Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League is Rocksteady Studios’ first new recreation since Arkham Knight again in 2015. As an avid fan of the studio’s earlier work and of the truth that this new recreation is meant to happen within the Arkham universe, I’m equal components excited and anxious. Will the brand new recreation be capable of reside as much as the sky-high status of its predecessors, or has the developer strayed too removed from the trail with its newest endeavor? Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League has so much using on it, and these are the issues that Rocksteady must get proper.
First off, Suicide Squad wants plausible boss fights. The squad of misfits is up towards a few of the heaviest hitters from the DC Universe, and although the staff has unbelievable ability units, it’s nonetheless arduous to imagine that they’d pose any actual menace to the Justice League – particularly after we already confronted two of them earlier than as Batman, and neither Deadshot nor Harley Quinn stood an opportunity towards the Caped Crusader.
So far as we all know, the League consists of, no less than, Superman, Batman, Inexperienced Lantern, and the Flash. How will the Suicide Squad deal with throwing down with individuals who can transfer quicker than the velocity of sunshine and are able to shifting literal mountains with their naked palms? You at all times root for the underdog, however Rocksteady must put ahead an affordable situation the place the squad can win in a plausible manner.
Rockstar has already established that the group will get their palms on weapons able to taking down metahumans, courtesy of none apart from our favourite umbrella-wielding crime boss, Oswald ‘The Penguin’ Cobblepot. So perhaps the correct kind of arsenal will do the trick. The sooner Arkham video games boasted some memorable boss fights, from Killer Croc to Mr. Freeze, however Suicide Squad’s large bads want to return packing spectacular and convincing battles.
One other concern: Can a sunny Metropolis be as fascinating as a grim Gotham? Will or not it’s convincing as an actual metropolis, not a Fortnite map playground? Arkham Asylum, Arkham Metropolis, and Gotham are all depicted pitch completely within the earlier video games, harkening again to the animated sequence and comics whereas creating their very own id and sense of place.
The grim aesthetics grew to become one of many sequence’ defining options, and from what we’ve seen, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League goes in a extra colourful, energetic route. The motion takes place in Superman’s house court docket, Metropolis, and the setting, in addition to the tone, appear wildly completely different from the sooner Arkhamverse video games. It’s at all times daytime, for starters, with town boasting a clear, futuristic look.
And that sums up my essential concern concerning the setting: Metropolis has by no means been that fascinating a setting, whereas Gotham inherently is. Rocksteady must make its Metropolis really feel like a pure enlargement of the Arkhamverse, however there’s a danger that it’ll come throughout as a very videogame-y playground and subsequently a disconnected setting from its predecessors.
However even when Rocksteady manages to create a fascinating setting, it doesn’t imply a lot if the sport lacks diversified and entertaining motion. Rocksteady invented and cultivated a brand new kind of fight system with the unique video games, blended with stealth and investigative sections. If Suicide Squad focuses solely on gunplay and traversal, it is perhaps too one-sided for my style. There may be an equilibrium that must be maintained. Hopefully, we are going to get slower-paced parts of the sport as properly, the place you possibly can wind down and take within the environment.
Lastly – and that is probably my most vital level – any ‘video games as a service’ component must be as unobtrusive as attainable. When the sport was first launched, the presence of GAAS components, together with a battle go, the ‘at all times on-line’ web requirement, and co-op-multiplayer, sparked some backlash from these hoping for a deep and interesting single-player recreation, extra according to what the studio has launched earlier than.
Only in the near past, nonetheless, Rocksteady revealed that an offline mode shall be accessible ultimately, however the battle go and co-op multiplayer are nonetheless there. The GAAS mannequin is just not splendid – not least following Gotham Knights – however I’ve to carry out hope that it’s not overbearing, grindy, and dangerous to the narrative. I take little subject with beauty add-ons, however we all know the GAAS mannequin infects each component of a recreation’s design at this level, no matter how irritating the microtransactions might or might not be.
Fingers crossed Rocksteady will knock it out of the park, however with such a robust heritage, there’s so much at stake. The studio’s humorousness and a spotlight to element seem like intact, and it’ll be fascinating to see the outcomes of such a protracted improvement cycle. I, for one, can’t wait to sink my enamel into what’s going to hopefully be among the finest new PC video games of 2024.