Last Updated on 1 February, 2024
Rocksteady Studios’ Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League is a far cry from the Arkham series. And maybe that is a good thing for the gaming industry.
Pre-Suicide Squad Era for Rocksteady
The first time I was introduced to Rocksteady Studios and the Arkham franchise was way back in 2015, a few years after Batman: Arkham City was released. Not owning a console myself, I borrowed my brother’s Playstation 3 and decided to boot it up. Just a reminder that he doesn’t own a copy of Batman: Arkham City. I bought a second-hand copy and used that one for the console. Yes. I bought a game for a console I don’t even own myself. That is the overall landscape of how hyped-up Arkham City was back then.
I had so much fun playing Batman: Arkham City even though I don’t know the whole timeline of the story. I didn’t play Batman: Arkham Asylum. All I knew was that *spoilers* the Joker died in the end. The combat and map traversal was great as I expected. Gliding through Gotham was like a dream for a guy who watched Adam West on TV and hummed along the theme song from Batman the Animated Series.
Overall, Rocksteady Studios as a company was cemented into my mind as one of the greatest game developers I have ever known for the sole reason of bringing my childhood hero to life in a well deserved video game. Oh, how naive can I be.
Well, all that changed when I saw 2024’s blockbuster release of the game Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League.
Rocksteady commited Suicide… Squad
To be honest, I was a little swayed by other reviewers over what a big disappointment Suicide Squad was. After watching the gameplay videos last year, my jaw definitely dropped. This is not the Rocksteady I had loved from before. Like a bitter ex-girlfriend you haven’t seen after you parted ways, she flaunts her overly bright makeup and fashion-less getup to win your heart back. I can hear her in my subconscious whispering ‘How do you like me now? This is what the kids are wearing these days. I’m so cool, right?’
No Rocksteady. This is definitely not cool. You have made what is essentially a dolled-up mannequin with dead eyes. It looks pretty and dead at the same time. Your girl is for the streets now and I don’t love her like I would before.
But looking back, I couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something underneath the empty husk of the shooting and looting in front of me. It reminded me of how pointlessly empty a game could be without a proper story to attach itself to. Many games in recent memory have pushed beyond the aesthetic-focused critics and won the hearts of the ever-so-hungry masses with their beautiful narratives. Needless to say, Suicide Squad was devoid of the heart that the developers have given their games in the past. When have I seen this before?
Good thing about Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League
Maybe that is a good thing. This is my point with this article. Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League is one of the games this coming year that is going to disappoint us. And that is a good thing. History repeats itself and gamers like myself, who have lived the 90s era of gaming, had seen this happen.
Overpriced games, always online, generic action gameplay and very generic graphics are some of what we have constantly seen in recent AAA games. We may not have the exact same problems back in our days but we had problems none the less. Older generations have the satisfaction of saying that these games do not represent the true essence of gaming. We know true art because we were thrown a truckload of trash games in our time as well. To some degree, our generation has a point. But then again, we are not the market.
Old vs New
The younger generation of gamers has been introduced to this world of gaming through the bombardment of low-quality storytelling and inferior graphics. This is their time to get thrown a truckload of trash games. They are the market for Suicide Squad, not the old vanguards. But the fault is not on their side. The precipice is about to come and the older gamers need to help them stay clear of the pitfalls that we once fell into during our time.
Coming from the era of the Famicom and Gameboy. I was a player who did not care about the story, just a good game with a fun enough gameplay was enough for me. That is the current state of the generation today. They are still in the age of old school Nintendo. Do you remember what happened next? We transitioned to one console after another. Good games and bad games flood our internet-less market. A few more years passed and we began the age of the PlayStation. An astronomical leap from the 16-bit era and one that defined our childhood.
What’s the point? Why am I reading this?
The point I’m making is this. These few years are their Nintendo era. Just mindless stupid fun with maybe a few rare jewel games that give some credibility to their time. This is their introductory time to the world of gaming. We have to navigate them and let them know that another era is coming. Do not settle for games like Suicide Squad. Wait for your age of the PlayStation.
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League won’t be Atari’s E.T. that almost destroyed the gaming industry. But we won’t let it be just another blip into the social consciousness.
Do we hold them accountable and demand change? Yes. How are we supposed to do that? With your wallet.
If a restaurant is serving trash food, don’t buy their food. Simple as that. Little by little, the customers are realizing your feeding them trash and are walking away to the sidewalk where we’re cheering for them to join our side of the picket line. Either the restaurant change their recipe to accommodate their customers or they are forced to hang up their aprons and close shop for good.
The precipice of change is coming. I can feel it as we all collectively groan at the state of video game development. But we swam through rougher seas before. Suicide Squad will be a huge wave we have to hurdle together to come out the other side. Darkness before the light, as they say. For a more sea-worthy quote, just keep swimming.
For more news and other articles like this one about Suicide Squad, just browse through here and have fun. Cheers!
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