Gotham City Impostors Review

If you've caught a nasty case of first-person-shooter fatigue, you might be wondering what the genre needs to do to reignite your interest. Gotham City Impostors, a downloadable offering developed by the people responsible for the F.E.A.R. franchise, has one potential answer: add obsessed Batman and Joker admirers who can grapple, glide and roller-skate around arenas with aplomb. It's an unusual solution that produces a memorable game.

Gotham City Impostors doesn't star Batman himself or any of the traditional antagonists from the DC canon. Rather, the experience focuses on two rival gangs that are vying for control over Gotham City. They call themselves the Jokerz and the Bats, but they're not nearly as sophisticated as the hero and villain who inspire them. The differences can be explained by financial limitations; one of the Bats will inform you if you wisely choose to complete the Initiation mode. Batman can afford to be noble--to beat the stuffing out of a bad guy and let him limp home--but these gang members don't have that luxury. Death and dismemberment are their only options.

Apart from the brief tutorial and a more extended Challenges mode that turns the game's available arenas into demanding obstacle courses (consider this mode your boot camp; a chance to acquaint yourself with area layouts without needing to constantly look over your shoulder), the entire experience takes place online. You are randomly assigned to one of the two gangs at the start of a given round. You and as many as five allies try to demolish the rival team in one of three primary modes: Team Deathmatch, Fumigation, and Psych Warfare.

Team Deathmatch offers the least structure of any mode. The first team to score 50 kills within the time limit wins, or the gang in the lead when the timer reaches zero snags the victory. Fumigation plays out more like a round of Conquest in the Battlefield games. Gang members try to secure and hold three objectives that gradually add percentage points to the team's overall total. A constant tug-of-war ensues as both sides race to reach 100 percent, which is a difficult undertaking when the other side can steal points by claiming control points. Finally, Psych Warfare is Capture the Flag with a twist: the team that finds and holds a battery for a certain period of time can then start broadcasting propaganda that leaves rival team members defenseless except for hilariously effective slaps.

The good and bad news: there's plenty of time to customize as you wait for matches to start.

While the general descriptions of the three modes may sound like they could just as easily apply to nearly any recent FPS of note, Gotham City Impostors stands apart from its peers because of the lengths it goes to encourage controlled chaos. On one level, it's a standard shooter. Players choose from a variety of weapons that include machine guns, grenade launchers, sniping rifles, and so forth. That's only the start, though. Each standard character is also equipped with special gear that determines how he or she moves around the map. There are roller skates that make speedy movement a breeze, along with ramps that can send a skating warrior flying through the air as a lethal blur. There are gliding suits that allow gang members to catch updrafts and then dive-bomb their foes into submission. It's even possible to use cloaking skills, double jumps, and charged leaps that allow even the bulkiest of thugs to bound up to the highest platforms. Fast-paced combat practically requires constant movement.

The five available arenas are arranged in a manner that truly capitalizes on the potential that the various gadgets provide. Whether you're ducking around crates stacked along the docks, negotiating the confined amusement park hallways, gunning down rivals in the open city streets, sailing through the air as you circle the chemical treatment plant, or sniping from rooftops along the edge of a nuclear power plant, you can find options that suit your style of play and equipment. Players who want to keep to the ground and play Gotham City Impostors like a standard corridor shooter can certainly do so. But open rooftops and streets provide a sniper's paradise while also allowing you to spend most of your time in the air if that's what you prefer. The freedom is exhilarating.