Rocksteady’s take on the Suicide Squad feels limited by its GaaS aspirations, but it’s got a lot of soul – and some nifty tricks up its sleeve.
<img loading=“lazy” src=“https://assetsio.gnwcdn.com/SS-FINAL-HEADER.jpg?width=690&quality=85&format=jpg&dpr=3&auto=webp" onerror=“this.onerror=null;this.src=‘https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhe7F7TRXHtjiKvHb5vS7DmnxvpHiDyoYyYvm1nHB3Qp2_w3BnM6A2eq4v7FYxCC9bfZt3a9vIMtAYEKUiaDQbHMg-ViyGmRIj39MLp0bGFfgfYw1Dc9q_H-T0wiTm3l0Uq42dETrN9eC8aGJ9_IORZsxST1AcLR7np1koOfcc7tnHa4S8Mwz_xD9d0=s16000';" alt=“Review header for Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League – it reads: “It’s not just Batman that deserved better”. - 1”>
Image credit:VG247
UPDATE: FINAL REVIEW
To the game’s credit (and everyone involved), I must say the moment-to-moment combat and late-game loop of stylish abilities and more hard-hitting guns actually carries the entire thing if you’re into what’s on offer. All in all, this is a far more polished release than any of the aforementioned titles. Misguided and at odds with what the studio is known for, yes, but it’s hard to deny the formula works , kind of. It’s just a simple matter of deciding whether you want to engage with it or not.
Bonk. |Image credit:VG247/Fran Ruiz
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
After 10 hours or so of campaign progression and open-world mayhem, Rocksteady’s long-in-the-works, unexpected follow-up to 2015’s Batman: Arkham Knight doesn’t justify such an excruciatingly long development (though I suspect it’s been rebooted to hell and back). However, it’s hard to deny the studio excels in certain areas, infusing the whole package with a degree of charm and polish that you don’t see very often.
The (still on-going) review period has been nothing but a bumpy ride given the non-existent early start press have been given, plus a couple of sudden server outages that should anger those who paid for the noticeably more expensive deluxe edition of the game. And yet, I’ve found myself enjoying the experience well enough and being surprised by the overall presentation and tight feeling of the moment-to-moment gameplay.
Fin. |Image credit:VG247/Warner Bros. Games
Mind you, the narrative still has to find ways to make Earth’s greatest superheroes a bit weaker in order to give Task Force X a fighting chance, but interpersonal conflicts that don’t involve the main characters and gradual in-universe powerups make it work in the long run. More importantly, it’s a less serious, more colorful take on Rocksteady’s grim ‘Arkhamverse’ that allows the studio to flex different muscles. Some late story choices will cause division among the most rigid fans, but I found it refreshing that creatives here were willing to take such massive swings with certain characters and key scenes.
Bat’s life. |Image credit:VG247/Warner Bros. Games
Traversing a besieged version of Metropolis full of neat little details for DC fans as each of the four characters available so far ( the Joker and more are coming later this year ) is fun, especially if you’re Captain Boomerang, who’s able to teleport around and juggle enemies with ranged melee attacks. The characters’ strengths and weaknesses are well exploited, and King Shark must be one of the best-feeling tanky characters I’ve played as in recent memory. But the loot – which is acquired too sparsely and feels a bit rigid despite a few cool modifiers – ultimately comes across as more of an extra step to juice up the characters, instead of something exciting to work towards to. We’ve sadly been here before.
We could be (anti)heroes. |Image credit:VG247/Warner Bros. Games
There’s always, of course, the likely chance of the developer making loot and skill progression (way more interesting albeit tied to the former) more compelling in post-launch updates, but who will be sticking around for those, especially when most of the marketing campaign and PR response has been so misguided and lacking? Franchises as well-established as Diablo can afford this luxury, but I’m not sure anymore about comic book games that needlessly overcomplicate things just because the publisher wanted a piece of a cake that started to rot away like five years ago.
Perhaps even more egregious is how the live service, RPG-ish aspirations affect the mission structure that guides most of the story campaign and the entirety of the end game (which I’ve yet to experience) past the deceitfully more linear and satisfying initial hours. Like I said, it’s more flexible than anything in Marvel’s Avengers (plus enemies are far less sponge-y), but cookie-cutter open-world events often become the entirety of a “main” mission which is only differentiated from side content because a stunning cutscene happened. This doesn’t apply to every major beat of the main dish, but it’s disappointingly common and blurs the line that’s supposed to separate the high-quality stuff from the optional grind.
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PS5 , Xbox Series X/S , PC
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