3/5 ★ – Endless_backlog's review of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League.

21hrs Developed by Rocksteady and published by Warner Bros, the same collaboration as the Arkham series and subsequently set in the same world, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League is set in the years following the events of Arkham Knight. The game begins with you taking control over one of the anti-heroes we saw in the movie releases - Harley Quinn, King Shark, Deadshot or Captain Boomerang. The character you choose to play as can be altered throughout the game however I trialled all in the opening tutorial and decided King Shark was the most fun to play as so stuck with him throughout. The story revolves around an alien by the name of Brainiac arriving on earth and manipulating the minds of the most powerful heroes there are, The Justice League. Under his control, Superman, Batman, and the rest of the group are brainwashed into executing Brainiacs plans to annihilate Earth. Step in the Suicide Squad, a haphazard group of villains in the DC universe manipulated themselves into assisting the government organisation A.R.G.U.S into stopping Brainiacs threat. The game is fairly fluid to play and has some satisfying albeit simple combat but leaping from building to building or rattling a gatling gun as King Shark was enjoyable. Unfortunately, there isn’t much excitement in the melee combat, a feature that the Arkham system is famous for executing so well. The variety in missions is also pretty narrow, with not much range from destroy this or escort this, all the while dealing with repetitive waves of generic enemy types. My biggest gripe for the game is that it almost feels like a disservice to not only the Arkham series but also the legend that is Kevin Conroy. Voicing Batman from the 90s animated series to the modern console games, this performance would be his last as The Dark Knight as it was released posthumously following his passing in 2023. There is a gesture to his legacy post credits, but the way in which his character is handled especially as this is the same Batman we saw in the Arkham games feels like a detriment to the character developed over the trilogy. As for the main storyline, I wasn’t a huge fan of the final theme, I feel like it’s a trope used so often in recent years and as soon as they said it you could sense the post game intentions for live service and micro transactions. Also, the least said about the final boss battle the better. All in all it probably doesn’t deserve to be trashed as much as it has been as it is a decent superhero game with good graphics and solid voice acting. Having the same developers as the incredible Arkham series and continuing in that universe, with Kevin Conroy to boot it was always going to have high expectations and standards. It’s a bit of a repetitive third person shooter with a good enough plot. Theres also a real lack in side missions if you want to deviate from the main campaign except from some Riddles to solve and some challenges to test your combat. All in all, it’s a shame a studio known with producing such a good narrative driven series has been guided into churning out a money grab in a game that it intends to live on through live service and micro transactions. If like me, you’re curious then give it a go if you can get it cheap but definitely go in with the mindset of this is a standalone experience with no other games building it’s background or you’ll be disappointed.