That is, if the gaming community and gaming journalists give it the chance to do so.
Singleplayer.
Co-op Multiplayer.
A journalist’s first and foremost responsibility is to tell the truth, not to say what people want to hear, or as is too often the case, what the loud, obnoxious and potentially dangerous minority want to hear.
Unfortunately, many mainstream gaming journalists seem to have missed that memo, with even some of the largest and most respected game review and news websites opting to create content that not only does not tell the truth but has been deliberately written in such a way as to cause others to believe a lie, and (in their mind) hopefully cause a loud and negative reaction, regardless of the damage they are doing to developers and publishers who are just trying to make a living like everyone else.
They are also the first to incite rage at publishers when they are forced to lay off developers due to poor sales, caused in part by the unwarranted negative press that is pumped out by dozens of “reputable” websites who will willingly print lies, unverified rumours, and blatant gossip as long as it gets their core audience (Reddit and Twitter gamers) foaming at the mouth.
Most recently, we saw several reputable websites assure their readers that while they had not yet played Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, they would give it a negative review, as they knew that is what their readers wanted to see.
NO! A thousand times no, a reviewer’s role is to provide honest and unbiased facts about a game and let the reader utilise those facts, along with gameplay videos, etc, to make their own decision, not print prejudged, dishonest and downright poorly written hit pieces to drive more ad revenue to their website/video.
Unfortunately, many reputable websites have become the gaming equivalent of biblical Pharisees expressing faux-sympathy when a developer is forced to lay off some of their staff, despite actively working to hurt the very said teams if such an action would cause a little more outrage, more anger, and if they are very lucky an organic hate campaign that will kill off said game, so they can cover its demise and generate a few more clicks.
Deliberately telling lies and encouraging people (often impressionable children and teens) to hate games, and most importantly, the people behind said games to the point of spreading lies themselves, abusing the developers, and even sending death threats is a far worse sin than a launching a title that has one MTX too many or occasionally loses a few FPS here or there.
While developers should strive to make the best game possible, and terrible games are not uncommon, there is no reason to spread lies and fake narratives just to make a profit, as frankly, what good is it for a man or woman to gain the world (become wealthy) if it lands them in hell because of it?
Image credit Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League - Published by Warner Bros. Games and developed by Rocksteady Studios.
Live Service games are here to stay, and while a small but vocal part of the gaming community wishes to go back to the day of smaller games that were never updated, and even bug fixes were a novelty, the vast majority of gamers like live service games when they are handled correctly.
I love single-player, multiplayer, co-op, competitive, and, yes, live service games when handled correctly, and I can see value in each model; however, opponents of live service games will only point out failed or exploitive live service games as proof the entire model is flawed, instead of acknowledging that every genre has its faults, with thousands of single-player games having launched poorly, or died while in early access, and yet no one with any sense or honesty would dare to suggest that the single-player games should go the way of the dodo, just because there have been some truly awful single-player games released over the past 40 years, from ET (1982) to The Lord of the Rings: Gollum (2023), Skull Island: Rise of Kong (2023), and Walking Dead Destinies (2023), and I am sure that 2024 will provide ample more examples as the year progresses, with some truly lacklustre games on the horizon.
And yet, despite these terrible games, no one thinks that single-player games do not have a place on the market; no one is prepping hate and review bombing campaigns targeting every new single-player game, foaming at the mouth to see it fail, and yet when it comes to living service games, which often provide a huge amount of content for a low entry fee, a large swathe of the gaming community is ok with the abuse that developers receive, and the dishonest articles printed by their favourite outlets, as when it comes to a genre they do not like or understand, truth, honesty and objectivity go out the window.
Bad games need to be called out, no matter the genre, and there have been some truly awful live service games; however, the percentage of good/bad games is no different to any other genre, and much of the hatred towards the genre is created by a small group of people who either hate change or wish to capitalise on the rage of those that do. I feel genuine sympathy for developers who will face undue scrutiny for launching a live service title when the genre is not only a valid one but one that is home to many of the most popular and profitable games on the market, including titles such as Call of Duty, Overwatch 2, League of Legends, Apex Legends, Fortnite, Rocket League, PuBG, World of Warcraft, Final Fantasy 14, and Roblox, to name just a few of the most well known live service titles, many of which have enjoyed enduring success for multiple years, and even console generations.
