Desperation thy name is Suicide Squad

 Feel like that title is one word away from spreading an entirely different message

I must admit that even though I personally held no faith in Suicide League Gank the Justice Squad- I did think myself pretty firmly in the minority in this matter. I mean sure, the circles through which I travel, the people with whom I speak and share fandom with, they all agree that an online Live Service Suicide Squad game from the Arkham team that maintains very little of what made the original games work in favour of soulless trend chasing is a bit of an L for a once legendary development team. But that is kind of the nature of circles and cliques, right? They have something of the same opinion to one another. Outside of what I know, I remember hearing that Destiny 2 was beloved for a very long time. (I have trouble backing up whether that is a worthy adoration given that fact that Destiny 2 has some of the worst early game roadblocks of any online game I've ever played.)

Live Services are somewhat popular in the mysterious cadre of online games. That bizarre species of people who like to play through the same rough game day in and day out, competitively grinding their heads in the same matches chasing the same awards and dedicating large chunks of their freetime to keeping up with the weekly updates of a video game- which to me sounds like a hellish proposal, but what do I know- right? Of all the Ubisoft games that I regularly mock ruthlessly, the only one I can't touch because I simply know nothing about it, is The Division- which seems to maintain a pretty favourable relationship with it's runners. There is an audience, is what I'm trying to establish. So I thought my own feelings about the trash that was Suicide Squad would have some sort of push back.

Recently the Warner Team tried their luck at throwing together a working marketing campaign given their overall failure to make the game any sort of clear for those that actually wanted to get a read on the thing. I mean, being unable to tell whether or not the game is even an open world game is something of a red flag for any marketing department, almost as much as the constant clowning that every reveal event has had where people rag on the repetitive look of the enemy design, the barren open world, the identical looking playstyles and just the general lack of a worthwhile excuse for this game existing in the state that it does above and beyond- "That's the easiest way to monetise it all." Which, let's be honest, is probably the culprit behind everything at the end of the day. No need to get the Scooby gang in on it, we've wrapped this one up and unmasked the perp all by ourselves.

It was with some confidence, then, that Warner Bros. reached out to a bevy of popular video game journalist publications to get a review event underway. It would have to be a confident move given that the scared usually NDA impressions until the day of release. But perhaps a little healthy fear might have done this team some good because: 'uh oh!' First impressions aren't good! In fact- they're really bad! (By the standards of a VG publication) As it transpired the event was beset by networking issues that limited what would have been something of a full gaming day down to a couple of hours, and judging from the feedback received- this hear is not the kind of game that wins you over in a couple of hours. In fact, many of the impressions seem to echo all the surface level vibes that the gameplay trailers were giving us all.

Outlets found the game to be generic, uninspired, repetitive- every epithet under the sun. In fact, the only consistently positive point of note was the cutscenes. People seem to think that the tiny snippets of narrative they received would pertain to an entertaining narrative, but I have to question that in the long run. Afterall, we know the team are planning to throw in new DLC characters to sell to us, so presumably all of these character moments are just puppet work performed with easy swap-in-swap-out characters, essentially resulting in an impossibility of setting up meaningful character stakes or interactions because you need to be able to swap out Deadshot for Deathstroke at a moments notice in the script. There's only so far you can go to make a script like that carry any sort of weight, and I'm not sure that this game is going to be the one to crack the code.

Honestly, I haven't seen previews this scathing since I myself was involved in the early Beta for 'Homefront: The Revolution'; although that game was much more of a trainwreck than Suicide Squad could ever possibly be. And I can just bet that WB marketers were seeing the same impressions we were and just freaking out. They were tearing out their hair, crying and shaking, and then they made a drastic decision. A distraction measure. They suddenly released the NDA for the game's beta back in November in the hope that the impressions of the general public would be softer on the ears than what the stubborn and grumpy critics were dishing out. And to their absolute marketing credit, they were right! For the most part.

