“Opinions are like a fucking hole, everyone has one”, yes I know. There’s no doubt that some consumers, if not quite a few, didn’t shudder when Rocksteady first announced to the world that their next game would be a cooperative, open, instant-service game. In fact, even then, I saw many people rightly calling for a calmer approach and hoping that even the most die-hard skeptics would throw some cold water on their heads.
The problem, as outlined in a previous article on this site, is that superheroes in particular and always-on live service structures tend to disconnect quickly when mixed together, with Marvel’s The Revenant and Gotham The Cavaliers are two of the most obvious examples. But if there’s one thing about Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, here we’re talking about multiple previews, it’s talent, it’s style, and maybe the multiple fights with Brainiac’s minions are after all Dynamics, to the point that they partially make up for the loss of narrative, exploration, mechanical versatility, and all the other stuff that, if not most, is relevant to the Arkham games.
For my part, I actually found cautious optimism early in the process, as Rocksteady released a trailer that may lack all of the qualities listed above, but still manages to impress with sheer dynamism impression. Check it out below.
Here is an ad:
The characters feel distinct, if nothing else, and the game looks, if nothing else, very smooth, and mixed in with some kick-ass boss fights, it’s more if nothing else than the garbage fire you’d feared in the first place ,Right?
Well, now we come to the latest look, Rocksteady has finally revealed the character of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League.directOf the gameplay, as I sat in the darkened living room that night watching the screening on the big-screen TV, I could feel the last bit of excitement, interest, sucked away. Now, the game is no longer on my radar. I certainly don’t need to tell the truth, but in the case of Yang Ye, he’s quick to point out that the ratio of likes and dislikes for this screening is straight up…well, huge.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iiw3Fzm7W7U/
Here is an ad:
It’s easy to see why, as all the dynamics, smooth animations and transitions that were supposed to save the day are nowhere to be found, replaced by relatively streamlined telegram queues and a design that looks basic, simple and generic. First, all the weight is gone. There’s no animation or effect to clearly show our hero landing hard after audaciously jumping off a rooftop, and there’s no weight behind dry blows to utterly lifeless purple enemies. With the exception of a few Deadshot headshots, Ammo feels so feathery that it doesn’t offer the frictionless freedom of movement we’ve seen in games, gracefully breaking out of gravity.
No, instead, the four characters look relatively identical.Some comments point to Captain Boomerang, anamed after himHow Favorite Weapon’s characters use shotguns, because why not. There’s no real versatility here, as the character half-teleports, half-wobbles and delivers a well-aimed shot here and there, slavishly following an incredibly obvious and strategically stupid purple swell that clearly communicates to the enemy where to shoot .
Let’s be superficial for a moment and say that comparing the gameplay-style trailer at the top of this article with the one we saw in State of the Game demonstrates a pretty significant graphics downgrade. Of course, this sort of thing always happens to some degree, but the amount of unique animation, the lack of heaviness that existed prior to this screening, and the level of detail are lacking. Especially on the ground, where the game can’t hide behind the intense action and rather annoying giant red cross on each kill, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League seems completely devoid of interesting details, as if in Brainiac Metropolis wasn’t even a densely populated city before moving in.
Of course, this is just a taste, a region, and a scene. But it proved an instant-service project that lacked nearly all of the core elements we love about Rocksteady that we’ve taken for granted in past Arkham games. Instead, we got something that might add some replay value, which is certainly welcome, but it seems to be bought on a false premise, with color-coordinated loot, tons of skins, and even in organized demos Also difficult to distinguish enemies.
And the presented stuff, at least to me, looks infinitely boring, completely devoid of special features, or anything core. Big tanks with distinctive purple bubbles, Harley Quinn’s brisk attacks without any weight are perhaps most telling; an eerie sense that the only way to interact with the game world is to crush boring, generic space enemies.
As I’ve written before; real-time services aren’t bad by definition. For example, Forza Horizon 5 is in principle an instant service game. But Marvel’s Avengers, Gotham Knights, and Anthem all paved the way for Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League’s seemingly unrenewed formula, the visual pomp and setting that existed before, this What would make up for everything else seems to be gone too.
I hope I’m wrong, I’m really wrong. But it just looks… mediocre.
What do you think?