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How ironic is a Batman first person shooter? Well, you’re not exactly playing as Batman himself, so there are no extreme miscarriages of continuity occurring. Remember the hockey-pad-wearing bat-fakes in The Dark Knight? You’re playing as those guys. In Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment’s upcoming Gotham City Imposters, you create your own Batman or Joker imposter and blow each other’s heads off in team based matches online!

The above picture is our first look at the style of the game, and examples of the kind of wanna-be vigilantes/arch villains we’ll be personally customizing. I really like the style, and just look at those weapons! Apparently WBIE showed off a video package with the back story to GCI, and while the video hasn’t been released to the public yet, word is that the game resembles Team Fortress; with a developer like Monolith Productions (F.E.A.R., Condemned) GCI has potential to be amazing. The game will be online only, and releasing over Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network and PC, though WBIE have yet to name a release date or price.

I am absolutely in love with the idea of this game! A Batman themed online shooter sounds awesome, and this seems like a pretty cool way for WBIE to make up for not giving us any kind of multi-player in Batman: Arkham City. I hope eventually the game could branch out to more than just Batman vs Joker and incorporate some Robin, Two-Face, Riddler or more themes based on Batman characters.

While we still have to wait for Gotham City Imposters, one game you should already be playing is Pinball FX2 with their Marvel Pinball pack. Unless you have some deep childhood resentment toward the game of pinball, I really don’t see any reason why any Marvel fans don’t have this on their hard drives already. In addition to having the physics of a genuine pinball machine, Zen Studios has created some brilliant and lively tables featuring Marvel’s finest, and the Fantastic Four is Zen’s newest table theme.

Pinball FX2: Marvel Pinball Fantastic Four

Developer: Zen Studios
Released: May 18, 2011 (XBLA)
Platforms: Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network (TBD)
ESRB: Everyone

Okay, yeah, since the death of the Human Torch, the Fantastic Four have been dissolved, but I would much rather have the classic feel of Marvel’s first family on my table top than a Future Foundation theme.

If you haven’t played the previous Marvel Pinball tables, then the first thing you must understand is this is not just a basic pinball simulation. The characters you see on the table come to life and can change the landscape of your game. Mr. Fantastic will stretch his arm and grab the ball, moving it around, Human Torch will fly around setting tracks on fire, Thing will even grab the ball and throw it, or shake the entire table with his massive stomping, and so on.

The story of this particular table is like something out of Fantastic Four #50 with the coming of Galactus. You must save the world from the big guy with the purple hat and skirt from devouring the Earth, but before that, you take on Dr. Doom’s wrath and an army of invading Skrulls.

I dare say this is the best Marvel table yet (or at least my favorite). The table is beautiful, the character animations are awesome, the music is epic, and the voice acting is very well done. Just like the other Marvel tables, there were a few moments of distraction, like when Doombots descended to the table to attack The Thing, my eyes wanted to watch the action, but I had to stay focused on the the ball. But that’s not at all an issue that hinders this game from being awesome.

You can download the Marvel Pinball Fantastic Four table now at XBLM for 240 MSP, and unfortunately, due to the hack, MPFF will be delayed on the PSN, but I’ll be letting you know as soon as it’s up! Until then, I’m going back to the game, because it’s extremely addicting.

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Andrew Hurst
andrewhurst@comicattack.net
@andrewEhurst