The average joe-schmo who specifically signed up in order to get the chance of being in specific beta tests was of course going to have a higher tolerance for mediocrity than the seasoned game critics who were dragged along to a scuffed event. Plus, said-joes even got to spend an extended amount of time with the game in it's early hours, giving them a chance to feel out the game and it's style. Which is probably why we have people that were very excited about their time with the game, praising the punchy shooting and flashy bursts of effects, eager to get just a little bit more of the game in their hands. But then there were those with cautious optimism that found the whole experience deeply unengaging. It seems that we've got another Marvel's Avengers on our hands, where those that want to love it find it easy, and every else just rolls their eyes and tries to deal with it.

On average, it seems that critical perception has finally shifted against the Live Service model of business in it's very spirit, and the general public might be someway along the path of doing exactly the same. You'd have thought companies would have learnt from the failures of their contemporaries where this path leads, but just like an old wrinkly fish trying to cross the street, it's time we load up our fists and teach this lesson again. Rocksteady should have known better. WB should have known better. And rather than double down in headscratching interviews telling everyone not to hold their breath for the next Arkham because, quote: "We really do kill the Justice League in this game!"- maybe it's about time the team start cooking up some elaborate 'Elseworlds' narrative excuse to get out of the franchise assassination which is happening here.

Gotham Squad: Kills everyone's hype

 The horror, The horror!

What the hell is up with my internal 'bad game' barometer of late? I used to be able to spot this stuff from a mile away, but I guess I'm getting soft in my old age or something, because I'm giving so many things the undue benefit of the doubt. I'm sold to the Harry Potter hypetrain, enough to pre-order the thing, even though I'm about 80% sure the final product is going to disappoint me in some vast way. Callisto Protocol was one of my most hyped games of the past few years, only for it to fall short of what I needed it to be in order to fill the Dead Space shaped hole in my heart. And now we've got the bigger, supposedly badder, cousin of Gotham Knights, a game I rightfully bore down upon, only to discover that this title, Suicide Squad Kill the Justice League, might just be every bit as terrible as Gotham Knights was! I used to be able to spot these things coming...

When Ubisoft killed off it's three 'in progress' games that were in development earlier this year, there was a very specific reason given. They said that the games in question 'weren't what gamers wanted'. Further, decidedly more unsubstantiated, rumours declared that they were Battle Royale titles all. But the reason I'm bringing this up is to highlight the intelligence to look at your work, look at your audience and realise that they aren't meant for each other. Maybe the trend you're chasing moved on, maybe the flow of the market is against your style, maybe you're just not on the pulse of the people anymore. Whatever the case, when I read that as an internal justification from the Ubisoft paymasters, that might have been the first time I felt respect for any decision made within Ubisoft since Black Flag, which I believe turns 10 later this year. That is a self-understanding that, if leaks are to be believed, is sorely missing from Warner Bros Interactive for the games that they're publishing. (Which again, the Harry Potter title is Warner Bros published! Can you see why I'm scared?)

I'm using hedging language merely as a shield for myself to buy the benefit of the doubt in this situation. This isn't a revealed screen of the game, but rather a 'leak'; which opens up the tiny possibility that what we're seeing is a artist mock-up of a possible direction the game could have taken, or a straight up lying composite by a simple clout chaser. But the renders are too good, the UI too ugly yet professional, there's no shadow of doubt in my mind that this leaked screenshot doing the rounds is the real, mortifying, face of the 'Suicide Squad' game that the team have been keeping under wraps for fear of the obvious hatred it would accrue. The more I think about the tiny snippets of this game we've seen, scripted cutscenes split between heavy bursts of action, and the strangely twisted gameplay details they've let slip and refused to explain; (only being able to play as one of the Squad instead of switching at will) the truth becomes clear; this was a con job from the getgo.

"But what do these leaked screens contain?", I hear you ask because I'm not going to risk uploading them up here. Well, try to picture a screenshot from the menu of Gotham Knights. Seeped in dozens of currencies, endless menus for crafting slots, and take it one step further by adding a 'mission-select' screen implying there isn't even an open world for this title. And there's your game. Gotham Knights 2.0; the game built around the core fundamentals that make a live service without any reason to be one. A style of development soundly rejected by everyone who likes the Arkham style of game that this title was supposed to be a successor to, much more so than 'Gotham Knights' was pretending to be. This was the A-team, ostensibly the same people who brought us the Arkham masterpieces, making a new title after all these years! And it looks every bit as disappointing as what the B-team farted out last year as a pale imitation of the greatness this franchise once achieved.

