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“We are dedicated to honoring Batman’s nobility through our words and deeds,” said the leader of the Batman copycats at the beginning of Gotham City Impostors‘ tutorial. If you know anything about Batman’s nobility and the shoot-em-up premise of Gotham City Impostors, then it’s easy to see the ridiculousness of this group of misguided vigilantes. However, there couldn’t possibly be a more fun warping of the Dark Knight’s values.

Gotham City Impostors

Publisher: Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
Developer: Monolith Productions
Released: Feb. 7 (PS3, PC), Feb. 8 (Xbox 360)
Platforms: PlayStation Network, Xbox Live Arcade, PC
ESRB: Teen

A Batman first-person-shooter? Absurd! A Batman game that doesn’t even have Batman in it? Preposterous! How can this be? Honestly, I don’t care to question such a blasphemous premise, because it’s all executed so wonderfully. If you’ve played any modern FPS, then you’ll be instantly familiar with the interface. Fundamentally the game plays like Call of Duty, but set in Gotham City in the midst of the weirdest gang war Batman ever missed out on.

For me, the highlight of this game was the myriad of strategies combining the game’s weapons and environment enhancers. The basic machine guns, shot guns, and bows and arrows are fun by themselves, but including the game’s encouragement to jump, fly, and bounce around the map, you can end up with some great kills. Trampolines, air vents, and ramps are generously spread throughout the war zone allowing quick movement. Bouncing off a trampoline with your glider wings equipped allows for you to hunt your prey from the sky and dive bomb right on top of him for a great addicting kill. And the roller skates with a makeshift Batman gadget staple, the grappling gun, compliment the pipe bomb very well.

Look no further than Gotham City for all the best and worst Batman and Joker cosplay. The customization runs deep in both characters and weapons. With several different body types and layers, finding the inner Batman or Joker in you won’t be a problem. But the customization doesn’t end with just Batman and Joker. I enjoyed covering my sniper rifle in green Riddler question mark print. But you’ll have to earn a few kills in the game to earn cash to unlock some of the more outrageous customization perks.

Monolith’s redefinition of the capture-the-flag style game was my favorite of the four gameplay modes. In psych warfare you and your team must locate a battery and place it into a mind control machine, and then defend it until your enemies succumb to the zombie-like transformation. At its core it’s simple, but its unique take on the FPS classic was a great breath of fresh air. Opposing the fresh air is Fumigation, where your goal is actually to smoke out the opposing team using a science fiction based gas that your enemies somehow despise.

Of course, there’s your basic 6-on-6 team death match, and a challenge mode daring you to complete selected tasks. Each gameplay mode is fun, but I do hope we can see Monolith’s creativity shine further in some possible future DLC game modes.

Gotham City itself has rarely looked gnarlier. Gotham isn’t a place we usually see in the daylight, and here we get a great glimpse of some interpretations of regular Gotham hangouts like Ace Chemicals and Amusement Mile. Each map’s design is unique and vast with obstacles, enhancers, and simply the sheer grit of Gotham in the midst of a gang war. Bruce is gonna have his work cut out for him cleaning these streets up whenever he gets back.

My only real complaint about Gotham City Impostors is only a nitpick, but frustrating none the less. Some of the text on the menu screen is really small and difficult to read. The cute Batman impostor mascot character will give you hints and directions through speech bubbles, and I found myself inches away from my TV trying to read it. Otherwise, the overall presentation could not be more fun and stylistically pleasing.

If you’re not into first-person-shooters, Gotham City Impostors isn’t going to change your mind, but at only $15, you won’t find a game more worthy of your cash than this. Though the Batman motif is fun for us comic book fans, any FPS buff will do themselves right by giving this a download.

I don’t care if Gotham City Impostors is all premise and no story. I don’t care if it’s an abuse of the Batman license. It’s a damn fun first-person-shooter. And such an affordable price makes it all the more worthwhile. Gotham City Impostors just may rival Marvel Pinball as my go-to procrastination game.

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Andrew Hurst
andrewhurst@comicattack.net
@andrewEhurst