This review contains spoilers
Rocksteady with their DC games seemed to have peaked with Batman: Arkham City. None of the sequels afterwards haven't come close to it's success and after almost ten years, they step back into the DC Universe with Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League. But even before the game's release it has had split reactions with audiences. The main issue being that this takes place in the Arkham universe. Which even questions me because I thought it was that Batman supposedly died in Arkham Knight. It's had a lot of split reactions but I still wanted to give it a shot to give it a fair chance.
In this game, you play between four members of Amanda Waller's Suicide Squad also known as Task Force X. You have Deadshot who is good with ranged attacks using firearms, Harley Quinn with her baseball bat and pistols, King Shark who is an absolute powerhouse, and Captain Boomerang who uses Boomerangs but also taps into the Speed Force with his gauntlets. The Squad is forcefully assigned a missioned to kill the members of the brainwashed Justice League members who are enslaved to Brainiac who is invading the Earth.
Now one complaint people talk about is that the main objective is too kill the Justice League. I don't think that should be a valid complaint, I mean it's literally in the title. What I think the REAL issue about it is that this takes place in the Arkhamverse. Not only does it seem to retcon some old plot points from past games but considering that this is the first time that Superman, Green Lantern, Flash, and Wonder Woman appear in this universe, but this is the one where they all die? Can't believe I'm saying this but at least Zack Snyder gave Superman at least one installment in his universe before he croaked. Seriously, if this wasn't canon to the Arkhamverse, there would probably be less backlash.
Gameplay wise, it seems pretty decent. It's pretty easy to get used to when it comes to gunplay, hand to hand combat, and traversing throughout Metropolis. Personally, my favorite was King Shark. But overtime, it does get repetitive with missions and enemy variety. Basic tasks that aren't interesting and even side missions don't give anything unique. The enemies that are the hardest to take down are the snipers and brutes. As Shark, the minigun could mow them down quick but it takes forever with the others. Unless your super attacks and suicide strikes are fully charged, you'll be wasting ammo like crazy.
When it comes to the story, I don't know what to think of it. It's just average. Simple premise and you kinda know what's going on. Sure some interactions and dialogue from the Squad is funny at certain points. You can at least get some reactions from cutscenes but overall, Rocksteady once again can't seem to top what they had in Arkham City.
Now here's where we get into spoilers because I feel like talking about certain aspects of the game. Now you do get introduced to more villains. Some returning ones like Penguin and Poison Ivy where they do give a reason on how she returns after her sacrifice in Arkham Knight. And you got introductions to new villains like Lex Luthor, Gizmo and Toyman. While Gizmo can occasionally give you combat vehicles to use on missions and Lex plays a major part in the story, Toyman seems like he had little reason to be here.
Now let's discuss the boss battles which consist of the Justice League and Brainiac. Two are easy to get through and two that are a bitch to get through. Batman's boss fight is by far the easiest. Just shoot his fear gas form while dodging his attacks. Superman is pretty decent to get through. Might have to do some traversing to avoid his attacks but nothing do tedious. Flash is a tough one mainly because you can't keep track of him when he's zipping all over the place. Yes, Flash is fast but at least give SOME time to locate where he is. Not to mention he keeps unleashing tornadoes that take a quarter of the area. Green Lantern by far is the most annoying boss when you're always occupied with him summoning constructs that take up the whole area that you have no room to get proper aim or even a moment to breathe. But when it comes to Brainiac, it seems like the most embarrasingly lazy boss fight when it's only a rehash of Flash's boss fight. Brainiac in Injustice 2's story was a better boss fight. And that's a game where every fight is the same structure! Is it really that hard to represent Superman in solo video game form? I know Superman 64 was a dumpster fire but it should be an easy bar to raise.
Now this is a looter shooter and it's difficult to do a proper one successfully like Borderlands did. But when it comes to the loot in this game, not only is it a slog to get them (without using greedy microtransactions of course) but the loot is hardly interesting. Just guns and chips. Hell even the outfits are hardly worth getting.
And I don't know what it is with Rocksteady but SOMEBODY couldn't help but including... Riddler challenges. That's right, Edward Nygma comes back to have you traverse the city, looking for the answers to his riddles and doing his time trials. The time trials by the way are going through rings... I feel like Superman 64 should be the obvious sign that no one likes doing these. We hardly wanted to do the side missions. Ain't no way we're gonna put time into a whole scavenger hunt of Riddler easter eggs. They were tedious in the Arkham games, these should have been kept out.
