Kill the Justice League Review – DC Drudgery

It’s difficult to think of a game that’s stumbled as badly as Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League when it comes to pre-release PR. The latest from Batman Arkham developers Rocksteady Studios, Kill the Justice League spent upwards of seven years in development, and when it was finally revealed as an all-too-familiar-looking live-service looter-shooter, fan reaction was harsh. The game was pushed back a year seemingly in response, but when it reemerged it was still every bit the GaaS exercise it was before. Then came the leaks, surprisingly harsh previews, mixed beta reactions, and rocky early-access release… it started to feel like the game’s epitaph had been written before it even came out.

So, yes, the game’s marketing has been a mess, but how does Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League actually measure up as a game? Again, this is the latest jam from the Arkham folks! Does the game prove it’s good to be bad or is your weekend going to be the only thing it kills? Squad up, it’s time to find out…

If you’ve already read the comics or watched the movies, you know the basic Suicide Squad setup. Hardass Amanda Waller assembles a team of B-tier villains – family man Deadshot, loudmouth Captain Boomerang, ex-Joker squeeze Harley Quinn, and Groot-like undersea monarch King Shark in this case – in order to take on a near-impossible mission with the assumption that, if they die, nobody will particularly miss them. This time around the mission may be literally impossible, as Brainiac has taken over Metropolis and brainwashed the Justice League, meaning our ragtag crew has to take out Flash, Green Lantern, Batman, and Superman himself (Wonder Woman has escaped the mind control for whatever reason).

It’s certainly a solid elevator pitch for a Suicide Squad adventure, and our four main characters bounce off each other well with snappy one-liners to spare, but the story never really transcends its edgy premise. The Squad don’t grow as people, continuing to brutally murder the world’s greatest heroes without batting and eye, and don’t seem to learn much of anything beyond maybe a trite lesson about the power of friendship. But ultimately, our Squad members are works of great literary depth compared to the Justice League, who never rise above one-note villain status. There’s never any hint that, say, Flash’s cleverness or Superman’s innate goodness might overcome Brainiac’s mind control. They’re just evil now and die sad, unremarkable deaths. Not to feed into the Internet outrage, but Batman – the Batman we’ve played as through four Arkham games – suffers such a pathetic demise that it feels like Rocksteady must have secretly grown to resent the character.

Thankfully, while this Squad may not be particularly likable characters, they are fun to play as. Each of the four current Squad members have their own traversal abilities and attacks – Captain Boomerang uses the Speed Force to instantly blink to wherever he throws his titular weapon, Harley swings from a mini Batwing and can grapple to ledges, and so on. My favorite of the bunch is King Shark, who can leap buildings in a single bound and literally “swim” through the air, and the fact that I can have a “main” in this game says a lot. Clearly a ton of work has gone into making each Squad member feel unique, and regardless of which character you choose, bounding across Metropolis is a blast.

This superpowered action is brought to life via visuals that aren’t quite on the cutting edge, but are nonetheless fairly polished and impressive. As is the case with many Warner Bros. titles, the game’s high-quality facial animations particularly stand out. On PS5, players only get a single visual mode, but thankfully, that mode runs at a mostly-solid 60fps, although I did note the occasional performance dip during some of the game’s more frantic boss fights.

At this point in the review, it may seem like I quite liked Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, and I must admit, the game makes a solid first impression. Unfortunately, this motley crew becomes less and less charming the more time you spend with them. Where Kill the Justice League stumbles badly is in its world and mission design, which is unexpected given Rocksteady’s legacy. Every inch of the Arkham games’ version of Gotham City felt custom-made and engaging, and you could tell Rocksteady put a lot of effort into making every mission a memorable, singular experience. That’s simply not the case in Suicide Squad.

