On Thursday, the highlight of PlayStation’s State of Play showcase was meant to be a third party game, Rocksteady’s Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, delayed out of last year, but now releasing this May.
After 10 minutes of footage and explanation from Rocksteady, the general takeaway seems to be: “Wait, that’s what this game is?”
The disconnect is that everyone knows Rocksteady from the Arkham series, the trilogy that famously inspired the “you really feel like X” meme. But it was true, you did feel like Batman, as his brawling, sneaking and mystery-solving made for a compelling series of games, and everyone was incredibly eager to see which DC property Rocksteady would take on next.
But Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League looks like a hard left turn deep into not just a new style of combat, but an entirely new type of game based on the looter-shooter model of Borderlands and the live-service ambitions of Destiny or Marvel’s Avengers.
Suicide Squad
WB
What was shown off yesterday raised a lot of red flags for me personally, but surveying the reaction online, I wasn’t alone. Among what was revealed:
- Gameplay is incredibly arcade-y, focused heavily on aerial combat across all four character classes with access to grappling hooks, teleporters and jetpacks. The game that immediately came to mind when I saw the footage was Crackdown, not a favorable comparison.
- The game is heavily loot-focused. While each character does have a unique kit, they share access to a number of weapon classes that will be looted during the game. SMGs, assault rifles, snipers, Gatling guns, etc.
- There’s a “gearscore” that you’re meant to improve over time to increase your power, nearly identical to a system you’d find in The Division, Destiny or Avengers.
- The game is four-player co-op, like Borderlands, but unlike Borderlands, there is no true solo play, as playing by yourself will have bots filling the other roles, exactly like Marvel’s Avengers. And even if you are playing solo, the game requires a constant internet connection.
- The game has a battle pass that it reiterates is cosmetic only, but it’s a battle pass all the same. And there’s a “store” tab shown in the menus, for whatever that sells.
- During the presentation Rocksteady very much made it clear they will support this game with live service features well into the future, like new missions and even new playable characters.
None of this feels right to me.
First, I’m not a hundred percent sure what DC’s obsession with the Suicide Squad is, which has inspired two movies and now a huge game here, as I know everyone was hoping Rocksteady would just make like, a really good Superman or Wonder Woman game or something, similar to what they did with Batman.
Suicide Squad
WB
The gunplay/airborne combat focus here doesn’t look all that great compared the cinematic fluidity that was a hallmark of Arkham. Again, it looks like Crackdown or Anthem.
Finally, this being a live service looter shooter is just strange, especially given Rocksteady’s history with Arkham. It feels like this game was conceived in five years ago in the height of the live service trend, but it feels dated now that it’s finally arrived, like another entry trying to ape on Destiny, despite the fact that so many have tried and failed before it. It also doesn’t help that we saw Marvel’s Avengers try and fail with an incredibly similar concept within the superhero genre recently as well.
Something feels off here. Many things, in fact. It’s certainly possible the game is very fun and the live service aspects aren’t intrusive, but man, that was not a very promising showcase at all.
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Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.
