Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League it is one of the titles that comics and video game lovers have awaited the most in recent years. Among the main reasons is the fact that it marks the return to one of the most beloved narrative universes of the genre, that of Batman: Arkham. But unfortunately, as the launch approached, more and more doubts arose about how capable it would be of bringing us back to those iconic atmospheres. Let’s see the pros and cons of this title in our review of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League.
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, the review: what are we talking about?
We return, as we said, to one of the main universes of great world of DC Comics (the American comics publishing house that publishes the adventures of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and so on), or what we explored in the very successful trilogy/tetralogy – it’s a complex question, but there’s no need to talk about it now – of Arkham.
The protagonist, however, is no longer the Dark Knight, but a group of criminals. It’s Task Force X, better known as Suicide Squada team that in recent years has acquired a certain fame beyond comics, thanks above all to film appearances.
It’s a rather controversial government operation. Amanda Waller recruits some of the many villains of this universe and puts them to work on the most dangerous missions there are, namely “suicide” missions, in exchange for sentence discounts or other. And to make sure they obey orders, he implants one in their heads radio controlled bomb, which will explode in case of insubordination. What they call a nice working environment.
This version of the team was created for to save Metropolis from a potentially global threat. Brainiac, an alien artificial intelligence, has taken over the city and is preparing to take over the world. Of course, normally something like this would be taken care of Justice League, the supergroup of DC heroes led by Superman. But Brainiac took control of their minds and made them his generals, making everything terribly dangerous. On the contrary, suicidal.
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League opens the doors to the DC universe
Narratively, this video game is decidedly interesting, even more so if you are a fan (like the writer) of DC Comics adventures. The Batman: Arkham saga has indeed explored in great depth the “territory” of the Dark Knight, giving notoriety even to very secondary characters such as the Mad Hatter, Firefly or Professor Pyg. But he always let what happened be beyond the borders of Gotham Cityexcept for a few small quotes.
Not everything turns upside down. We are suddenly thrown into an extremely larger universe, where we find a full Justice League, where we can meet Green Lantern e Flashwhere we see posters of Zatanna next change b Lois Lane interview Lex Luthor. And there is still something to say, but we don’t want to spoil too much.
This is a little dream for those who love the genre. Finding yourself immersed in a great adventure that affects the entire DC universe is fascinating, offering infinite narrative possibilities. The very idea of finally being able to explore Metropolis, walking through those streets, jumping on those rooftops is something exciting. There would be get lost for hours in the Hall of Justiceto hunt for all the Easter eggs.
Just as it is a beautiful idea pit us against the Justice League, a challenge worthy of the name. And this negative version immerses itself very well in the path of critical revisitation of the figure of the superhero which in recent years has been emerging ever stronger. In essence, in addition to Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League it also feels like playing the video game transposition of The Boys.
However, something is not entirely convincing
We waited nine years to return to the Arkhamverse. Nine years in which hope was rekindled several times, through Gotham Knights and the countless rumors about a video game dedicated to Superman. And that’s normal, because that universe was truly extraordinary. The problem, however, is that there was a conclusion. A great conclusionthe exciting ones that marked history.
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, taking us back to that universe, necessarily had to movehave something of that perfect balance. And if it is true that the sequence in which he explains everything to us is beautiful (one of the best of the first phases of the game) and it is even more true that it is a pleasure to see one of the most iconic voices of this world return to his character, moreover for the last time, there’s a bit of a bad taste left in the mouth for having done so quickly. We could probably have built a whole other game instead is resolved in two measures.
Another aspect where not everything is great is the representation of Task Force X itself, as well as a bit of the whole tone of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League. The commitment is absolutely evident in trying to convey a light-hearted, rebellious, aggressive, violent tone. But it is precisely this evidence that makes it less effective.
Every line of dialogue serves to underline that “they are bad”, both the protagonists and their tormentors. Jokes, insults, direct attacks… In the long run this turns out to be the case rather forced, preventing us from truly empathizing with these characters. It was a very demanding challenge, to be honest, but the fact remains that it was not won.
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, the review cannot fail to address the issue of gameplay
So far we have practically only talked about the narrative aspect of this video game. It’s quite natural: compared to other titles, here the story is absolutely central. But it wouldn’t be a complete assessment if we didn’t also address the question of gameplay.
Here we would have preferred it vice versa a return of the Arkham mechanics. Not so much those relating to stealth (they wouldn’t make sense, with these new protagonists) but those relating to the combat system. It was absolutely a method satisfyingwith a good learning curve, but addictive.
In Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League si opta per un approccio less tied to melee, with multiple firearms (absolutely prohibited for Batman) and ranged combat. Here too, we have a bit of a learning curve, but even if we get the hang of it, we don’t have the same satisfaction that creating combos of hundreds of hits gave. That’s all much more chaotic and not in a good way.
The travel system has left us enough perplexed. This is basically a weakened version of the Arkham one. We will therefore not be able to fly from one part of Metropolis to another in a fluid manner, but we will have to periodically touch the ground to restart. Once you understand the rules you can also make it work, but that’s all much more cumbersome and essentially less fun.
At this point, why have a team?
If we can declassify the previous points on “matters of personal taste” and “nostalgia for the past”, there is an aspect of the gameplay of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League that hasn’t really convinced us, namely the characterization of the different members del team.
Let’s not talk about the narrative side (beyond one charisma imbalance in favour of Harley Quinn e Deadshotbut it is physiological) but rather of the feeling when we control them. It’s always the same characterwith little more than a different skin.
Right, Captain Boomerang it doesn’t move with the grappling hook but by exploiting the Speed Force, King Shark he uses a harpoon and brute force and not the sniper rifle, but the gist still remains the same. Even “getting our hands dirty” with statistics and equipment there’s no real difference in using one character or another. With the only exception of when the game provides us with a bonus for narrative reasons.
It would have been much more interesting to exploit the characteristics of each person to create a team, even following the classic rules. After all King Shark he was born to be a tank and Deadshot a ranger. Harley e Boomerang the roles of healer and DPS can be played, perhaps with some narrative justification.
And he could do all of this come in handy during missions. Pushing us to change characters to be able to face different challenges with different skills. Instead we are always there, fighting with one (anti)hero rather than another, without great reasons to vary.
After all, the game itself doesn’t go in this direction. In fact, once a mission has started we can no longer change characters until it is completed or abandoned. But at this point, Was it really necessary to have a team at the center? Wouldn’t it have been better to focus only on one member (for example the very popular Harley Quinn) and divert efforts elsewhere?
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, the review: it stops a moment before
Unfortunately ours review by Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League it’s less enthusiastic than we would have liked it to be. We find ourselves faced with a game that convinced us on a large scale, but which becomes less and less satisfying when we go into detail.
Let’s play, Surely. Narratively he gives her satisfactions. And even if we have had some technical obstacles every now and then, we can hope that they are just some difficulty launching, which will soon be overcome. But for a work that would have truly had the potential, on many levels, to be a continuation not only narrative but spiritual of that revolution that was the Arkham saga, we cannot deny being a bit’…