Game Name: Gotham City
Platform: PS3, XBOX 360
Developer: WB Games
Genre: First Person Shooter Multiplayer
ESRB Rating: Teen
Ah Batman, the Dark Knight, the Caped Crusader. Who hasn’t fantasized about putting on the cowl and fight crime at one time in their life? It would be awesome, evil doers would tremble at the very mention of our name. We would look like absolute tools in the public’s eye. But fear not fellow 90 pound weakling asthmatics and overweight fan boys with neck beards for your time has come. Remember the scene in the Dark Knight where gun totting vigilantes dressed in hockey pads tried to gun down Scarecrow while impersonating Batman? Well Warner Brothers pretty much saw that scene and decided to cash in on those aspiring young superheroes. Gotham City Imposters is downloadable title jumping on the FPS bandwagon to compete against the greats like Call of Duty and Battlefield. With a price tag of only 15.00 it’s already got the attention of the gamer on budget but who does the rest of the game fair out?
Right from the opening cutscene, it becomes apparently clear that GCI realizes the silliness of the game’s premise and doesn’t take itself seriously in a good way. Goofy humor is everywhere and the cartoony look of the characters only enhances the lighthearted nature of this beast. While not breaking new grounds in the way of graphics, animations are smooth enough looking no hiccups or pop ups worth mentioning. Derezzing issues at distances are very noticeable at times. Still the look of the characters and their surroundings do stir up nostalgic feelings of Team Fortress and I can’t help but wonder if that title was the inspiration for this game. Weapon designs vary from run of the mill rifles and machine guns to clever homemade devices that truly feel like a socially inept fan boys would create if they had the means to. Characters mouths however, do not talk in game while there are voices to be heard is a constant reminder of the game’s cheap price tag.
It should be noted right from the get go that GSI is strictly a multiplayer game so those looking for a silly single player story this sadly isn’t what you are looking for. The game features five multiplayer maps that feel large enough to support the max twelve player rosters. The game also features three game modes including team death match, fumigation which is equivalent to conquest or territories, and battery which is essentially capture the flag. There is a fourth challenge mode for single player but all that does is help boost XP. As expected from a shooter title, Collecting XP levels up player’s ranks and grants them unlock keys for new weapons, mods, perks, and body types. GCI features five unique body types ranging from thin and tiny to huge and slow. Where other FPS titles use body types as nothing more than a feature to express individualism, GSI uses them as a strategy mechanic for different stats. For example, where a tiny body will be fast and hard to hit, its health is really low compared to its larger and slower counterparts. This does add a new unique form of strategy to the game but it is not without its problems.
Those unlikely enough to not play the game as soon as it is released will find themselves getting aggravated with how unbalanced the game can feel at first. With health perks being able to be added to even the toughest characters, someone just starting out has little to no hope of bringing more seasoned players down. The fact that head shots and knife attacks don’t guarantee instant kills will make players want to throw their controllers in a fit of rage. That was a strange choice of gaming mechanics on the developer’s part and honestly it’s something that shouldn’t been messed with. Heck you can even unlock a perk that makes head shots harmless to you. What the F@&k. As a result, players are gonna have to take initiation beatings round after round until you reach level 8 or 10. Only then can the playing field begin to feel better balanced. Modern Warfare solved this problem a long time ago with by forcing players to participate in beginner lobbies and later move them out into the main servers where everyone has a fair chance.
A new unique unlocking feature is the amount of costume unlocks. XP doesn’t contribute to pimping out your imposter because after every match players are rewarded costume coins based on their performance. By saving up, players can make their imposter look as cool, goofy, or in the case of female imposters as sexy as they like. However, costumes can consume A LOT of coins so if wanted, GSI will happily take your real world cash in exchange for individual items or even double your reward points for a limited amount of time if you feel the fifteen dollars wasn’t enough to spend. At first I was against this but since it only aids players in elements that don’t effect gameplay I became ok with it; although it does cheapen the boasting rights of rank since it speeds that up as well.
Controls are pretty cookie cutter for a FPS but there are some clever gadgets that give GSI a unique experience that no other FPS out there offers. The grapple gun which quickly lifts players across vast distances and onto any elevation without any recharging really brings a unique element to the game since one will have to keep a sharp eye out in spots on normally wouldn’t in any other title. Other gadgets like gliders, roller skates, smoke bombs and inflatable, (double jump boots) only further enhance the gameplay mechanics making this title stand out from the pack.
The voice over work in GCI is gloriously over the top and campy. Players can unlock and mod voices for their imposters creating some pretty funny combinations. If you don’t laugh seeing a three hundred pound man with mutton chops calling himself a bat babe then you must be dead inside. At the same time though, the dialog is very limited and gets repetitive very quickly causing that aspect of the game to lose its flare way sooner then it should. Music is kind of forgettable as far as in game goes but in the match result and options screens it does give off an appropriate atmosphere for the game.
In the end GSI is a decent shooter that for only fifteen dollars offers quite a bit in the form of replay value and fun. One wouldn’t think that a batman title featuring guns in the player’s hands would work but due to the success of Arkham Asylum and Arkham City
Rating 7 out of 10
Ryan Pierce
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