Love it or loathe it, Suicide Squad Kill the Justice League deserves to be judged for what it is – not what it isn't

We've known for a long time that Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League would be nothing like its predecessors. That should be a shock to no one, given that developer Rocksteady first unveiled its live service looter–shooter intentions back in February 2023. It was a bitter pill for some to swallow at the time, and the disappointment from passionate fans of the Batman Arkham games was, and still is, understandable to this day. That said, I'm growing increasingly tired of how these comparisons are still being used as a stick to beat the game with now that it's launched.

I'm not even a massive fan of live service games. Hell, you won't catch me paying for a battle pass even once. But as a third-person shooter enjoyer who also loves the Arkhamverse, and as someone who bought the game on release day after previewing it back in December and liking what I saw even back then, I'm amazed by how divisive Kill the Justice League has become. Context and legacy are both very important, especially in the case of such a beloved IP, but I believe every game deserves a fair critique based on what it does well and what it does not. To that token, lambasting this game for simply not being something else just isn't my idea of fairness.

Squad goals

That's not to say it's perfect. Kill the Justice League's early access period was scuppered by servers being taken offline mere hours into its 72-hour window. Common as these shaky server issues are known to be at launch for any always-online game, it definitely felt concerning for one as polarizing as this. 

I managed to load into Suicide Squad for the first time on Friday, despite the server issues and crashes that plagued me during this first weekend out the gate. Settling back in to play as jetpack-clad Deadshot felt familiar and just as enjoyable to me, but having had a closer look at certain gameplay features that were skimmed over during the preview session, I found it to be a lot more complicated than that. I spent ages puzzling over talent trees, toggling off the more unnecessary and cluttering UI features, and in true looter-shooter style, I agree that the mission formats can feel repetitive at times. That said, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League is still the best-looking looter-shooter you'll probably play this year by a pretty wide margin.

And that's precisely my point: for a game of its genre, it's totally solid. The gunplay is fluid and punchy, the ceiling for build potential is sky-high once you get going, and it's just a good time all around if you want to relax with some friends and blast shit out of the sky. It's fun, and that's not a crime to admit. It shouldn't make you less of a Batman Arkham fan to acknowledge that no matter how disappointed you were initially, Rocksteady has gone all-out to create a visually impressive, snappy third-person shooter despite how well-worn the live service format has become. You can do both these things at once and still respectfully give the game its fair share of criticisms when Harley's traversal feels like a chore, or when the more bizarre winning conditions of certain side quests start to grate on you. You can also understand all these things at once and have no desire to play it.

A league of its own

To that end, I'm definitely empathetic. In all its brooding, gritty, action-packed glory, Batman Arkham Asylum is held up to this day as one of the best superhero games ever. The standout offerings in the much-loved series were always going to be tough acts to follow, not least for a live service game that probably would have clicked better with some of us had it launched five years ago. 

Looter-shooter fatigue is very much a thing in 2024, and I don't blame anyone who simply has no interest in diving into yet another grind-heavy game like Destiny 2 that lacks finality and locks the coolest content behind a paywall. I just don't think that's what Kill the Justice League is trying to do at all, and I'd wager anyone who says otherwise has probably not played it and will refuse to do so because it's not a Batman game.

There are many valid things you can critique about Suicide Squad that have nothing to do with Batman. In my mind, its biggest challenge is the conflation of two genres that are hard to mesh. Stunning cinematic cutscenes detail an intense, DC canon-abiding storyline with a narrative that can feel so high-stakes at times that it simply jars against the chaos of the genre it's been baked into. I can see how the two can feel like oil and water, especially when Rocksteady fans are so used to a very different kind of game in terms of tone. But the Batman Arkham games being good does not make this game inherently bad, and I can't believe I'm having to say that. 

Right now, I'm having a good time with Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League. Is it my GOTY? Probably not. Will I finish it? Yes, and I intend to keep at it for the seasonal content. It's only been properly out now since February 2nd, so the true test will be in how many of us stick around for the endgame once the main campaign is done and dusted. Either way I'm hoping I can keep judging the game by its own metric, rather than the Batman-shaped shadow it stands in – colossal and influential as it will always be.

For a trip down memory lane, we've ranked the best Batman games of all-time.