Rocksteady Studios’ Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League has launched and, much like the previews, the reviews are a mixed bag.
Early previews did nothing to enthrall fans, as even the mainstream gaming press loathed Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League. They hated the repetitive and boring gameplay that halted the few moments of fun they had, and that it failed to stand out among other live-service open world games.
In fact, IGN would later report they had been denied a copy of the game to review. This could be somewhat predicted, as they didn’t enjoy the preview overly much — with Director of Video Content Strategy at IGN Destin Legarie concluding, “I left the preview event less optimistic than when I came in.” Even so, many others also had underwhelming experiences.
The reviews at launch continue the trend, but there were those with praise. VGC gave it a 4 out of 5, with Jordan Middler giving somewhat back-handed praise.
“Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League is a visually stunning anti-hero romp that’s fun to play, even if the things you’re actually doing are somewhat repetitive,” he said, adding, “Rocksteady’s Arkhamverse comes to a close in style, without fully succumbing to the live-service demons.” This is despite also noting the microtransactions for costumes were expensive.
Middler also highlights how Rocksteady tried to gut the live-service elements, as while gear is tiered, players are quickly given very powerful tools. “It means that when stuff drops from enemies, there’s no incentive to look at it, because you probably already have something great, or you’re about to go up an entire tier during the next mission.”
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Xbox Era’s Jesse ‘Doncabesa’ Norris was another reviewer offering high praise — granting the recently released title an 8.2 out of 10. “While the objectives can feel repetitive the excellent gameplay never does,” Norris commended. Despite praising the graphics, gameplay, writing, and the gear/loot system, even he couldn’t applaud the always online demands.
Noah Nelson of PC Invasion also gave the game an 8 out of 10. “The good found in gameplay, cutscenes, and level design far outweigh the bad found in the campaign’s pacing and some grisly missions and boss fights.”
Nelson upheld the game’s humor, combat, level design, and “Smart live service aspects.” Nevertheless, he took issue with it being “repetitive by nature of being a live service game,” the story feeling rushed at the end, boss fights and missions varying wildly in quality, and the ever-loathed escort missions.
Push Square’s Aaron Bayne was another who gave a somewhat respectable score of 7 out of 10. “Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League is a complicated game. It’s tough not to think about what could have been if Rocksteady opted for another traditional single player title — especially since the split personalities at this game’s heart stop it from reaching the heights of the developer’s previous works.”
Despite issues with story pacing, mission variety — and even a lack of faith in the game’s lifespan — Bayne “can’t deny that the game’s fun.” He felt it managed to remain engaging, had fun combat, and looked great. “There is a bittersweet feeling surrounding Suicide Squad, and that sentiment will remain for a lot of players, but it’s hard to say that Rocksteady entirely missed the mark with this big gamble.”
Curiously, many of the criticisms the positive reviews did bring up were shared by those who didn’t like the game. Denis Michel for German outlet Game Pro only gave it a 60 out of 100. His conclusion, however, read like a far lower score. “Suicide Squad is a shadow of what once made Rocksteady one of the best developers for open world action games.” (Translation: DeepL)
Giving high praise for presentation (4 out of 5 for that category), game design was slated (1 out of 5) — noting that, while “essentially fun,” it was uncreative, too repetitive in combat and mission types, and the heroes also playing similarly.
Youssef ElKhedry of Keen Gamer had one of the first luke-warm reviews for the game, with 55 out of 100. “Overall, the game leaves a lot to be desired. At first glance, the combat seems interesting but ultimately falls flat due to the repetitive nature of the missions and combat encounters.”
ElKhendry also praised the dialogue and cutscenes — mentioning that dialogue made moments in the story that were “not ideal” more tolerable — but felt the always online demand was “a slap in the face but it can be forgiven.”
“Ultimately, the game can be enjoyed by some DC fans looking for some quick, chaotic fun, yet a lot of die-hard comic book fans will be quick to criticize certain aspects of comic accuracy and character development. The hefty price tag is definitely unjustified and doesn’t feel fully worth it,” ElKhedry cautioned.
