: the presentation of each character is very well done and they feel very realistic with great arranged facial expressions. I also like the fact that you’re not truly bound to one of the characters. Each character can be played on the fly and this truly helps with keeping your interest along the way and taking your time to get to know the playstyle of a character. So each character has a unique way of traveling and this is one of the key points to play a certain character or not. In my opinion, the different movement skills are very well done and feel different for each character. King Shark can leap, dash, and jump very high. The movement feels believable when you look at the character’s presence. King Shark is a big guy and Rocksteady did a great job in making the character feel like its mechanics suit the villain. Harley Quinn swings around with the help of a flying drone and a grappling hook. She can swing mid-air by hooking herself onto her drone and the grappling hook can also be hooked on the edge of a building which can help to traverse the world a bit more fluently. Because just like every other movement set, your travel mechanics need some time to recharge. Deadshot uses a jetpack to get around and up in the air while Cpt. Boomerang uses a Speedforce gauntlet that allows him to traverse the terrain at high speed and it works by throwing your boomerang to a certain place and initiating the Speedforce. I like the flavor of Cpt. Boomerang’s travel mechanics but it doesn’t mean it’s the best with keeping its momentum going from point A to B. The movement of Deadshot and King Shark feels a lot more fluent than Cpt. Boomerang or Harley Quinn. If momentum isn’t your thing, that’s fine and you choose (just like I did) by looking at the flavor of the character’s design.
The design of the movement has been done very well but I feel like that’s the only selling point to convince yourself to play another character because each character has the same mechanic but the presentation is a bit different. Each character has access to a melee weapon and a range weapon, they all have access to grenades, and they all have access to a shield harvesting ability that works in the same way as for as mechanics (gaining critical damage and shield generation) go, but the execution is a bit different. Deadshot uses his close-range cannons, King Shark uses sickles, Harley her bat, and Cpt. Boomerang his boomerang. Yes, each character can also use a specific type of gun but that’s it… I mean why isn’t there any more differentiation between the combat style of the villains? Each villain uses guns and their own ability but in their own presentation. They all have a single-target ability and a multiple-target ability, just presented differently. Each character also has their own talent tree, but the abilities only have a slight percentage of uniqueness in their build.
“Streamlining is okay but not when you’re going for an online live-service multiplayer co-op experience.”
Each character has talents that either give you more “overcharge shield”-power, less or more melee damage for more knockback or slowing effects, or multiplier influences, … Don’t get me wrong, it’s definitely okay to have these slight differences but nothing stands out. Each character plays the same and I feel that’s a waste of potential. It doesn’t give the player a real feeling of unique characters, the only real difference is the traversal option. If the developers tried to make a streamlined experience where each character is the same when it comes to power and survivability, this is the way to go. If you want a more unique way of playing where different characters complement each other, or where players need another character to gain buffs for certain abilities or surviving, Rocksteady should have added a bit more than this. I like the feature that you can switch on the fly and you can even play as multiple characters that are the same but where’s the fun in that? I would have loved a more “holy trinity” approach where you truly need each other to survive and to complete difficult objectives. Streamlining is okay but not when you’re going for an online live-service multiplayer co-op experience.
Talking about the “live-service” aspect of the game… Being a game within the sector of a “live service” means a couple of things: multiple updates, a changing environment, an open ending to the story, always online, and the grind. I’m all for grinding new equipment/ new weapons/ … to get where I need to be when the next chapter is going online. I’m mostly concerned about how I’m grinding. The grinding only works if the event/ activity aspects of the game are interesting to do and truly feel like you’re getting equipment/ abilities that are worth your time. The mission design is okay but I feel it won’t be enough to keep me playing. All missions are almost the same. Kill the enemies and survive but often with a slight touch… Keep the enemies away from important areas, save soldiers while killing enemies, and capture nodes while killing enemies, … Maybe I’m too critical but I feel like these missions are not on a level that I would like to. What happened to a world where live events are automatically going, that can succeed or fail and the results impact the environment. What happened to an online rich world that’s worth exploring, especially with the movement tools you’re getting? You could say that they’re following the standard Destiny or even MMORPG experience but why can’t future games be more like Guild Wars 2? Yes, it’s an MMORPG and it’s different than action-packed games but GW2 re-invented the MMO world by creating world events, boss events, jumping puzzles, daily quests, rewarding for exploration, … A lot of these missions in these Live- service style don’t feel unique, engaging, natural, … You have an open world like city, it can be filled with lots of events and exploration opportunities or even boss spawns but it’s just generic mob-killing and I don’t think a lot of players will be willing to invest a lot of time in these missions, especially when the rewards are above- average.
“It’s unfortunate that these billion-dollar companies don’t feel the need to innovate…”
Thankfully, the game does have some interesting boss fights throughout the story but I wonder why the developers never thought, these boss fights could occur in the city when you’re exploring and doing generic missions. These boss fights are a lot more enjoyable because it’s a bit more than just brainless shooting. These fights happen in phases and put different mechanics into work. You will also have to do a bit more thinking and be attentive to succeed in killing the boss. It’s unfortunate that these billion-dollar companies don’t feel the need to innovate or stimulate developers to make something a lot more enjoyable than the average type of game. It feels a lot like copy/ paste. It’s also regretful to see that we’re only fighting one kind of enemy throughout the experience. Yes, you have enemies with subtypes: some are long-ranged, some have a thicker skin, and some shoot from the sky but they can all be countered with the same ability. Yes, there are also tanks to fight against, tanks with weak points and the same counter-window to deal lots of damage with your same old counter-ability. I mean it’s “okay” fun but for how long?