At this point the only question is whether or not this game is just 'live service-like' in the same way that Gotham Knights was, or alternatively the full sin itself. And unfortunately I think I know the answer. Unlike Gotham Knights which draped itself in all the annoying necessities of a live service without any of the procedurally developed benefits that supposedly make up for those issues, the new screenshot of the Suicide Squad game does tease a Battle Pass. >Sigh< Which means this is probably a full blown live service game for some sickening reason. I feel like at this point, the only people who like and benefit from making these games are the publishers; because the game is never as polished, the user experience always takes liberties in order to accommodate and the replayability of the game in the future is irrevocably kneecapped. Do you think Suicide Squad Kills the Justice League is going to be repackaged into a remastered collection 8 years from now? Of course not, because the servers won't be online anymore; thank you, live services!

The worst part of this for me, however, is the unspoken impression (by the exsistence of a mission-select menu) that there won't be any open world. Just as we could start to get excited to explore Metropolis for the first time since... DC Universe Online, I believe- it seems that this game has gone another direction entirely and is going to ward itself off into tiny snippets of concentrated enemy slog missions that'll be capped off in Justice League themed boss fight. Which would actually, increadibly, make it more restrictive than Gotham Knights already is! Assuming that my reading into the game is accurate, which I can only assume it is given that literally none of the marketing has shown off open world exploration elements at all and the team have bent over backwards not to mention anything in that vein. Which begs the question; if you know the thing you're making is going to inspire backlash to the point where you have to shut up about it's features, why dedicate yourself to making it?

For what it's worth, some outlets have gone the distance to reach out and apparently confirm the validity of these screenshots, but the sources they got in contact with seem to double as hype-men because they rushed to 'damage control' in statements made at the same time. According to these insiders, the multiple currencies are skill point tallies divided between each character, making the prospect of levelling up 4 characters individually a daunting proposition right away. They've also tried to defend progression claiming that you don't start "rebuffed and weak", instead you "start off great and get ridiculous, like Arkham's Batman." Which of course calls into question- what exactly was ridiculous about Arkham's Batman? Was it his intricate and free-flowing balance will gave him a counter to every individual enemy type he fought against? What Batman game did they play to make such a statement, because I don't think it was the same one that I fell in love with.

So I'm a little distraught by all this if you can tell. Suicide Squad Kills the Justice League was supposed to be the wine to wash down the vinegar that Gotham Knights left us all with, but now it's looking like a straight shot of unrefined oil. Rocksteady have veered hard away from everything that made the Arkham franchise great whilst keeping their public face insanely hush about everything so as to not upset a base they know is going to be ruffled. I suppose this means that the spirit of the Arkham games has been soundly washed from the hands of Rocksteady, and my dream of them one day going back to that Damian Wayne starring Arkham game after this one is dead. Or even more so than it suddenly became the day that Kevin Conroy died. Oh right, at least Kevin is in this title for his last role, guess it's worth at least watching his scenes on Youtube for that. 

Suicide Squad Kill the Justice league

Welcome back, Rocksteady!

I was practically unaware of who the Suicide Squad were before that 2016 movie. I mean, I had heard the name but never really got involved in one of their storylines in the comic world, as that was the world they primarily inhabited. And I remember hearing more about them in the months to come and finding the concept a little novel, if vapid. It told the tale of a task force of C-list villains, with some B-list thrown in, tied to a secret black-ops task force run by the government wherein they would be forced to undergo countless suicide missions under the promise of a reduced prison sentence. "That sounds like a cool idea!" I thought initially. "But probably more for a single spin-off tale, I can't imagine a concept like this having much legs." (Boy was I wrong.) 4 Years later and people still go on about the latent potential of the Suicide Squad brand, even after that meh movie sucked a lot of wind out of folks sails. It's like DC's own version of the Guardian's of the Galaxy. A relatively unknown superteam, outside from the comic diehards, who shoots their way into the forefront of the mainstream seemingly overnight. I suppose, then, that it shouldn't surprise me that they ended up getting a game.