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Ramón Gutiérrez from Spanish outlet Areajugones gave a scathing 4 out of 10, also finding it repetitive, making the same mistakes as Marvel’s Avengers, and the always online requirement being all negatives.
“Is this the same Rocksteady Studios that made the legendary Batman: Arkham?” Gutiérrez asked (translation via DeepL). “Honestly, I don’t know, but the game doesn’t deliver in hardly any of its various aspects, being an adventure game that I would only recommend if you decide to buy it at a price much lower than it is currently priced.”
Not to be entirely snubbed by Rocksteady, IGN released a Review In Progress. Simon Cardy warned, “My first 11 or so hours with Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League have left me with wildly mixed thoughts. There are things I like, things I don’t, and worst of all, things that elicit no emotional response at all.” This was after reaching “the end of its short-ish campaign,” but not the post-game.
While he felt it had a “well-told story,” and had some engaging moments, “thoughtful mission design is almost non-existent and many of its looter shooter systems fall flat.” The squad being focused on bland guns in their combat, and only a handful of abilities related to their powers and lore, was also a sore-spot.
Comparing it to Marvel’s Avengers (which Cardy enjoyed), he added “the first step toward trying to avoid a similar fate would be to create a compelling combat system that makes me want to return to Suicide Squad week after week, which it hasn’t quite achieved at this point.”
The UK’s Metro newspaper also released a review in progress under “GameCentral.” They seemed to have a milquetoast experience, prefacing, “we can conclusively say that… we don’t hate it. We may end up hating it, because it’s already starting to show shines of considerable repetition, but this is not a Lord Of The Rings: Gollum situation, where it’s going to end up on Worst Games of 2023 lists (well, it probably will but it shouldn’t).”
“From what we’ve experienced so far, it seems clear that Suicide Squad is not a bad game. But neither is it a good one.” Despite that assurance, the Metro is quick to add the game is “absolutely not worth the wait,” the gunplay- while “very solid,” lacks imaginative weapons, and pales in comparison to the Arkham series and Spider-Man 2. But there was one game it shared similarities with.
“It’s depressing how Suicide Squad blunders into all the same mistakes as [Marvel’s] Avengers, including not properly leveraging its source material, which is all based around fighting weird and charismatic opponents. Presumably the Justice League are meant to fill that role here, but all the Flash and Green Lantern have done so far is taunt us, while the most dangerous enemy boss has been a walking artillery cannon that doesn’t talk.”
In summation, consistent issues seem to be the game being repetitive, failing to inspire the imagination with it’s source material, it’s always online requirements, and being undercut by being compared to games that were far better or worse. The only fun seems to be the humor, traversal, and shooting — albeit the last two being simplistic.
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League suffered a rocky road throughout development, all the way up to launch. This included multiple delays, the last coming a month after fans were outraged over the game needing to be always online, even in single-player and the aforementioned live service elements.
Rocksteady Studios reportedly attempted to resolve an issue with a whistleblower with money. She had quit due to the studio’s handling of the alleged sexual harassment of sixteen women — rejecting the money only made her claims more widely-known.
The entire plot also leaked, adding fuel to the fire. Combined with leaked cutscenes, fans were outraged Kevin Conroy’s then-claimed final performance as Batman was tone-deaf and disrespectful to both the character and the iconic voice actor. Rather conveniently, an alleged insider later claimed that Conroy had two final roles recorded as the Dark Knight.
Finally (at least for now), those who bought the $100 deluxe edition received their 72-hour early access for less than an hour. Servers were pulled offline (making the game unplayable), as it was discovered a bug gave players completed save files on booting up the game for the first time.
Those players were later compensated with 2000 “Luthorcoins” — an in-game currency worth $20. This reportedly led to an almost 800% rise in people searching for “Suicide Squad refund” online.
Marvel’s Avengers — the likely inspiration for live-service in Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League — launched and was shut down within three years. That may have inspired some of the delays, but it seems the Squad was too far in development, and could only plough-on with it’s collision course.
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