There's a good chunk of bugs. Not enough to consider it unplayable but they're still popping up. One time, we couldn't get into the final mission cause it was bugged when we had to pay for killing Brainiac. And yes, you need in-game currency to unlock the final mission. What's the purpose? Is the concept of just picking the mission just too much? You wanna treat this like a Madden game?
Now I must address the elephant in the room which is Kevin Conroy who lent his voice as Batman in this game. We lost this legendary voice actor in 2022 and in the after credits scene, Lois Lane gives a speech in tribute to Batman which is a clear tribute to Kevin. The controversy around this is that this is the game where the Arkhamverse Batman officially dies.
Now I don't blame them for still using Kevin's voice after his death, I just think it was poorly timed that this had to come out as the first time his Batman is heard after his death. But thankfully this isn't his final Batman performance which will come in the future DC animated movie "Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths - Part 3".
However, this being the death of the Arkhamverse Batman specifically seems insulting. The ending in Arkham Knight felt like a good sendoff for this universe's Batman but having him come back just to become evil and killed off kinda ruins his legacy in the Arkham games. This game should've been in its own separate universe. Rocksteady should've ignored the fact that they made the Batman games and not try to tie this in with them.
In the end, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League is a subpar game with an average story and hardly any variety. There's gonna be future DLC. The first one having Joker which again, how is he alive? But I guess the DLC will be multiverse characters since we have Mrs. Freeze. Not MR. Freeze, MRS. Freeze. And it's not Nora, it's Victoria Freeze which is a genderbent Mr. Freeze apparently. And I think I hear rumors that Zoe (Deadshot's daughter), Katana, Deathstroke, and Killer Croc will also be later DLC. But in the end, I don't think I'll have the interest to buy any of them because again, this was average. And I feel this game will die before all the DLC even gets released similarly to the 2020 Avengers game. I don't know is Rocksteady will ever peak again or if they already did with Arkham City. Right now, Marvel seems to be the top contender for superhero games with Insomniac's Spider-Man games. With DC releasing Gotham Knights and this? They have a long road ahead. But hopefully DC can bounce back in the video game department. I mean there's still that upcoming Wonder Woman game but only time will tell if that will be good or not. But until then, DC has a lot of catching up to do.
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League gets a 5/10.
In this game, you play between four members of Amanda Waller's Suicide Squad also known as Task Force X. You have Deadshot who is good with ranged attacks using firearms, Harley Quinn with her baseball bat and pistols, King Shark who is an absolute powerhouse, and Captain Boomerang who uses Boomerangs but also taps into the Speed Force with his gauntlets. The Squad is forcefully assigned a missioned to kill the members of the brainwashed Justice League members who are enslaved to Brainiac who is invading the Earth.
Now one complaint people talk about is that the main objective is too kill the Justice League. I don't think that should be a valid complaint, I mean it's literally in the title. What I think the REAL issue about it is that this takes place in the Arkhamverse. Not only does it seem to retcon some old plot points from past games but considering that this is the first time that Superman, Green Lantern, Flash, and Wonder Woman appear in this universe, but this is the one where they all die? Can't believe I'm saying this but at least Zack Snyder gave Superman at least one installment in his universe before he croaked. Seriously, if this wasn't canon to the Arkhamverse, there would probably be less backlash.
Gameplay wise, it seems pretty decent. It's pretty easy to get used to when it comes to gunplay, hand to hand combat, and traversing throughout Metropolis. Personally, my favorite was King Shark. But overtime, it does get repetitive with missions and enemy variety. Basic tasks that aren't interesting and even side missions don't give anything unique. The enemies that are the hardest to take down are the snipers and brutes. As Shark, the minigun could mow them down quick but it takes forever with the others. Unless your super attacks and suicide strikes are fully charged, you'll be wasting ammo like crazy.
When it comes to the story, I don't know what to think of it. It's just average. Simple premise and you kinda know what's going on. Sure some interactions and dialogue from the Squad is funny at certain points. You can at least get some reactions from cutscenes but overall, Rocksteady once again can't seem to top what they had in Arkham City.