Rocksteady, arbiters of the Arkham franchise, have deigned to show their face after nearly half a decade in solitude to feed the bat-starved masses once more. This time, however, it is not to tease our latest adventure with the caped crusader and co (that's being handled by Warner Bros. Interactive) No, this game jumps the moral line to put us in the long-awaited shoes of the bad guys; the Suicide Squad. Although, if rumors are to be believed, this wasn't the first idea that Rocksteady had for their Arkham follow up. Yes, despite the tease for the Suicide Squad at the end of Arkham Origins, apparently Rocksteady were deadset on making that Superman game we were all excited for before getting their idea killed by the notoriously fickle arbiters of the DC licence. (You know, the guys who had Deathstroke pulled from the Arrowverse because they might make a movie with him in it someday and they didn't want audiences getting confused?) So now we're stuck with second fiddle (third, if it's true that Gotham Knight's Court of Owls story was knicked from another Rocksteady proposal.) And that's... fine... whatever...

Hey, 'split milk' and all that. Let's count the blessings we have now that Rocksteady are still alive and kicking like I was 90% certain that they weren't. (God, news of their bankruptcy would have been the hardest pill to swallow. I don't think I could have handled that one.) Now we have a new impending action adventure game from a studio proven to be excellent at making them, and this one is noteworthy for boasting an ensemble cast. That's right, just like 'Gotham Knights', Suicide Squad is set to feature several playable characters that can be experienced in co-op play or alone for the entire story. (So is Warner Bros. copying Rocksteady's homework or is it the otherway around?) I must say that I find this new age of co-op rather curious, though completely useless to me, and wonder just how it'll blossom in the gaming age to come.

But let's talk about the game. 'Suicide Squad kill the Justice League' is a game that pretty spells the whole thing out from it's title, but I still want to take the time to acknowledge how good of a title it is. I don't mean the game, I haven't a clue how that's going to turn out thanks to us receiving a grand total of no gameplay whatsoever, I mean the actual title of this game. It's so goofy and silly, bringing to mind the wacky 'Put X character in Y Scenario' formula from the late eighties, ('Earnest goes to camp' and that ilk) whilst conceptual invoking a really messed up scenario where Earth's Mightiest Heroes have been sentenced to death by a ragtag group of antiheros. That title alone highlights so much from the duplicitous, often antagonistic, role of Suicide Squad Project leader Amanda Waller, the irreverent happy-go-lucky vibe of this particular franchise and the sheer absurdity of a bunch of C-tier villains taking on the unbeatable Justice League. It's simply a superb title. 

As for the trailer with which Rocksteady choose to announce this trailer, it was alright: Although conspicuously devoid of actual gameplay. From it we've learnt that we're moving to Metropolis for this game (Finally, out of the shadows of Gotham) and appear to be in the midst of a Brainiac invasion. You see, these were the sorts of high-level threats that I wanted to go up against in a Superman game, glad to see that hasn't entirely gone by the wayside. The Suicide Squad, consisting of Harley Quinn, Deadshot, Captain Boomerang and King Shark, all hang around whilst displaying more chemistry then we saw out of our extended time with the Batfamily in the Gotham Knights reveal. (Something feels wrong about that fact.) After showcasing the many ways in which these villains can kill whilst being distinct from each other, our protagonists happen upon their target, whom they're none-too-pleased to learn is Superman. That's right, not Bizzaro, but Superman sporting a purplelish glow implying some sort of Brainiac brain washing. (To which Amanda Waller decided the best cure would be a death sentence. Why did the Justice League put up with her again?)

So here we have a pretty intriguing tale of a David vs Goliath showdown wherein we're going to discover how the Justice League is going to be felled by a clown with a baseball bat, a sentient Shark, A sharpshooter with a superiority complex and a guy who throws boomerangs really good. It's not quite the line-up of the upcoming movie 'The Suicide Squad' (In which everyone is cast), but it's a curious band of mismatched misfits who I'm sure is going to become endearing during our extended time together. And I'm quite sold on finding out how they go about bringing down the Last Son of Krypton, the Princess of Themyscira and the Fastest Man Alive. (And I'm just as excited to see these classic characters rendered in Rocksteady's trademark, accurate yet distinct, style) It's certainly a narrative strong enough to hang a game on and I'm prepared for the ride.

