A little over a month ago I gave Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League a 5 because even though the game was full of design problems in the review, which hasn’t changed, it was still entertaining. I still maintain that this first (and perhaps last) game-as-a-service from Rocksteady has its funny moments, and that its production quality helps cushion the impact of its crash.
Do you know what decided to skip this first season of the game as a service? Everything, absolutely everything, that made the main game reasonably fun and functional, with possibly the worst major content update for a game-as-a-service I’ve ever played. Not only that, it’s also a very strange decision on the part of Rocksteady Studios, who had a unique opportunity to convince us that this game has a future and ultimately made the title worse.
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Remember when Rocksteady said all characters would be free in future seasons? Well, Joker is one of them, as well as being the biggest and practically only new addition of the season so far. To unlock it you have to reach level 35 and more importantly you also have to defeat the new boss Brainiac. You might be thinking, “I already have mastery level 35,” but the level of the new Fear episodes is required, so it’s time to start from scratch. In fact, everyone has to spend an hour or two leveling up to get access to the new character… or you can pay to unlock him immediately. It’s cool, isn’t it? It’s also worth mentioning that Brainiac has to be defeated again, but now with the same moves as Green Lantern in the main game. After laying him in the dust, you can use Joker after playing through all the new content. You get the character as a reward for completing all the content that would have been perfect for it. Marvel’s Avengers did the same thing because it makes a lot more sense in their case.
What new content is there? Let’s be honest from the start, none. The new raid missions reuse existing sub-points and the season is presented through almost static images, just like Redfall did with its story. There’s only one scene in the middle of the season where ARGUS recruits the version of Joker for this new multiverse, and that’s it. The funny part, or perhaps the least funny part, is that everything happens without the clown interacting with the rest of the team. No, Joker and Harley Quinn don’t have conversations, even though both characters have a long and varied past together. He also doesn’t talk to the other characters during the game, where you repeat the same missions over and over again with no innovations or new uses for the core items.
Joker feels identical to the other characters, the only difference being that he moves around with his umbrella, but due to the game’s homogenous approach to its characters’ unique abilities and tools, there’s not much reason to include new characters as a marketing hook to use season. A machine gun, a shotgun, a sniper rifle… 90% of the time in Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League is shooting, and when it comes to shooting there isn’t much difference between Joker and King Shark. Also, as I said, these characters don’t have any interactions that motivate you to play with them. What about Metropolis? Well, the changes are mostly aesthetic and don’t change the topographical challenges that the game presents right from the start.
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What’s worse is that the season doesn’t add any new fun or interesting content, nor does it do anything to fix the game’s problems. What happened to the paradoxical topography that lets you float over Metropolis instead of fighting on the streets? Still available. The homogenizing approach to character abilities that makes the only difference in movement patterns? Still there. The boring missions that offer no new objectives or narrative power? They’re even worse because none of the four characters or Jokers interact with each other. Is the interface cluttered with different design elements and philosophies? You guessed it.
It may seem like I’m being a bit harsh, but to be honest, Rocksteady had plenty of time to delay the first season and make sure the content was either more impactful or executed in a more entertaining way. In addition, this update should have set a path for the game that would lead to improvements and solutions to the most serious problems that continue to plague the title in every detail.
The visual and audio sections are great, but we already knew that. What I’m trying to say is that the game doesn’t allow for trial and error and therefore this first season is a huge failure and with very little ambition for a time when the game needs exactly the opposite. On the other hand, Rocksteady and Warner Bros. could be making cuts in terms of budget and ambitions. The result is definitely the same: I don’t recommend playing this season, even if you already have the game. Losing money is one thing, losing time is quite another. This season is not worth your time.
