Gotham City Impostors is video game for the PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3. It is a multiplayer first person shooter game, and it relates to the story of Batman leaving Gotham city. There are two groups: the "Jokerz" and the "Bats". The members of these groups are normal everyday people living in Gotham, trying to take the law in to their own hands.
Contents
- 1 Gameplay
- 2 Development and marketing
- 3 Reception
- 4 External Links
Gameplay[]
Gotham City Impostorsis playable by at most twelve players simultaneously.[3]Players can customize their costume, gadgets and other aspects of the game.[5]It features a colorful and over-the-top visual style, including such settings as an amusement park. In addition to guns and knives, the players are able to use other gadgets such asgrappling hooks, glider wings, roller skates and explosives.[4]The game includes both conventional guns and outlandish weapons, including a grenade fashioned like ajack-in-the-boxand a rocket launcher made of PVC piping.
The game has four different modes: Psych Warfare, Fumigation, Bounty Hunter, and Team Deathmatch. Psych Warfare involves the two teams trying to bring a battery back to their base and defend it long enough for it to allow a machine to brainwash the other team. Fumigation sends players to capture and hold three gasblasters, a type of command post, to get their gas level to 100%. Players are treated to the sight of the enemy being swarmed by bats (if the Bats win) or suffocated by a poison cloud (if theJokerzwin). In Bounty Hunter you win the match by collecting coins enemy players drop when they die, you can also pick up your teammates' dropped coins to deny the other team points. In Team Deathmatch the goal is to kill enemy players as fast as possible. There are also Challenges; these are played alone and are used to master gadgets and earn extra experience. Lastly, there is a training mode called Initiation, where the Bats leader instructs the player on how to use weapons and gadgets. [5]
Development and marketing[]
Batman: Impostors, a storyline that ran throughDetective Comics#867-870, was inspired by Gotham City Impostors. [7]The premise for the storyline is that the impostors are created by Winslow Heath, a man who was a victim of Joker toxin early in Batman's career; as a result of narcotics that he had ingested before he was exposed to the toxin, Heath survived the attack, but was left paralyzed while fully conscious for years, his features twisted into a permanent duplicate of the Joker's own visage. When he regains full mobility, he discovers that his girlfriend, Beth – who was exposed to the Joker toxin under the same circumstances, as the two took the same drugs - was left to die in their apartment as Batman was so caught up in trying to catch the Joker that he never looked back after 'rescuing' Heath, with the result that Beth was left to get eaten alive by crows. Driven insane by the torment he endured in the hospital, Heath created a unique 'Joker drug' that would turn those who used it into temporary duplicates of the Joker with a significant high in the process, simultaneously posing as an impostor Batman to rally others against the impostor Jokers and trigger a gang war. Although Batman deduces the truth and captures Heath, he is left troubled at the implication that Heath is correct in his statement that Batman creates his own villains.
The preview forCartoon Network's upcoming animation blockDC Nation Shortsin 2012 included animation ofGotham City Impostors.Downloadable contentwas released for all platforms and includes new weapons, costumes, and three new stages, The 25th Floor, Arkham Asylum, and East End.
The game went free-to-play in 2012 but since then no new updates have been released. In the game's menu it was announced that, due toGamespyshutting down on May 31, 2014, the servers for the PS3 version will shut down. As of July 2014 however, while the game was removed from the PlayStation Store, some servers remain active. As of July 25, 2014, all PS3 servers for Gotham City Impostors have been shut down and the game is now unplayable.
It was released for free as part of the Xbox LiveGames with Goldprogram on July 1, 2014.
Reception[]
The Escapistwriter Allistair Pinsof called the demo a "carbon copy" ofCall of Dutyfirst-person shooter games, but said it added enough new features to be enjoyable.[4]G4writer Leah Jackson said of the playable demo: "Quite frankly, the game doesn't feel like your run of the mill downloadable title. It controls great, looks fantastic, and with all of the options, I can say that I was quite impressed."[5]The game scored a 65/100 onMetacritic.[8]