In terms of what the actual gameplay might entail, there we've been left a little in the dark thanks to this largely cinematic trailer, but there have been some additional tidbits. Firstly, yes this is a title in which you can switch between members of the Suicide Squad in order to touch those different playstyles. (It's unsure yet if this switching is as 'on the go' as it could be in Arkham Knight, but I have hope.) Secondly, this is a apparently going to be a shooter as much as a beat-em-up, with each character having as many ranged weapons as melee ones. (Not sure how I feel about that yet) And thirdly, although this could just be marketing speak, apparently each character has as much, or more, nuance and complexity to their movesets as Batman did. Now sure, Rocksteady have thrown us other Arkham characters with their own movesets but they never quite felt as fleshed out as the main man's did. Could Suicide Squad be the game to change that? With the addition of shooting and all the unique skills that could be tied to that, maybe. (I'm just waiting for the inevitable challenge maps that task us with using literally every skill-move on approximately 3 guys.)

Honestly, it's quite surreal to think that after so long without any Superhero games whatsoever we're getting three in three years straight. Avengers for this year, Gotham Knights for next year and 'Suicide Squad Kill the Justice League' for the year after that; what a time to be a Superhero Stan! As a fan of the Arkham games it's great to know that their universe is getting continued by this game (and, crucially, not Gotham Knights) and I'm ecstatic to see the world of DC make it to the digital space practically whole hog. (Yes, I know Injustice exists, but I like seeing these heroes in their proper habitats.) I find it curious how co-op is appearing in literally all these games right now, but I'm not bemoaning it so long as it doesn't get in the way of a solid narrative. Although, judging by Rocksteady's past, I doubt that'll be a problem. The long and short of the DC fandome event? Not a thing has disappointed me yet, except that this game is slated for 2022, that is pretty far out. (Who knows, maybe the wait will be worth it.)

Rocksteady; you guys are alive!?

Suicide is painless

Where have you been? I being serious here, it's been four years and you folk haven't even made a peep out of your studio, and even then it was only to throw this 'Arkham VR' experience and then slink back into the dark. For years I've been hearing the rumours that "This year is it, this is the year when Rocksteady are going to announce 'Court of Owls' or 'Superman: the game'!" And you know what? Every single time it was another trumped up rumour turned lie, that amounted to exactly diddly squat. There were no announcements, no reveals, no communication, no indication that anyone in the studio was still breathing. These people could have all taken a collective vacation to Mars and we'd have no idea. But lo and behold, at long- LONG- last, someone peeped their head into the office window and knocked on the pane to jolt them all awake. Rocksteady are alive, ladies and gentleman, and apparently they still make games too. (Couldn't even confirm THAT in their absence.)

For the uninitiated, Rocksteady are the game studio behind singlehandedly reviving the action adventure genre with a castlevania twist on things and a universally appealing lead character. The Batman Arkham series took a beloved character and bought him to life in a way that no game had done before, allowing people to truly immerse themselves in the world of the world's best fist-fighting cowl-wearing batarang-throwing shark-repellent-bat-spray-owning, detective. At the time of Arkham's launch, the action adventure genre was pretty much in dire straits as the last great game to come out of there was... I dunno... Shadow of the Colossus? Okay, maybe things weren't that sparse. But the focus had shifted to FPS games and how successful one can become by copying everything that Call of Duty was going and waiting for the wheelbarrow of money to show up at your door. Nobody with capital was willing to spend it on something different and unique, which is one of the many reason why Batman Arkham Asylum stood out to a lad like me.

The other reason was simple, because it was fun as heck. The system of combos', counters and special attacks that Arkham introduced was so solid that it easily supported four games without anyone feeling it grow stale. It made you feel powerful, looked incredibly snazzy and cool, and required actual concentration, skill and (in high level scenarios) actually quite a bit of foresight to master. It worked to strike this balance between Batman as an accomplished hand-to-hand martial artist whilst simultaneously a man flush with gadgets and tools, having nearly every tool the player come into contact with also double with a tactile use in combat. And as a result of such a great combat system, every single battle felt fun, the boss fights had great scope to be varied and the titles retained significant replay value.  (Rocksteady didn't even need to significantly change things up as the games went on either. "Just throw in a couple more combos and switch out some tools; done.")

