Why So Serious?
Gotham City Imposters developed by Monolith (Fear series) and released in early 2012 is a team based first person shooter that draws heavily on call of duty and team fortress. The combination of those two games seems like a winning formula, but nagging server issues keep the great gameplay in Gotham City Imposters at a minimum.
The core gameplay to Gotham City Imposters is almost a direct adaptation of the two previously mentioned games. The game combines the gunplay and core of call of duty in a more team based formula that you would see in a team fortress type game. Gotham City Imposters features only a handful of game modes and maps, but at a budget download price there is plenty of game here. There are a total of 7 maps, i think, with a few of those maps being free DLC that was added after its release. The game modes in Gotham City Imposters are what you would expect from a shooter. Team Deathmatch, Fumigation(Domination), Psych Warfare( CTF), and Bounty Hunter(Kill Confirmed) are the game modes. All of the modes play equally great, but I prefer TDM in shooters. With a price tag of 15$ 7 maps and 4 game modes is a pretty good amount, and there is a lot of bang for your buck here. Similar to call of duty, Gotham features an expansive challenge set broken into tiers for weapons, gadgets, and game modes. There is also a small single player challenge component to the game, and like I said there is plenty to do and see in the game.
Gotham City Imposters also features a number of different weapons, gadgets, and customization options for your characters load out and appearance. There are just over 15 different weapons in the game, and each weapon has a handful of attachments or modifications for it. However, most of the weapons I found to be underpowered and I continued to use the same 3 or 4 of them. There are also a number of support items which include motion sensors, health drinks, throwing axes, and ninja bombs that make you invisible. Gadgets also come into play, and include the ability to glide in the air, use roller skates to move faster and hit super jumps, and grappling hooks that can be attached to any surface for fast travel. There are many other gadgets and support items than the ones discussed, and you can only equip one of each per load out. Two weapons can be equipped for each load out as well. There are also other customization options such as a ton of different perks, the body type and voice of your character, and the characters attire. Every single customization item in the game must be unlocked through the gameplay. With each level of XP gained either a weapon, attachment, gadget, or support item key will be unlocked, and you can use that key to purchase what ever item you want. This method for unlocking customization items is very slow, but the game was deliberately designed like this to take advantage of micro transactions. Every item can be purchased for under 1$ each if you want to speed up the unlock tree, but I would never spend money on an in game item that can be unlocked through gameplay. Character attire gets unlocked via costume coins. Costume coins are obtained every match, and you get very few a match, once again promoting micro transactions. There are a ton of different outfits to mix and match, and every player will have their own unique character design.
Doesn't Gotham City Imposters sound like a damn good game so far? On a gameplay standpoint it is, but there is one major problem the game has. The game servers are absolutely atrocious. The servers have been a huge problem since the release of the game, and it appears very little has been done to fix them. Some times I can get in a match right away, but other times it took over 10 minutes to find one lobby. Game lobbies also disconnect while waiting for a map or the next match to load. Once you finally get into a game there is a 50/50 chance of a good experience and a 50/50 chance of a horribly laggy game. When the servers in Gotham City Imposters want to work the game is great, but really only the most patient of people will be able to withstand the frustration of the servers and see fully what the game has to offer.
The technical aspects of the game from the graphics to the sound design are all around average. The level environments and the characters all look pretty good, but the visuals has a whole don't really come together. You have to remember that this is a budget download game, so saying that the graphics or sound design don't live up to par can be excused. The sound levels in the game seem really low, and there isn't that much going on other than gunfire. I have to turn my tv up when playing the game to even notice more than the occasional gun noise. The overall style and technicality of the game comes together nicely, and the art is really stylistic and unique. The game developers had a very good universe to build the game around with the bats vs jokers, and they achieved a nice artistic style.
Overall Gotham City Imposters could have been a really great game if the servers could have at least remotely functioned. The gameplay is spot on when it works and there is an absolute ton of customization options, even more so than call of duty. In my opinion the game is worth a purchase at it's full price tag of $15, and there are plenty of people still playing. I received the game through playstation plus. I wanted it at release, but the server problems at launch kept me from buying, and I was very disappointed to see that most of those same problems are still around. Nice job Monolith of supporting your product!
3.5 stars (7.0)
Gameplay: 7
Replayability/Value: 8
Graphics: 7
Audio: 6
Presentation/Design/Story: 7
