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 have the ability to reside as much as the sky-high repute of its predecessors, or has the developer strayed too removed from the trail with its newest endeavor? Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League has lots driving 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 number of the heaviest hitters from the DC Universe, and though the group has unimaginable ability units, it’s nonetheless exhausting to imagine that they might pose any actual risk 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, at the least, Superman, Batman, Inexperienced Lantern, and the Flash. How will the Suicide Squad deal with throwing down with individuals who can transfer sooner than the velocity of sunshine and are able to transferring literal mountains with their naked fingers? You all the time root for the underdog, however Rocksteady must put ahead an affordable state of affairs the place the squad can win in a plausible approach.
Rockstar has already established that the group will get their fingers on weapons able to taking down metahumans, courtesy of none aside from our favourite umbrella-wielding crime boss, Oswald ‘The Penguin’ Cobblepot. So perhaps the best sort 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 course. The motion takes place in Superman’s residence courtroom, Metropolis, and the setting, in addition to the tone, appear wildly totally different from the sooner Arkhamverse video games. It’s all the time daytime, for starters, with the town boasting a clear, futuristic look.
And that sums up my fundamental 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 growth of the Arkhamverse, however there’s a threat that it’s going to come throughout as an excessively videogame-y playground and due to this fact a disconnected setting from its predecessors.
However even when Rocksteady manages to create a charming setting, it doesn’t imply a lot if the sport lacks diverse and entertaining motion. Rocksteady invented and cultivated a brand new sort of fight system with the unique video games, combined with stealth and investigative sections. If Suicide Squad focuses solely on gunplay and traversal, it is likely to be too one-sided for my style. There may be an equilibrium that must be maintained. Hopefully, we’ll get slower-paced parts of the sport as effectively, the place you possibly can wind down and take within the environment.
Lastly – and that is presumably my most vital level – any ‘video games as a service’ component needs to be as unobtrusive as potential. When the sport was first launched, the presence of GAAS components, together with a battle go, the ‘all the time on-line’ web requirement, and co-op-multiplayer, sparked some backlash from these hoping for a deep and fascinating single-player recreation, extra according to what the studio has launched earlier than.
Only recently, nevertheless, Rocksteady revealed that an offline mode might be accessible finally, however the battle go and co-op multiplayer are nonetheless there. The GAAS mannequin just isn’t 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 concern 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 powerful heritage, there’s lots 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 growth cycle. I, for one, can not wait to sink my enamel into what is going to hopefully be top-of-the-line new PC video games of 2024.