Another thing I would like to mention is the fact that there’s so much explaining throughout the game and it messes up this fluent gameplay experience. I can get my head around why different types of enemies need some explaining, but in the end, it’s just all about action-reaction. Also, the game works with affliction (ice, fire, …) and some enemies are more sensitive to a certain affliction but it’s not necessary to get an informative pamphlet each time something new is introduced because it slows down the game and the immersion. I mean it goes so far as to get an explanation about using an affliction and to do a mission about it: kill 5 enemies with this affliction. It’s just the same button to harvest energy but instead of tapping you hold the button. This is not rocket science and you’ll learn to use it while doing your mission. But going on a mission, to try out this ability and eventually go back to base to tell what you find about it, seems unnecessary.
“I get what they were aiming for, but the “flow” or “the atmosphere” doesn’t really do much.”
So it took some time to really get into the game. The story itself ( without spoiling too much) is straightforward but not engaging. Like I said in the first paragraph of the article, the title doesn’t leave much to your imagination, it really is just that. Presentation-wise, the cinematic scenes do a great job. The looks are decent and the characters are believable thanks to the great voice acting and facial expressions. However, the puns and the jokes that are being made by a goofy-acting suicide squad don’t click. The vibe that they’re giving off isn’t that great. A lot of the jokes are really not funny and feel totally cringe. I get what they were aiming for, but the “flow” or “the atmosphere” doesn’t really do much. I also said that the game is very slow-paced and it takes some main missions to really get the main story on track. I do have to say that none of the scenes really took a long time to leave my mind, in other words even though the title says it all, the scenes are just not impactful enough for me to care.
Besides the story, the game itself got on track the moment I started the grind. You do the missions, you get new equipment, you level up, unlock new features, … There was a decent flow to get me going. I got enough loot and places to go, daily activities to build up that resource gain, different ways to craft weapons, the different types of weapons/ equipment, and the traits on the guns, … So the vibe of playing and becoming better (stats-wise) is there and it can be fun but it doesn’t take long to notice the staleness of the different missions. Some of the main missions do turn the gears up a bit, by letting you experiment with grenades or flying/ shooting around with a vehicle that needs to be tested by Gizmo. So they do try to vary a bit, too bad the variety isn’t continuous. There are also events to get a high score and get some rewards. I’m talking about the Ridler activities that stimulate you to get the highest score for a certain event. This is okay to get that extra pack of resources by doing these different Ridler challenges.
“I truly hope that they can change the game around and make it better than it is now.”
The game is a live service so this means that the game will feature future content. For example, there will be a battle pass system where you can earn ranks by completing in-game events in exchange for costumes, resources, and weapons, … Each battle pass should come with a new character and events. I truly hope that they can change the game around and make it better than it is now. The game can be fun but don’t expect too much of it. I also hope that there will be ways to collect in-game currency to spend at the online store because some of these store items are truly expensive and let’s be honest here… the game didn’t start very well. At the beginning of early access ( digital deluxe bundle for 100 dollars), there was a bug that gave players a fully leveled and fully equipped suicide squad, beginning at the final mission of the game. Whoops… It’s bad to see this happen, especially for a game that’s been in the making for 9 years and had a fair amount of financial injection.
Conclusion:
The game will stand or fall in the upcoming months… People are grinding their way through the story missions, side events, equipment, … to get to that end game. End game is an important factor that still needs to be figured out by a lot of companies. A lot of games ( with a lot of potential) crashed in numbers when the end game was revealed. For example: Avengers, Anthem, … If Rocksteady doesn’t know how to improve from this moment on, I don’t have high hopes for the game. They do a couple of things right, but there are a lot more chances for them to grow. What kind of content will we be getting? How will we continue to enjoy this game? How does the company deal with the needs of their community? We will need more than just a battle pass to keep us motivated.
Also, the tone they’re setting throughout the whole story feels weird. Some parts of the game clash with the multiverse too much, I also don’t know if we should laugh/ cry/ be angry when some scenes are being played, … I feel like they don’t know what direction they should be going. It feels like Rocksteady is having an identity crisis on its own. Don’t get me wrong, kudos for the development team to make something new but this game could have been a standalone type of game… Why put it in the same universe as those 3 Batman Arkham types of games? Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League doesn’t do the Arkham series justice. Where are they going with the story, is a question I don’t dare to ask.
I also hope that the game lets you play in different areas and that it makes the world more vibrant and alive. If we compare this game with Arkham ( released around 2015), Arkham holds better up than this game. The night scene in Arkham has a lot more activity and colors while this game just feels bland and unalive. Yes, the game looks decent enough and it plays fluently on the PS5. However, Arkham had so much more depth than this game. I also find battling the same enemy over and over again boring. I think Rocksteady can do a lot more than this but how committed are they?
To end it all, while a live service can be great, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League hasn’t shown that they’re capable of upholding qualitative standards for a live service game. You’re just reminded that it is a live service game by pointing out the obvious and negative points. The story feels hollow, the monetization is real in the shop, grinding these missions feels fun with a company but bores out quickly, and the world itself is unalive, … In other words, the game still has a long way to go, to keep itself and the community around.
