A bunch of criminal misfits forced onto a suicidal mission against the all-powerful forces of nature the world once called heroes, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League had a comical yet promising premise but was marred by a middling gameplay that dragged its entire concept down. Every time something interesting happened on screen was quickly bogged down by disappointment over its endless repetitive loop.

The title is the narrative, typical alien invasion plot with Justice League, the greatest heroes, diving into action against villain Braniac’s forces. However, the Earth’s Mightiest heroes lost and have turned deadliest with almost every Justice League member being brainwashed into Brainiac’s command.

Thus, the brilliant idea of the government and Amanda Waller – sending in a group of larger-than-life yet still ordinary human criminals and a talking anthropomorphic shark to an almost impossible and suicidal mission to kill the corrupted heroes.

Dark Nights

Story-wise, the game does have potential, if it wasn’t trying too hard to craft a dark and gritty narrative. Don’t get me wrong, thematically it makes sense for Suicide Squad to feature a darker narrative – after all, it is a team of deranged criminals with head-exploding bombs stuck into their necks and there are still certainly some moments that fit into the theme.

It’s how mixed bag the tone is that the entire narrative felt awfully inconsistent with some moments straying too far into the pure edginess territory, written in ways that feel like it only exists for cheap shock value. That said, despite the game being littered with humor and one-liners left and right, none of them felt forced or cheaply shoehorned in, and does not disrupt some of the darker moments.

Even so, if you are a fan of DC and expect accurate comic depictions of your favorite heroes and villains, be prepared to be disappointed. Not only did the portrayal of the Justice League members, especially how they ended up being defeated, feel disrespectful, one-note, and anti-climatic, but the game is also cluttered with moments that go against the logic of the established lore. More insultingly, this game is canon to the already-established universe of the Batman Arkham trilogy, throwing everything that fans love out the window.

As alluded to earlier, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League suffered from one single weakness the most, and that is everything is repetitive, even the way how the narrative is structured. Midway point onward, you are thrown into the same repeated plot point of convincing and recruiting new villains to join you, rinse, and repeat. The characters’ facial animations are well crafted with detailed muscle frowns and smiles though, which is worth the praise.

Task Force X on Repeat

Like its narrative, the gameplay is tainted by the repetitive nature of its design. It is certainly a fun game in the opening hours, especially its traversal mechanics. Every member feels different from one another as they zip and flip across the beautifully crafted alien-infested Metropolis – Harley Quinn swings around with a grappling hook snapped to a Batman’s Bat Drone she named “Old Batsy”, Captain Boomerang taps into the Speed Force as he dashes to his boomerang, Deadshot flies around with a jetpack, and King Shark leaps around and uses swimming motions to “swim” through the air.

Shooting and mowing down waves of enemies do feel good, and every character has their own unique melee weapon alongside up to 7 different categories of firearms, though some gun types are only available to some Squad members.

Despite having a solid third-person shooter foundation in an open world map, combat encounters began to blend up together because of how repetitive it is. Every mission just feels the same. It is either go gun blazing against a large wave of enemies swarming in, protect something or someone, or rescue some poor soul in the midst of chaos. Basically, it always just boils down to shooting a bunch of enemies, nothing else. Even the boss battles, against some of the greatest comic book heroes with each having very unique powers and skill sets, ended up with the same fight pattern every time. Shoot weak points, make them somehow vulnerable to bullets, and continue shooting.

Sure, you can mix it up by playing different members to do different things, but the mission variety remains the same, making the experience stale very quickly. Aside from main missions, there are; of course, side quests scattered throughout the warzone that is the current Metropolis. Riddler is back for more riddles, mercenary contracts available to take, and villains such as Penguin or Gizmo might request help.

Definition of Insanity 

Regardless of its fun gameplay and its confident premise of throwing regular mortals against literal godlike beings, the over-reliance on constantly repeating the same gameplay, plot point, and missions tarnished any sliver of potential Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League has.

If you can ignore the fact that this game takes place in the same world as the Batman Arkham series, or are not bothered by downright disrespectful depictions of history’s most popular characters, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League can be a fun time. It does have cinematic moments with some rather impressive facial animations and a very well-designed Metropolis that contrasts greatly with Gotham City, with skyscrapers that show their grandeur, and many distinctive districts, from the corporate enterprises located in Central Business District to the poverty-stricken people who live in the Suicide Slums.

All in all, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League has some cool elements going for it, such as decent shooting mechanics and cool traversals, but greatly dragged down by overly repetitive gameplay designs, illogical narrative depiction of fan-favorite DC characters, and mediocre looter shooter bloat.

Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League was reviewed on PC via Steam and is now available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC. Review code was provided by Epicsoft Asia.

Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League

Publisher: Warner Bros. Games

Developer: Rocksteady Studios

Release Date: 2024-01-30

PlayStation 5, Steam, Xbox Series X|S

From the creators of Batman: Arkham, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League is a genre-defying third-person action shooter where the ultimate band of misfits must do the impossible: Kill the Justice League.