Now here's where we get into spoilers because I feel like talking about certain aspects of the game. Now you do get introduced to more villains. Some returning ones like Penguin and Poison Ivy where they do give a reason on how she returns after her sacrifice in Arkham Knight. And you got introductions to new villains like Lex Luthor, Gizmo and Toyman. While Gizmo can occasionally give you combat vehicles to use on missions and Lex plays a major part in the story, Toyman seems like he had little reason to be here.
Now let's discuss the boss battles which consist of the Justice League and Brainiac. Two are easy to get through and two that are a bitch to get through. Batman's boss fight is by far the easiest. Just shoot his fear gas form while dodging his attacks. Superman is pretty decent to get through. Might have to do some traversing to avoid his attacks but nothing do tedious. Flash is a tough one mainly because you can't keep track of him when he's zipping all over the place. Yes, Flash is fast but at least give SOME time to locate where he is. Not to mention he keeps unleashing tornadoes that take a quarter of the area. Green Lantern by far is the most annoying boss when you're always occupied with him summoning constructs that take up the whole area that you have no room to get proper aim or even a moment to breathe. But when it comes to Brainiac, it seems like the most embarrasingly lazy boss fight when it's only a rehash of Flash's boss fight. Brainiac in Injustice 2's story was a better boss fight. And that's a game where every fight is the same structure! Is it really that hard to represent Superman in solo video game form? I know Superman 64 was a dumpster fire but it should be an easy bar to raise.
Now this is a looter shooter and it's difficult to do a proper one successfully like Borderlands did. But when it comes to the loot in this game, not only is it a slog to get them (without using greedy microtransactions of course) but the loot is hardly interesting. Just guns and chips. Hell even the outfits are hardly worth getting.
And I don't know what it is with Rocksteady but SOMEBODY couldn't help but including... Riddler challenges. That's right, Edward Nygma comes back to have you traverse the city, looking for the answers to his riddles and doing his time trials. The time trials by the way are going through rings... I feel like Superman 64 should be the obvious sign that no one likes doing these. We hardly wanted to do the side missions. Ain't no way we're gonna put time into a whole scavenger hunt of Riddler easter eggs. They were tedious in the Arkham games, these should have been kept out.
There's a good chunk of bugs. Not enough to consider it unplayable but they're still popping up. One time, we couldn't get into the final mission cause it was bugged when we had to pay for killing Brainiac. And yes, you need in-game currency to unlock the final mission. What's the purpose? Is the concept of just picking the mission just too much? You wanna treat this like a Madden game?
Now I must address the elephant in the room which is Kevin Conroy who lent his voice as Batman in this game. We lost this legendary voice actor in 2022 and in the after credits scene, Lois Lane gives a speech in tribute to Batman which is a clear tribute to Kevin. The controversy around this is that this is the game where the Arkhamverse Batman officially dies.
Now I don't blame them for still using Kevin's voice after his death, I just think it was poorly timed that this had to come out as the first time his Batman is heard after his death. But thankfully this isn't his final Batman performance which will come in the future DC animated movie "Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths - Part 3".
However, this being the death of the Arkhamverse Batman specifically seems insulting. The ending in Arkham Knight felt like a good sendoff for this universe's Batman but having him come back just to become evil and killed off kinda ruins his legacy in the Arkham games. This game should've been in its own separate universe. Rocksteady should've ignored the fact that they made the Batman games and not try to tie this in with them.
In the end, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League is a subpar game with an average story and hardly any variety. There's gonna be future DLC. The first one having Joker which again, how is he alive? But I guess the DLC will be multiverse characters since we have Mrs. Freeze. Not MR. Freeze, MRS. Freeze. And it's not Nora, it's Victoria Freeze which is a genderbent Mr. Freeze apparently. And I think I hear rumors that Zoe (Deadshot's daughter), Katana, Deathstroke, and Killer Croc will also be later DLC. But in the end, I don't think I'll have the interest to buy any of them because again, this was average. And I feel this game will die before all the DLC even gets released similarly to the 2020 Avengers game. I don't know is Rocksteady will ever peak again or if they already did with Arkham City. Right now, Marvel seems to be the top contender for superhero games with Insomniac's Spider-Man games. With DC releasing Gotham Knights and this? They have a long road ahead. But hopefully DC can bounce back in the video game department. I mean there's still that upcoming Wonder Woman game but only time will tell if that will be good or not. But until then, DC has a lot of catching up to do.
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League gets a 5/10.