Welcome to Metropolis  

That's too bad the situation there isn't the best. You see, at the moment, some alien creatures have decided it's time to take over the Earth. And oddly enough, the Justice League seems to be facing its problems at the moment. 

So... Earth's salvation could only be in the hands of the most prepared, serene, ethical, and balanced individuals in the whole of Metropolis, right? Hell no.  

In Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, King Shark, Deadshot, Captain Boomerang, and Harlequin will be at the service of their community, with the altruism that only those with an explosive device strapped to the back of their heads could have. Take control of the Squad and discover how even villains can become heroes (and vice versa).

Developed by Rocksteady Studios and published by Warner Bros. Games, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League was released on February 2, 2024, and is available for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.



The League has gone ludicrous!

After a little "healthy intrigue", some of the inmates of Arkham Asylum manage to implant bombs in each other that could be exploded at any moment by none other than Amanda Waller, the director of ARGUS. To avoid this setback, they need to carry out a few tasks with the simple aim of saving the world. So, as a beautifully cohesive and harmonious team, they, Harlequin, King Shark, Deadshot, and Captain Boomerang, form the Suicide Squad. 

When they are sent to Metropolis, they discover that the city is in the grip of an alien pandemonium and that even the heroes of the Justice League are under some kind of mind control. Right from the start, we meet a corrupted version of Green Lantern, who makes us discover that Brainiac is behind all the confusion and that he plans to terraform the Earth. 

Gradually, we discover that other heroes are also being controlled and that only one member of the League hasn't had his mind washed, but he still doesn't want to cooperate with the Suicide Squad. As a result, Waller decides that there is only one way to end the threat: Kill the Justice League. 



The game's narrative aims to be a true expression of the Suicide Squad's personalities. But in doing so, it ends up watering down traits of other recognizable heroes, which ends up making the experience rather silly and superficial. In saying this, I don't mean that the game doesn't have the poetic license to explore other nuances of DC's most famous characters, but that it needs to be more careful to do so in a credible way, to the point of engaging the player in new and possible perspectives. 

While the Squadron was very well represented, some of the other characters were almost unrecognizable. The narrative then gets a little lost in its heroes and ends up building an "arcade" Lore, in which the Background matters little. This is particularly bad for a game set five years after the events of Arkham Knight. 

I went through the story with a terrible feeling of "whatever". The dialogues between the team members managed to make a bit of sense and comic relief, but I still didn't feel that they were enough to make the experience immersive or engaging. Despite this, the narrative beats have a good rhythm, which helps us not to skip all the cutscenes straight away. 

But since it's an action game, it's all about the mayhem! So let's get to it! 



Mayhem, I think that's THE word

With confusing gameplay, skills that have little to do with the characters, and bizarre bugs, I finished my session of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League wondering how Rocksteady Studios, responsible for the incredible Arkham games, managed to deliver a product with such obvious flaws. 

At first, the game introduces you to the characters with a long and repetitive tutorial. Each member of the Squad has, in theory, their own set of skills, but they are very similar to each other, except in the right proportions. To use these skills, the game has a few small "combos" that make the gameplay confusing and could be summed up with one button. 

For example, even though Harlequin uses some of Batman's resources, I didn't feel that they had any connection with the character's core gameplay. In addition, these small combos, when performed in sequence, are more reminiscent of a fighting game like Tekken than a straightforward action game. 

The game has an item and combat experience that is a little reminiscent of Borderlands, with resources scattered from defeated enemies and weapons to improve the character. At this point, the gameplay becomes more enjoyable, given that in action games, the more things on the screen, the better. 

After this tutorial, we begin our life in Metropolis with repetitive gameplay loops, with recurring and uncreative missions. To make matters worse, we often see the same enemies, which not only tires the gameplay but also inhibits our sense of progression. This sense of progression is lost amidst the countless bugs that clutter up the experience.



On several occasions, Harlequin seemed to have taken control of my joystick (it's so like her to do that) and started running around the map on her own, at random. Aiming and shooting also proved to be rather laborious, especially with the joystick, due to severe and intermittent delays. 

In the moments when the game ran smoothly, I was able to better observe the world and see how empty it was. Although it has a theme-park feel, the game failed to deliver this experience and what was initially hype turned into frustration within a few hours. 

Our characters have options for customizing their appearance and managing items. However, there are few options for modifications, and progression doesn't always naturally offer us items of interest, which makes each loop a little less motivating than the last. 

I imagine that perhaps the game needed more time for polishing, but deep down I feel that the fundamentals of its design have severe problems, requiring much more than just time for minor corrections. 



I like what I see, but I don't hear anything. Is that OK, Doctor?!

The visual experience of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League delivers what is expected of current games. With beautiful graphics and well-modeled characters, I can feel that visually, the game has been careful with its details.

The characters are charismatic and the possibility of customization adds an extra charm to the gameplay, making it more fun and original. However, I would have had access to more customization options at the start of the game, so that I could get a feel for its potential. 

The visual effects are striking and make sense both as a combat feature and as a character identity. However, the enemies, although well constructed, repeat themselves too often.

While the soundtrack and dubbing are excellent, some bugs make the listening experience rather confusing. Sometimes you don't hear anything or you hear sounds with significant delays, which accumulate to be shot into your ears all at once, in a chaotic manner. I hope that, like the other bugs we've seen, this one can be resolved very soon, because if there's one thing that can indirectly destroy an experience, it's a faulty track. 

For this review, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League was played on PC, via Steam.

Reviewed and Translated by Diego Lourenço