Batman, eh? I mean, he's alright. But it's not like he runs around with a gun, is it? It's not like he's known for his ability to snipe off a face from the other end of a map. He's more of a "maim 'em and leave 'em, indifferent to the likely spinal trauma they're suffering" kind of guy. Those were the Bat-issues that Warner are faced with, when rolling out the Bat-brand into other genres. Gotham City Imposters is their answer. It's not Batman, see? Instead, it's a refreshing blend of light-hearted cartoon, humour, and excessive, acrobatic shooting.
The guns are the least spectacular thing about Imposters. The gadgets are what makes the game feel like a silly, chaotic callback to another decade of Unreal Tournaments. Trampolines litter levels, bouncing you fifty feet into the sky. Air vents allow people equipped with gliders to float around the maps. Ramps give people in roller-skates a directonal boost. Spring-loaded boots and grappling hooks give you more flexible ways of getting around, but are slightly trickier to use. The gadgets are what makes Gotham City Imposters its own game.
The matchmaking system is something of a pain - my roster would fill and empty a few times before launching me into an imbalanced 5 vs 4 match with all the high-level characters on the five-member team. Maybe there's a most sophisticated and fair system of kill to death ratios, but it honestly doesn't feel like it. In other inconveniences, there's a system of off-putting bureaucratic sign ups and agreements before you get to play the game. The jokey captions are Monolith's apology, but unless you sign up to Warner, some objects remain forever locked.
The unlocking process begins immediately, but it's an agonising drip-feed. By giving you an unlock on most of the hundred levels, they've had to spread the rewards out very thinly. Level 3 allows you to make a custom loadout. But it's the unlock keys you slowly, slowly earn that makes that loadout meaningfully customisable. Level 11 lets you unlock one new weapon. Level 13 lets you unlock a new voice type. Level 18? Oh, you don't get anything for that. The whole thing feels tuned to that nearly-enough level of frustration that'll drive people to pay for unlocks. An hour of double XP for 40MP?
For a game with such a sensible base price, this slow unlock system overestimates how much fun Gotham City Imposters has to offer. There are just three game types - Deathmatch, Fumigation (a point-capturing Domination variant), and Psychological Warfare, where you have to capture a battery and return it to your base for long enough for it to start pumping out point-scoring propaganda. There are two other options when selecting your game type - Initiation lets you replay the tutorial, and Challenge tests your proficiency with the gadgets, and rewards you with not enough experience to be worth your time. Useful, though, if you want to take your baby steps away from well-armed eyes.
Gotham City Imposters adds daft gadgets and a massive dose of style and humour to an old template, and it's a hugely entertaining way to pass any number of evenings, once you get through the matchmaking. But its biggest problem is that the unlocking system and stingy coins system constitutes its own form of psychological warfare with the player. And there, it misfires.
6 comments so far...
Carpet Monkey on 14 Feb '12 said:
Was seriously considering getting this, as the footage looked like a lot of fun. Anyone else getting it? I may be persuaded to purchase if a few oxm lot are up for some games.
golliwoza on 14 Feb '12 said:
I want to get it the only problem being im flat broke after pre purchasing ME3 but after that fiasco im up for buying it next month some time.
Thos. on 14 Feb '12 said:
I'd buy it in an instant without unlocks. I hate that this has become a thing.
It used to be that longevity was created by new map packs, now it's done by locking off 80% of the weapons and gadgets.
If you get a game more than a week after its launch, you're instantly destroyed by people who have played 12+ hours a day and unlocked everything. I don't think I'll ever get another game with this system.
Flook666 on 14 Feb '12 said:
Feels like an 800 points game to me, so I might consider it in future if it sells at that price....Not enough meat to charge 1200 though!
Jellycow on 14 Feb '12 said:
This is a fantastic fun game, takes me back to the Quake 3 and 4 death match days. Fast matches with pretty evenly matched players, and no one has called me a mother f**king noob as of yet.
Deathsta1ker on 24 Feb '12 said:
The game is pretty cool,but takes forever to get a game.