“Opinions are like a**holes, everyone has one”, yes, I know. There’s no doubt that some consumers, or maybe even quite a few, didn’t tremble when Rocksteady first announced to the world that their next game would be a cooperative, open Live Service game. In fact, I saw many, even then, rightly calling for a calmer approach, wishing that even the most hardened skeptics would throw some cold water on their heads.
The only problem is, as has been outlined previously in an article on this site, that superheroes in particular and the always-online Live Service structure tend to connect very quickly when mixed together, with Marvel’s Avengers and Gotham Knights being the two most obvious examples. But if there was one thing Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League had, and here we’re talking across multiple previews, it was flair, it was style, and maybe the many battles against Brainiac’s minions were so dynamic after all that they partially did making up for the loss of narrative, exploration, mechanical versatility and all the other things we, if not most, associate with the Arkham games.
And for my part, there was actually cautious optimism to be found relatively early in the process, when Rocksteady released a trailer that perhaps lacked all the qualities mentioned above, but still managed to impress in pure dynamics. Check it out below.
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The characters feel distinct if nothing else, the gameplay looks, if nothing else, pretty fluid and interspersed with some kickass boss fights, it was, if nothing else, more than the dumpster fire you initially feared, right?
Well, now we turn to the newer look, where Rocksteady finally revealed how direct gameplay from Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League looks, and as I sat that night watching the screening on the big screen TV in the darkened living room, I could feel the last shred of excitement, of interest, being sucked out of me. Now the game no longer exists on my radar. I certainly don’t need to be a truth teller, but YongYea, for one, has been quick to point out that the ratio of likes to dislikes on this display is directly…well, huge.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iiw3Fzm7W7U/
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It’s pretty easy to see why, because all the dynamism, fluid animations and transitions that were supposed to save the day are nowhere to be found, replaced instead by relatively simplistic telegraphed queues and a design that feels rudimentary, simple and generic. For a start, all the heft is gone. There are no animations or effects that clearly show our heroes landing heavily after a daring jump from a rooftop, there is no weight behind the dry blows dealt to completely lifeless purple enemies. Aside from a few Deadshot headshots, the ammo feels so feathery, not offering the frictionless freedom of movement we see in games that gracefully break away from gravity.
No, instead the four characters feel relatively identical to look at. Several comments have pointed out how Captain Boomerang, a character with his favorite weapon in his name here, using a shotgun, because why not. There’s no real versatility here as the characters semi-teleport, semi-swing and deliver well-aimed shots here and there, slavishly following incredibly obvious and strategically stupid purple swells that clearly telegraph to their enemies where to shoot.
Let’s allow ourselves to be superficial for a moment, and say that comparing the game-like trailer at the top of this article, and the ones we saw during State of Play, testify to a rather significant graphical downgrade. Of course, that sort of thing will always happen to some degree, but the number of unique animations, the lack of heft that was present before this showing, and just the level of detail is lacking. Especially down to earth, where the game can’t hide behind frantic action and rather annoying giant red crosses on every kill, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League seems completely devoid of interesting details, as if Metropolis wasn’t even a populated city before Brainiac moved in.
Naturally, this was just a taste, a single area, a single scenario. But it’s indicative of a Live Service project that lacks virtually all of the core elements we just love about Rocksteady, the things we used to take for granted in the Arkham games. What we get instead perhaps adds some replay value, which of course is welcome, but it seems to be bought on false premises with color-coordinated loot, loads of skins and enemies that are hard to tell apart even during an organized demo.
And what was presented just looked, to me at least, so endlessly boring, completely devoid of exceptional features, or anything at its heart. The large tank with characteristic purple bubbles, Harley Quinn’s airy attack with no heft whatsoever and perhaps most telling; The creeping feeling that the only way you can interact with the game’s world is by smashing boring, generic space enemies.
As I wrote earlier; Live Service is not bad by definition. Forza Horizon 5, for example, is in principle a Live Service game. But Marvel’s Avengers, Gotham Knights and Anthem have all paved the way for a formula that Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League seemingly does nothing to renew, and the visual pomp and circumstance that was present before could have made up for the lack on everything else, also seems to be gone.
I hope I’m wrong, I really am. But it just looks… Uninspired.
What do you think?
