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Gotham City Impostors
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Graphics & Sound:
Did you lament the lack of guns in Batman: Arkham City's player arsenal? If you did, I've got good news and bad news for you. Let's start with the bad news: if you're not an idiot, then you're at least the worst Batman fan ever. The good news is Gotham City Impostors is here to answer that never-asked question: "Is it possible to make a Batman-themed shooter?" After years of making dark and twisted games, the folks at Monolith (responsible for the F.E.A.R. and Condemned franchises) have gone completely off the deep end and resurfaced with something truly demented and unique. It's also pretty damn fun.
Gotham City Impostors isn't a full retail release, and it doesn't look like one, either. However, it isn't an ugly duckling. It's more jagged and rough around the edges than your garden variety shooter, but it's not working with the same budget as most of them. Clearly, most of the effort went into making the game artistically distinct, and on that end, Gotham City Impostors is a complete success. It is impossible to come up with a character that doesn't look like a complete buffoon. And honestly, why would you want to do that? This game pits a team of Batman impersonators against a team of Joker impersonators, for crying out loud. The variable body types and customizable costumes that make up your Secret Identity give you a good opportunity to personalize your experience. The worse your fashion sense is, the better. For example, I've got a friend whose monstrously fat Joker sports a giant green afro and a scarf that sticks out like a sore thumb. Watching the lumbering monstrosity literally gliding around each map never gets old. Maps are smartly designed to take advantage of all the clever gadgets, support items, and weapon types. And they're each based off of a real Gotham City location (Ace Chemical, Amusement Mile, Gotham Power, and what have you).
Lunacy is the flavor of the week at Monolith, and it permeates the entirety of Gotham City Impostors. So don't be surprised when a Joker maniacally quips after killing you, "You dropped like a sack full of puppies: cute!" The Bats spout heroic gobbledy-gook about justice and honor in tones that almost sound singsong. The action sounds equally intense and goofy. Guns sound mean and loud, but the shoddy equipment sounds as low-quality as it looks. For example. grappling hooks sound like fishing lines being reeled in, which isn't too far from the truth. The rest of the game is wonderfully self-aware in terms of audio; this is an arena combat game, complete with an enthusiastic announcer. Perhaps best of all are the random playhouse sound effects. |
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Gameplay:
Gotham City Impostors is a twelve-player online shooter. There are no solo options whatsoever in this release, so if you absolutely must have a campaign in every shooter you play, this is not the game for you. You'd be missing out, though; while Gotham City Impostors doesn't break any new ground in terms of shooting, it does in terms of movement and positioning.
There are three modes to choose from. The first is Team Deathmatch, which speaks completely for itself. It's Bats vs. Jokerz in a fight to the death. First to fifty kills wins. It's that simple.
The second mode is Fumigation. This is a Conquest-style variant that charges each team with the capture of three gasblasters. The team that is able to control the majority of them for long enough wins the game -- and unleashes a cloud of gas that attacks the losers.
The last of the modes is Psych Warfare. Each team has a propaganda machine, and needs to get it powered up. A lone battery spawns in midfield. The team that successfully brings the battery to their machine must protect it while it powers up. Once the timer runs out (and provided the other team hasn't removed the battery), the machine begins to broadcast a voice that insults the other team so harshly that they forget how to use weapons and begin running around in a drunken daze. They can still flail their arms around, though, and each successful slap is a one-hit kill. However, kills aren't as important as successful machine power-up cycles.
Matchmaking in Gotham City Impostors is a bit messy as of this writing. The time spent in menus between matches is a bit much when compared to that in other shooters, and once you get into a match, there's no guarantee that your party won't get dropped halfway through it. It can be very frustrating, and I'm hoping it's fixed sooner rather than later.
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Difficulty:
Being a multiplayer-only release, the difficulty level of Gotham City Impostors can only be measured alongside how good you are at competing online. It also helps to have a well-balanced team that communicates well. Since the introduction of the Xbox Live Party, team communication in games has pretty much gone straight to hell. Still, the game allows for some individual/party tactics that go a long way in helping out the entire team.
Gotham City Impostors is set up just like any other shooter, so if you're coming off of Battlefield or Call of Duty, you'll adapt just fine. The gadgets and support items take a bit more getting used to, but before long, you'll be gliding, skating, and swinging your way across the five maps. Initiation Mode is there to introduce you to the basics, but go for the training, not the pizza that is promised in the Play Now! menu. |
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Game Mechanics:
At first glance, Gotham City Impostors is a cookie-cutter shooter featuring weapons that don't look normal but serve the same purpose as their real-world counterparts. You run, you jump, you aim, you shoot, you stab, and you earn experience that allows you to level up and customize your own character with special perks and unlockables.
That's about it as far as common elements go, though. Since you'll be playing as a wannabe throughout your vigilante/criminal career, you've got to at least try to be like your idol, right? Well, with the exception of guns in Batman's case, right? Right. You need mobility. You need speed. You need stealth. Too bad; you're just a mentally-unstable poseur, and you can't have all of that at once. You can make do with one at a time, though. There are plenty of opportunities to get vertical in Gotham City Impostors, and you'll want to exploit them; where you are is often more important than what you're attacking people with. You can use things like capes, grappling hooks, and roller skates in conjunction with certain environmental features to get to rooftops and hidden nooks. For example, you might bounce off a trampoline, glide with the cape, catch an altitude boost by going over a heat vent, and execute a death from above attack on someone below. Or you might grapple to a rooftop and start sniping. There are countermeasures to these gadgets, so be careful where you tread.
There's a simple Gang system that gets in your face every now and then, and there's apparently an ongoing Turf War in the game. You can view the specifics on an ever-changing map, but so far, this feature feels utterly superfluous. Maybe they'll flesh it out through downloadable content and give players a reason to care about it.
Most shooters these days offer dour experiences. Several of them are great in their own ways, but there seems to be a lack of humor pervading throughout the genre. It's really nice to see a shooter that doesn't take itself seriously, and it's equally nice to see that it's a lot of fun to play. Gotham City Impostors may not offer everything you want out of a shooter, but at its price and level of quality, it's hard to fault it too much for its shortcomings. And really, who could say no to a Batman game with guns? |
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-FenixDown, GameVortex Communications AKA Jon Carlos |
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