Beeline across Metropolis to the mission marker then fight a bunch of generic purple goons on a rooftop. That sentence right there describes 90 percent of the missions in Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League. Combat is fun enough, with a focus on verticality and mixing melee and gunplay together. Jumping 100 feet into the air, crashing down on a group of enemies with a ground pound move, freezing the stragglers with an icy melee attack, then shattering them with your chain gun is undeniable cool! Unfortunately, it loses its impact after you do it 500 times. Rocksteady tries to mix up their mission objectives a bit – you may have to retrieve and rescue civilians, take out enemy spawn points, or (groan) escort a payload, but in the end, nearly every mission still boils down to bashing grunts on rooftops.

While I quickly got bored of the repetitive mission design, I had some hope that actually fighting the Justice League would provide some much needed variety (you don’t get to face any of them until around halfway through the game). There too I was disappointed. While the Justice League boss fights are a respite from fighting goons on rooftops, they’re repetitive in their own right, with almost all of them following a similar pattern. Counter the Justice Leaguer’s attacks to make them vulnerable then desperately try to shoot their tiny, far-away figure as they zip around the game’s overly-large boss arenas. These battles ought to be the game’s highlight moments, but often they’re more frustrating than fun.

The one exception, really the only time Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League steps out if its restrictive, self-imposed box, is when you face off against Batman. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Rocksteady seems to have had a much clearer vision of what to do with this segment, as you’re doused with fear gas and have to navigate a nightmarish version of the Batcave with all four Squad members while Batman taunts you. This sequence hints at what this game could have been if it were produced with even a fraction of the creative energy the Arkham titles were.

Of course, all of this can be played co-op, but I didn’t find teaming up with randos via matchmaking did all that much to elevate the experience as none of what you do in Kill the Justice League requires any real coordination. If you want to play with others it’s probably best to rope some friends in, as you’ll at least be able to chat about last night’s game or recent movies you’ve watched as you’re robotically clearing another rooftop of aliens.

As monotonous as Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League’s campaign can be, it’s still more interesting than its much-debated live service endgame. While a number of post-game activities are unlocked after you roll credits, the main challenge you’ll tackle are Incursion Missions, which are similar to Destiny’s Strikes in terms of scope. Each Incursion Mission takes you to a new “Elseworlds” alternate version of Metropolis and tasks you with completing a challenge within a time limit. Succeed and you’ll get some powerful gear dependent on the difficulty level you chose to play at.

While Rocksteady tries to fancy these missions up with new maps and rewards, they’re still just another round of fighting goons on rooftops. Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League’s campaign may only be around 10 hours long, but I was already dead tired of this routine by the time I got to the endgame. Also, bafflingly, in order to play Incursion Missions you need an additional postgame currency called Promethium that you earn via missions in the OG version of Metropolis, which turns the whole process into even more of a trudge. Even if you can tolerate the grind, the reward just isn’t there, as it just doesn’t feel like this game gives you the freedom to create truly unique builds. The only thing that really differentiates the playable characters in this game are their innate abilities, with better weapons and gear just boosting your stats.

Rocksteady is promising at least a year of postlaunch support for Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, with each season seemingly adding a new antihero to play with and Elseworlds map to explore. While I can see the new playable characters being worthwhile (the Joker will kick things off) it won’t matter what alternate universes you travel to if all you do there is more rooftop brawling. Most Suicide Squad teams comes with a rather short expiry date, and I fear the same will hold true for this game.

This review was based on a PS5 copy of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League provided by publisher Warner Bros. Games.

Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League

Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League

Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League has a sprinkling of that classic Rocksteady charm, delivering polished visuals, fluid traversal and combat, and some snappy repartee, but the whole experience is bogged down by dreary, repetitive mission design, empty live service elements, and a feel-bad story that’s mean-spirited to the point of feeling oddly resentful. Perhaps most damning, not even the thing promised in the game’s title – fighting and dispatching the Justice League – ends up being particularly fun or memorable. Those who really want to see what becomes of the Arkhamverse may not be able to resist picking this up, but I suggest waiting for a steep discount before subjecting yourself to this tedious team-up.

Buy for $69.00 from Amazon

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