Earlier this month, fans were given a new look at the upcoming Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League. During this reveal, gamers finally got a good look at gameplay, which showed the titular characters battling Brainiac's forces in Metropolis. Unfortunately, the gameplay itself contained a few troubling aspects that will likely make fans hesitate when deciding to buy Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League.
The footage in question came from Sony's February State of Play. A large chunk of the presentation was dedicated to the upcoming DC game with a good six-minute segment showing off the gameplay for Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League. Unfortunately, the gameplay and enemy design in particular come off as repetitive and many of the heavier units seem to have the same weaknesses.
The Repetitive Enemy Designs and Gameplay in Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League
Throughout early development, there was an alarming lack of gameplay footage in Suicide Squad's promotional material. The vast majority of the trailers were cinematic in nature, with some appearing to be various cutscenes edited together. For a time, the closest fans saw to actual gameplay came from a late 2021 promotional video for the upcoming DC video game. The gameplay itself, however, only came in brief snippets and appeared to be sandwiched in between more cutscenes. Fans were finally able to see the character in full action during Sony's recent State of Play.
During the video in question, the characters primarily battled Brainiac's forces across Metropolis in order to rescue Lex Luthor from the alien. Throughout the video, which drove home a recent rating's promise for extreme violence in Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League, the characters can be seen flying around the map, battling Brainiac's forces with pistols, shot guns, mini-guns, and snipers.
The vast majority of the opponents mostly seemed to fall into five different categories. They appeared to either be basic foot soldier minions, larger foot soldier minions, tanks, helicopters, and other larger constructs that likely came from Brainiac himself. The latter three of these enemies appeared with large purple spots and/or targets that were clearly meant to be weak areas. While this design isn't necessarily bad, it does come off as repetitive.
Based on the gameplay on display, players are going to find themselves going through hordes of mostly generic enemy infantry. All the tanks and helicopters future big purple dots that the characters have to shoot and/or blow up in order to take the Brainiac-controlled vehicle down. Likewise, the game has larger constructs that also have big purple dots that members of Task Force X have to fill with bullets and bombs in order to destroy. While players won't know for sure until the game is released, the gameplay and enemy design does come off as grindy and repetitive and confirmed Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League's live service elements in a less than flattering way. This was further driven home during the State of Play by additional controversial features.
The Live Service Implications of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League's Repetitive Enemies
During Sony's State of Play, Rocksteady Studios confirmed that the upcoming game would have live service elements, which has been raising a lot of red flags for some fans. The game has several controversial elements that have made it seem less appealing to some. One major issue is that Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League requires an internet connection in order to play even if a gamer wants to go it alone. This, however, is just the tip of the iceberg of live service features the developer confirmed.
Another major live service element that was confirmed for Kill the Justice League was a controversial gear system. Like most gear systems, players will be able to obtain various types of weapons and armor that will boost the character's offensive and defensive abilities. Gamers will obviously be able to obtain the weapons and armor as the game goes on, and as they battle more difficult foes. Most RPG-type video games have some kind of system that involves this but in live-service games, gear like this is often only obtainable through grindy and repetitive missions, full of enemies that all blend together and become increasingly difficult to battle.
For example, the Beta for Marvel's Avengers was full of enemies like this which turned out to be the norm for the superhero game. The enemies all fell into certain types with certain abilities that players would battle in just about every mission. This is often by design, as it entices players to go to the various in-game stores and purchase items in order to avoid the grind. While some games save the microtransactions for cosmetic purposes, just as many make higher-level gear and experience boosters available to the player fairly early on in the games. Based on how samey many of the enemies appear in the upcoming DC game, it is possible that they may fill this particular role.
Ultimately it's too early to say if the game will go this route. The developers have confirmed that Kill the Justice League will have cosmetic DLC along with post-launch content, but this can be said of many other games as well. The vast majority of the gameplay displayed appears to be from a single part of the city from a single mission. It could very well be that Rocksteady Studios has more interesting things up its sleeve for later missions and wants to surprise fans further down the road. However, for the time being, the enemy types and designs appear to be a bit repetitive, which could be a sign of things to come.
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League launches on May 26, 2023 for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.