Unfortunately, Rocksteady was targeted by a vicious hate and disinformation campaign from the moment it was revealed it was a live service title, and while no game is perfect, prejudging a game solely on the genre is no way to act as a gamer, let alone as a media outlet.
Image credit Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League - Published by Warner Bros. Games and developed by Rocksteady Studios.
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League is a nice-looking game that, at times, is downright impressive; however, certain aspects of the game (such as character models) do not always look as clean and crisp as those found in the Arkham games, and while this is frustrating for those who value visuals above all else, the vastly wider scope of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League coupled with the cosmetic system in-game (resulting in extra work for the GPU) is the reason for this slight, but noticeable visual degradation at times.
Is it possible to still enjoy Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League even if certain outfits look worse than their Arkham counterparts? Of course, while certain outfits look slightly worse than their Arkham counterparts, overall, the game looks stunning. For those who can look past the occasional murky texture or rare bland facial expression, there is nothing inherently so wrong about Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League that even the most ardent visuals enthusiast would feel they wasted their time and money on the game.
Image credit Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League - Published by Warner Bros. Games and developed by Rocksteady Studios.
While The Arkham series had low points, and Arkham Knight was so bad on PC at launch that it was removed from Steam entirely for a while, those days are now firmly behind the developers. Even Arkham Knight itself recovered from its poor launch with 90% of all Steam reviews being positive, a recovery that equals that of Cyberpunk 2077 and No Mans Sky but is not talked about so much due to the other games sucking on all platforms, while Arkham Knight did very well on other platforms. Only the PC build was absolutely awful.
With such a solid portfolio of Batman games behind them, I am excited to see what Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League will be like a year from now, even if the gaming community doesn’t allow it to live much longer than that, failing a hypothetical Game Pass or PS Plus deal giving it a much needed second lease of life.
Image credit Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League - Published by Warner Bros. Games and developed by Rocksteady Studios.
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League’s moment-to-moment gameplay is very enjoyable; with smooth combat, amazing traversal abilities, and plenty of loot to go around, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League is just about all you could want from a looter shooter, and while not every playable character is perfectly balanced, and King Shark suffers from the same lack of creativity than plagues Marvel Avengers Hulk and his moveset, overall combat is excellent, and melee, in particular, is very rewarding, with Harley and Deadshot in particularly being very fun to play as.
Overall, it’s not a perfect game, and there is room for improvement. Still, it’s an incredibly fun one, and to say anything else would be categorically dishonest, regardless of a reviewer’s personal feelings about the Suicide Squad, live services games or the looter shooter genre as a whole.
Image credit Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League - Published by Warner Bros. Games and developed by Rocksteady Studios.
While I must admit to being more of a Marvel fan than of DC comics, I enjoy both universes. I can recognise a good character when I see one, even If I have my preferences. One thing that Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League has in abundance is great characters, and some surprisingly funny and even heartfelt moments occur between them.
Of special note is the growing (and bizarre) friendship between Harley Quinn and King Shark, whose earnest curiosity is a great counter to Quinn’s unhinged insanity, making for some truly memorable moments.
I will say, however, that Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League takes too long to introduce the characters in a meaningful way, with players being forced to play through a rather tedious but functional tutorial for each character before they are allowed to start the story in earnest and are treated to one of the funniest and most well-edited cutscenes I have ever seen, that left me genuinely laughing at the core characters, and their reaction to one another, and the offer Amanda Waller made them.
While Harley may steal the show, and Captain Boomerang left me wondering, “Couldn’t they have chosen anyone else?” the cast of characters work well together.