Can any other franchise boast such a well loved basic foundation for their game? Not many, I'll bet. Mass Effect completly switched up it's gameplay from 1 to 2 and then again from 3 to Andromeda (With some funny lore implications to explain it away) Metal Gear reinvented itself several times over the series. (but then those games have been around for 22 years at this point, so that makes sense.) Only shooter games stay so rigid in their controls and gameplay and that's because it's a style that has been detailed so often that everyone reiterates upon themselves. Rocksteady kept their gameplay exciting and fresh with minimal maintenance, and I think that's something worth commending. They did their genre justice, they did Batman fans justice, and I'm sure they made themselves a decent chunk of change in doing so. (And isn't that what it's all about in the end?)

But why are we talking about this, I hear you ask. What could Rocksteady have done to send you down memory lane at mach 5 like this, it must have been something significant! And yes, reader-san, it most certainly was. For out of absolutely freakin' nowhere, Rocksteady decided to tweet out a picture of Superman and a date for a reveal, (which happens to be the date of a prominent DC fan event; the 22nd) confirming that after all this time the game they've been making is Supe- Suicide Squad. What? Yeah, the picture of Superman had the words 'Suicide Squad' scrawled over his headspace. Then why is Superm- has Superman ever been part of the Suicide Squad? Pretty sure he hasn't, that would kind of completely invalidate their entire MO. I mean... okay, but why Superman? I'm going to need some time to work this one out.

Discourse seems split on what this means so far, aside from the fact that it means Rocksteady are making a Suicide Squad game which I think is universally recognised as something that's brilliant and cool. Some say that this was a sly nod to the rather popular rumor that Superman would be their next game, pouring water on that flame whilst going 'Surprise! It was Suicide Squad the whole time.' I'm just going to veto that and point out that there's absolutely no sane studio in the world that would commission a piece of high-quality art work from their team in order to make fun of a rumor, they'd have done a composite meme at best, so that's a garbage theory. What's more believable is that what we are looking at is actually Bizzaro, indicating he'll have a major role in the story either as an antagonist or a member. Seeing the purple hue of the image (a colour that's often thematically linked with Bizzaro and/or evil in general at DC) I can definitely see that, although it does open some questions.

Like why would Amanda Waller think that she could control Bizzaro in a team comprised of supervillains? (Which is the premise of Suicide Squad, by the by. It's a team of captured villains that are 'coerced' into being an expendable special forces unit.) Or, even worse, that her Suicide Squad would even be capable of dealing with a threat as big as Bizzaro? The Suicide Squad is often built with B-tier villains who couldn't hold a story on their own (with some A-tiers in there every now and then in order to bring it all together) so I'm already seeing a little cognitive dissonance in this story. However, I believe the very idea of this theory may hold some water and am already excited about the prospect of getting to actually play Deathstroke. That's right, Deathstroke is almost confirmed to be in this game due to the fact that he was literally the villain whom the project was introduced to when this game was first teased all the way back in Arkham Origins. (They've been working up to this reveal since at least 2013! That's wild.)

There's so much more to speculate about and guess on, but with a full reveal only a couple of weeks away is it even really worth it? Absolutely, but perhaps a little closer to launch so that we can fully enjoy the speculative chaos. I, for one, hope for multiple playable protagonists who can be switched to often and who each have their own side narrative to explore. (Perhaps leading to multiple endings depending on how each story is resolved? Am I asking too much?) I also would like for Suicide Squad to forgo the 'forever become more of an open world' style of the later Arkham games and return to the 'heavily metroidvania' routes of the original. (I love the intimacy that concept provided.) These are just idle speculations, however, tossed into the wind with little more than a dream. It's up to Rocksteady to blow us all away in August 22nd. (Good luck, no pressure, don't screw up. Also, Batman cameo or bust. I've gotta say it!)