Gotham City Impostors Review

A Batman first-person shooter. My god.

February 10, 2012

scours IGN 

Ever since it debuted, IGN's been a bit baffled by Gotham City Impostors. It's a downloadable first-person shooter set in the Batman universe, but it doesn't feature the Dark Knight (who, of course, is a hero who doesn't believe in guns). I've spent a few days with Gotham City Impostors, and while I enjoy the game, I don't know why it exists. Who was asking for this mash-up? It's like when they put out Batman action figures with neon skis, but I digress.

Crime Alley Killin'

There's no single-player campaign in Gotham City Impostors outside of a few medal challenges. The bulk of the title is online firefights between six members of team Batman and six members of team Joker. Mind you, you are not Batman or the Joker -- just guys and gals dressed like the characters. You pick your body type and loadout before spitting bullets in one of three multiplayer modes (iterations of deathmatch, king of the hill and capture the flag) and hoping you end up with some sweet XP to unlock the next round of perks.

It's one-dimensional and straight forward, but it's well put together. Plenty of people picked up the controller at my desk and said "Oh, this controls just like Call of Duty." It's easy to aim, run, switch weapons and everything else you'd expect from a first-person shooter in 2012. The controls feel good and it runs well -- especially for an online title where you're dying and then getting thrown right back into the action.

However, it's the things you don't expect that Gotham City Impostors has loads of. Whereas Christian Bale and comic books have trained us all to think of dark, rainy nights with serious undertones when it comes to Gotham City and its Caped Crusader, Impostors is all about cheeseball.

You assemble your character's outfit from scraps -- a vampire cape, a cardboard box cowl and so on. Each of the five maps is bathed in sunlight with bright purples and greens radiating from the walls. The characters you play as spit out one-liners such as "Why won't anyone be my friend?!" after a kill. This is like the child of COD and the Batman and Robin flick. The Adam West Batman TV show would be its Godfather. So much crazy gets shoved into the game that it's easy to find yourself giggling after getting wasted or watching the animated tutorials.

While you have normal weapons like rifles and machine guns, unlockable support items and gadgets like spring shoes, the glider cape, and roller skates also get tossed in. You can use boomerangs, glowing green goggles to see through walls, and personalized calling cards so your victims know who smoked them.

Oh, that Joker sucks.

All of this is... fine. I had enough fun playing Gotham City Impostors, but I was never hooked. The flat trees and blocky visuals aren't impressive, and, outside of deathmatch, the modes bore. While perfectly functional and crammed with unlockables (there's at least a level 500), it really amounts to just five maps, a sense of humor and the Batman license. I don't know if that's enough to warrant $15 and another first-person shooter multiplayer suite.

What's really interesting -- at least from a console perspective -- is Gotham City Impostor's love of the microtransaction. You earn costume coins you can use to buy new gloves and emblems for your character throughout the game, but if you don't feel like waiting, you can use real money to buy the superficial looks. I'm fine with the ability to buy cooler calling cards and mascots that float next to your character, but the ability to buy an hour of Double XP over and over again is a bit weird.

Closing Comments

Gotham City Impostors is a functional shooter with a sense of humor and a Batman license. It's got plenty to unlock, but it's not all that deep. Go, shoot, win. Over and over. If you're looking for a first-person shooter that doesn't take itself seriously, have at it, but don't expect a FPS revolution.

 

Rating	Description
out of 10
8.5	Presentation A great sense of humor from the tutorials to the loading screens to the one-liners.
7.0	Graphics It's bright and colorful, but it's also blocky and empty in spots.
7.0	Sound The character sayings are clever but the voices grate. Everything else sounds OK.
7.5	Gameplay The shooting and action feel right. The modes other than deathmatch aren't that interesting.
7.0	Lasting Appeal Tons to unlock, but the path to the goods is the same thing over and over again.
7.0 OVERALL	Good (out of 10)