I am enjoying my time with Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League and intend to play it over in the coming weeks, months and hopefully years, filling a void left behind by the premature sunsetting of Marvel Avengers, which has all but destroyed any chance of new players joining the game, bolstering the struggling community, which was left in shambles after Marvel Avengers was removed not only from sale but from Ps Plus and Xbox Game Pass, resulting in a staggering 95% decrease in active players, all but ensuring Marvel Avengers never recovers from its fall from grace.
Image credit Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League - Published by Warner Bros. Games and developed by Rocksteady Studios.
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League’s narrative is rather interesting; with almost the entity of the Justice League under the sway of Brainiac and committing acts of murder and destruction, leaving the city of Metropolis in ruins, some of Arkham Asylum’s, most infamous criminals, are given a chance to “do some good”, and save the city, and if possible kill, capture or rescue any members of the Justice League which are still alive.
Unfortunately, such attempts to “do good” by bad people seldom work as planned.
While good people can do great acts of evil and evil people can at times do good things without the saving grace of Jesus Christ and true, heartfelt Repentance, no villain will stay redeemed for long, something we witness time and time against throughout Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League as Task Force X, as each member of Task Force X at times puts their selfish ambition above that of the team and the citizens who right now are counting on them to save the city.
While it could be said that some members, such as Deadshot, are closer to Repentance than Captain Boomerang, who struggles to control his hatred for the Flash even as they work together to save the city, no true repentance is witnessed throughout the game’s narrative.
What is Repentance, you may ask? It is a complete and total turn change of behaviour; saying sorry isn’t Repentance, and making an effort to do something less isn’t Repentance; it is a determination never to do the things that brought you to this point. While all humans fail at times, that is why we need a saviour, earth’s true superhero, who not only gave his life to end the hold of sin and darkness over our lives but rose from the dead, proving once and for all he is who he said he is, and that only by following him can we find salvation and true peace.
I cannot help but feel that once the threat to their own lives ends, our Task Force X will return to their old lives of crime, and while it certainly makes for an exciting narrative, it does sadden me somewhat that many “good” people will witness this same narrative and not see themselves reflected in the actions of Task Force X.
While most of us will not actively seek to kill the Justice League and ally ourselves with all manner of eccentric supervillains, we are no less guilty of sin, especially when you judge your action not by your own standards but the standards of a perfect and holy God who cannot abide sin in his presence, in much the same way that a furnace cannot abide a snowflake in its presence, the sheer power of a perfect divine being, that surpasses any power in this universe or any other (DC included), would frankly obliterate us without the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, a sacrifice I am most grateful for, as a saved sinner no better than anyone else, and worse than some.
While our anti-heroes will get their five minutes of fame and partial redemption in the eyes of their world, they will not change, and sooner or later, they will return to being the villains of the Rocksteady universe, as without Jesus Christ, mankind cannot conquer their sin. Sooner or later, the darkness they try to lock away deep inside will consume them and often innocent people around them.
Image credit Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League - Published by Warner Bros. Games and developed by Rocksteady Studios.
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League is a action video game developed by Rocksteady Studios and published by Warner Bros. Games, it was released on 2 February 2024 and retails for $69.99+.
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League is available on the following platforms: PC, Playstation 5, and Xbox Series X|S.
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League supports:
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League offers the following matchmaking options:
The Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League in-game store sells:
The following peripherals are officially supported:
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League is rated PEGI 18+ and contains:
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League is surprisingly very good and more than atones for the mistakes made by rival superhero live service game Marvel Avengers.
While I would have preferred Marvel Avengers to be the more successful game out of the two, or Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League being a game focused around playing as various members of the Justice League, I would be remiss not to point out just how good a game Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League is, and while playing as “barely reformed bad guys” isn’t for everyone, and some players will find this objectionable, overall “good” triumphs and the forces of evil are defeated, even if the heroes are closer to anti-heroes than anything else.
Overall, it is a worthy successor to the Arkham Collection and its initially very positive user review scores (pre-SBI review bombing campaign) are sign that perhaps the gaming community is ready for AAA live service titles, despIte a hostile vocal minority and rage peddlers saying otherwise.
