Does anyone remember how a Batman themed first person shooter multiplayer game, that didn't feature any of the characters from the comics, was released a decade ago? To be honest, I wouldn't blame you if you forgot that Gotham City Impostors existed, I owned the game and I didn't even remember it was a thing for most of the decade its been out.
Created by Monolith Productions, the company that gave us great games like Alien Versus Predator 2, the F.E.A.R. series, and Condemned, and who would go on to produce Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor and its sequel, Gotham City Impostors seems like a really odd addition to its list of games. Looking back at it now, it seems like this was something that the team threw together in their spare time between big projects just so that they had something hit the market.
There's no single player in Gotham City Impostors, there's no story, there's nothing that you can do with this game on your own; instead, the game is a six versus six online shooter, similar to many of the multi-player modes found in first person shooter games like Call of Duty. There are four different game modes open to players right from the start, Psych Warfare, Fumigation, Bounty Hunter, and Team Deathmatch. Despite some of the fancy names long time shooter players will be instantly familiar with the core game-play of these modes, with Psych Warfare being capture the flag for example.
Where Gotham City Impostors seems to at least be trying to make itself feel different from other shooters is in the inclusion of strange weapons and gadgets that allow you to navigate the stages in different ways. The game has some regular weapons in its arsenal, but also over the top, hand made contraptions that do things like firing grenades out of a jack-in-the-box. The gadgets are possibly the design highlight, however, as you're able to equip your Impostor with roller skates that let you zip around the arena, spring shoes that allow you to jump high, glider wings that let you fly over the action, and goggles that allow you to see through walls. These add an elements of fun the proceedings, and makes for a game that isn't just running and gunning; especially as you can be aiming at an enemy and they suddenly spring up into the air and land on a roof thanks to their bouncy shoes.
One part of the game that got a lot of attention at the time was the customisation of the characters. Whilst the game is in first person, and you won't really be seeing your own character much, there were a lot of items to unlock and equip yourself with that would make you stand out to different players; plus you'd get to see your weird creations in the loading lobbies. These items would be, essentially, bits and pieces that your character seems to have found around the house to make their own Batman or Joker costume. Old shirts with badly sewn on logos, bin lids as armour, cardboard box cowls, and badly applied make-up were common place in this game; and actually helped to set the tone of camp silliness that the game needed.
The environments were similar in this regard, they never seemed to take themselves too seriously. This wasn't the dark and brooding Gotham of Tim Burton's Batman, nor was it the attempt to depict a more realistic caped crusader like The Dark Knight. Here the environments were bright and gaudy, splashed in neon lights and bright paint. It felt closer to rundown Gotham that began life as something from Batman & Robin or the Adam West series. Alongside the silly costumes, the weird gadgets, and the odd weapons, this led to a game that didn't seem to be taking itself too seriously, and actually felt pretty fun to play.
However, this was a Batman game that not only didn't feature the character, but put a focus on guns and shooting people, things that Batman hates. Whilst it was fun to play, it did feel like the definition of a soulless cash-in, a game that with a few tweaks could become a completely different property, and that perhaps simply slapped the Batman branding on at the eleventh hour and called it a licensed game.
Whilst Gotham City Impostors is a Batman game in name only, and barely has anything to do with the character, it was something that was fun to play when it first came out; a game that offered a lighthearted and silly approach to a fairly standard formula. Though with how quickly audiences move on to new multiplayer games, and the gaming having been removed from Steam in summer 2021, it's unlikely that this is a game that you'd be able to play again if the mood took you.
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