Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League review: "Lacks focus and refinement"

GamesRadar+ VerdictA wildly entertaining creative concept makes Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League a captivating prospect, but repetitive mission design, a messy confluence of combat systems, and the drive towards a cooperative live service structure ultimately undermine the game’s strongest qualities.TODAY’S BEST DEALS$3.50at GamersGate$31.99at Amazon$79.99at WalmartPros+Great concept+Fun story+Looks beautifulCons-Lackluster combat-Unwieldy traversal-Slow progression

GamesRadar+ Verdict

GamesRadar+ Verdict

A wildly entertaining creative concept makes Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League a captivating prospect, but repetitive mission design, a messy confluence of combat systems, and the drive towards a cooperative live service structure ultimately undermine the game’s strongest qualities.TODAY’S BEST DEALS$3.50at GamersGate$31.99at Amazon$79.99at Walmart

A wildly entertaining creative concept makes Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League a captivating prospect, but repetitive mission design, a messy confluence of combat systems, and the drive towards a cooperative live service structure ultimately undermine the game’s strongest qualities.

TODAY’S BEST DEALS$3.50at GamersGate$31.99at Amazon$79.99at Walmart

TODAY’S BEST DEALS$3.50at GamersGate$31.99at Amazon$79.99at Walmart

TODAY’S BEST DEALS$3.50at GamersGate$31.99at Amazon$79.99at Walmart

TODAY’S BEST DEALS

$3.50at GamersGate$31.99at Amazon$79.99at Walmart

$3.50at GamersGate

$3.50at GamersGate

$31.99at Amazon

$31.99at Amazon

$79.99at Walmart

$79.99at Walmart

Pros+Great concept+Fun story+Looks beautiful

Great concept

Fun story

Looks beautiful

Cons-Lackluster combat-Unwieldy traversal-Slow progression

Lackluster combat

Unwieldy traversal

Slow progression

Why you can trust GamesRadar+Our experts review games, movies and tech over countless hours, so you can choose the best for you.Find out more about our reviews policy.

Why you can trust GamesRadar+Our experts review games, movies and tech over countless hours, so you can choose the best for you.Find out more about our reviews policy.

I have to admire Rocksteady Studios for committing so thoroughly to the bit. For the ruthless efficiency with which the developer has burned down a corner of theDC Comicsuniverse that it had spent a decade building up. The Arkhamverse has been torn asunder, its greatest heroes are gone and its most memorable surviving villains have been locked inside the Hall of Justice as weapons vendors. A Crisis on Infinite Earths leaves surprisingly little room for the carnage to be undone in a Lazarus Pit as part of the ongoing live service story, or whatever new adventures may eventually lay beyond it.

FAST FACTSRelease date: February 2, 2024Platform(s): PC, PS5, Xbox Series XDeveloper: Rocksteady StudiosPublisher: Warner Bros. Games

FAST FACTS

Release date: February 2, 2024Platform(s): PC, PS5, Xbox Series XDeveloper: Rocksteady StudiosPublisher: Warner Bros. Games

Release date: February 2, 2024Platform(s): PC, PS5, Xbox Series XDeveloper: Rocksteady StudiosPublisher: Warner Bros. Games

Honestly, it’s captivating to see a prominent studio take such a wild swing with a licensed intellectual property.Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice Leaguetasks you with completing an impossible mission: assassinate the Earth’s mightiest heroes with little reflection or remorse, or die trying. It’s the sort of meteoric setup that’s rarely attempted outside of comic book crossover events, where the state of play can be easily reset in a handful of panels. But despite all of its promise and potential, Suicide Squad lacks the ambition or imagination to execute such a creative concept with any real confidence.

In brightest day, in blackest night

(Image credit: WB Games)

Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League gameplay

It’s a far cry from the boundless ingenuity that Rocksteady used to define its Batman: Arkham trilogy. They’re meticulously crafted action adventures that worked to leverage the strengths and weaknesses of one hero operating on home turf, with every combat system, level outlay, and scripted mission ultimately working in tandem to strengthen a single power fantasy. Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League isn’t able to grasp ahold of similar refinement or focus, surely a result of Rocksteady splitting its attention across four playable villains – Captain Boomerang, Deadshot, King Shark, and Harley Quinn; four wildly different characters who are ultimately born of the same basic mould here, their individual traits inherently weakened in the need to fit archetypal squad roles.

(Image credit: WB. Games)

Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League screenshot

“All told, Rocksteady has delivered a dependable, if unspectacular third-person shooter”

“All told, Rocksteady has delivered a dependable, if unspectacular third-person shooter”

It’s a great shame that Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League lacks definition in the areas that matter the most, because Rocksteady has done an otherwise fantastic job bringing the core cast to life once control is wrestled out of your hands. Task Force X are a fantastically written group in cutscenes; quick to quip, and even quicker to whine sardonically as they are pushed into increasingly outlandish positions. Character models are astoundingly detailed, matched with fluid animations and energetic performances. There’s a playful exuberance present in the scripted scenes, and a momentum to their direction and execution which helps breathe real life into an otherwise catatonically-paced adventure.

No evil shall escape my sight

(Image credit: WB. Games)

Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League screenshot

Unique traversal and melee attacks do help lend each of the four characters a sliver of individualism, although the core cadence doesn’t change all that much regardless of whether you are zipping around shielded encampments as Captain Boomerang, or struggling to maneuver King Shark and Harley Quinn with any accuracy between skyscrapers. Battles are always a hailstorm of gunfire and critical reloads – a cumbersome system in such a speedy, busy shooter, and far better suited to the more methodical pace of the Gears of War series. Shotguns and sniper rifles are snappy, and the assortment of full-auto weapons have a nice weight to them. All told, Rocksteady has delivered a dependable, if unspectacular third-person shooter.

Combat undoubtedly improves over time, as you glacially level individual characters and move down needlessly restrictive progression trees. Part of the problem here is that Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League is overwrought with intertwining systems. The combo and counter systems from the Batman: Arkham trilogy return in a refreshed format, messily connected to contextual-melee attacks, special abilities, squad attacks, and shield regeneration – all of this working alongside elemental afflictions, grenades, and weapon modifications. The UX and controls feel overextended to accommodate, making it tricky to cleanly chain assaults and track small groups of constantly respawning enemies.

LikeWarner Bros. Games’Gotham Knightsbefore it, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League can be fun with friends or in short bursts of solo play. Rocksteady has delivered a premium, luxurious-looking game that could eventually settle into its live service framing as the conclusion of the story drags out across a dozen chapters. But it’s difficult to ignore the fact that the studio has stumbled with the basics, failing to capitalize on its characters, drive any energy into objective or level designs, or suitably strengthen its combat systems. As a result, Suicide Squad ultimately lacks the focus and refinement that have defined so many of thebest superhero gamesin the years since the Batman: Arkham trilogy reigned supreme.

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More about suicide squad kill the justice league

Two days before launch and a week after its reveal, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League season 2 gets delayedRocksteady is reportedly looking to recover from its Suicide Squad ordeal with a return to its roots: a new single-player game

Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League

Two days before launch and a week after its reveal, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League season 2 gets delayed

Two days before launch and a week after its reveal, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League season 2 gets delayed

Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League gameplay

Rocksteady is reportedly looking to recover from its Suicide Squad ordeal with a return to its roots: a new single-player game

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Latest26 years later, Codemasters' Chris Southall talks Colin McRae Rally: “We wanted to do something that was an authentic rally experience for the hardware of the time"See more latest►

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26 years later, Codemasters' Chris Southall talks Colin McRae Rally: “We wanted to do something that was an authentic rally experience for the hardware of the time”

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