The first season of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League is a joke(r)

I ended up giving Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League a 5, because even though the game, both today and a little over a month ago, was riddled with design issues that were waiting to be catalogued in the review, there was entertainment value to be had. To this day, I still maintain that there are some fun moments in Rocksteady's first (and perhaps last) live service title, and that high production values help to take some of the sting out of the otherwise rather harsh fall from grace.

You know what the game's first live service season chooses to skip entirely? Everything, as in everything that made the main game even remotely entertaining and functional, and what's left is perhaps the weakest major content update to a live service game I've ever experienced. Not only that, but it's a head-scratching decision by Rocksteady, who had a unique opportunity to convince us all that this game has a future, but has basically made the game worse.

Okay, so remember when Rocksteady said that all characters in upcoming seasons would be free? So is Joker, who is technically the biggest, and pretty much only, brand new addition of the season so far. But more pragmatically, he unlocks at level 35, and perhaps more critically after you've defeated the new Brainiac boss. You might be thinking, "I'm already at Mastery Rank 35", but these are the all-new Fear Episode Ranks, and you're starting from scratch. Yes, everyone has to grind for an hour, maybe two, to gain access to the new character. Or... you can spend £10 to unlock him immediately. Cool, right? It's also worth pausing here to note that you'll once again have to defeat Brainiac, and this time he's basically copying the same moveset that was designed for Green Lantern in the main game. After he bites the dust, you can use Joker - you know, after the season's new content has been thoroughly trawled through. You get the new character as a reward for completing all the content that would have been a perfect fit for a new character. Marvel's Avengers did this because it makes so much more sense.

Okay, so this content, what is it? Let's be clear from the start; there isn't really anything. The new Incursion missions are a remix of already known sub-elements, and the season is kick-started by almost static storyboards, in the same way Redfall told its story. There's essentially only one mid-scene, and that's when A.R.G.U.S. recruits this new multiverse version of the Joker character, and that's about it. The funny thing, or maybe the opposite, is that this happens without Joker interacting with the rest of the team. No, Joker and Harley Quinn don't exchange any specific words, even though the two characters have a long, chequered history together. Nor does Joker talk to the other characters in any great detail during gameplay, where you basically do the same missions over and over again without any real innovation or rethinking of the game's core elements.

Joker feels identical to play, except that he moves differently via his umbrella, but due to the game's homogenous approach to the characters' unique kits, there's not much point in just using new characters as hooks for new seasons. A minigun, a shotgun, a sniper - 90% of the time in Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League you're aiming and shooting, and there's not much difference between King Shark and Joker. And as I said, these characters don't exchange any information that makes it exciting to be him either. And what about Metropolis? Well, it's more of a skin than an actual renovation, and it does nothing to change the topographical challenges the game has had from the start.

Worse still, the season neither adds new content to sink your teeth into in any meaningful or entertaining way, nor does it attempt to fix any of the game's issues. The paradoxical topography that has you hovering over Metropolis rather than fighting on the streets? That's still the case. The homogenised approach to character abilities, where only movement patterns differentiate characters? Still the same. The boring mission types that offer neither innovative sub-goals nor narrative significance? It's even worse now, as neither the four characters nor Joker have anything to say to each other. The cluttered interface with too many contradictory design elements and philosophies?You guessed it...

You might think that's a bit harsh, but to be honest, Rocksteady has had plenty of time to either delay this first season and ensure that this content was either more meaningful or implemented in a more exciting way. Not only that, but this update should have put the game on a trajectory where we could see improvements and fixes to the game's more crucial issues that continue to plague the game right down to the snapshot.

The game still looks and sounds great, but we all knew that already. The point is that the game can no longer tread water, and therefore this first season is a flop of dimensions, appearing hugely unambitious at a time when the game needs the exact opposite. Either that, or Rocksteady and/or Warner Bros. are seriously cutting both budget and ambition. The result is the same; it's not recommended to play through this season, even if you already own the game. One thing is money, another is your time. This season is not worth your time.