When Rocksteady Studios announced they'd be diving back into the Arkhamverse with Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, it was no surprise fans were excited. Rocksteady changed the face of superhero video games in 2009 with Batman: Arkham Asylum, which introduced a whole new type of superhero gameplay to the mainstream, and influenced nearly every superhero and action game that came since. Now, the Arkham series is considered one of the best video game series ever made. Rocksteady's reputation for providing a high-quality superhero experience is clearly well-earned, so fans were eager to see what the Arkhamverse had in store for them in Kill the Justice League.
Kill the Justice League's most recent gameplay trailer, shown during Sony's State of Play last week, gives fans the most in-depth look at the co-op gameplay, story, world and character abilities yet. While the game certainly looks impressive visually, the gameplay itself raises a few concerns. Kill the Justice League's co-op features, open-world design and traversal look fun, but the combat looks uncannily similar to more typical looter-shooters on the market already, and the game also looks like it's lacking in enemy variety. This isn't the first time problems like this have surfaced in a multiplayer superhero game, with the ill-fated Marvel's Avengers battling many of the same issues.
Kill the Justice League Needs Diverse and Dynamic Combat
Marvel's Avengers had some great ideas, and the characters all felt great to play, but it was hampered by repetitive enemies and levels, stale combat and bland missions. Players typically ran from lab to lab, attacking enemies, punching glowing buttons, then fighting bigger enemies with larger health bars. Despite an interesting narrative and surprisingly fun hero design, the core gameplay was too generic for most fans. Now, it seems like Suicide Squad could be heading in a similar direction.
The gameplay shown at the State of Play follows the Squad as they mow down hordes of repetitive, bland-looking alien enemies, with a few larger ones in the mix. It's certainly nothing players haven't seen before. While it's nice that Rocksteady is experimenting with new styles instead of returning to the Arkham formula yet again, there isn't a lot here to distinguish these characters, who should be iconic and unique, from generic third-person shooter characters. Each member of Task Force X should feel distinct from the others, and Rocksteady should leverage these characters and the open world to provide fun, varied and stylish gameplay if they want Kill the Justice League to avoid the same fate as Marvel's Avengers.
Kill the Justice League Should Be an Authentic DC Experience
Obviously, there were more issues with Marvel's Avengers than just the gameplay, but this is the most important part of any game. If Kill the Justice League feels like a third-person looter-shooter, it doesn't really feel like a superhero game. It also doesn't matter how cool the characters are if players are forced to fight the same enemies on the same city streets over and over again. Rocksteady should use these characters to develop an engaging gameplay loop and a genuinely fun experience for players.
The game still doesn't release for another couple of months, and it's impossible to judge Kill the Justice League based solely on a small amount of gameplay. Things can change before launch, and it's always possible that the footage shown doesn't represent the final product. There could be other areas to explore, more enemy types, and even more ways to face them in combat, or it could just be more fun to play than it looks.
Kill the Justice League's gameplay might seem generic so far, but Rocksteady Studios has been nothing but consistent in delivering amazing superhero games with great portrayals of DC characters, so fans shouldn't make up their mind just yet. That said, Kill the Justice League does look like it needs more variety to its gameplay if it wants to earn its place in gamers' hearts the way the other Arkham games did.