Rumored for a couple weeks,Warner Interactive today took the lid off Gotham City Impostors, a downloadable game for XBLA, PSN, and PC. It’s described as a first-person shooter taking place in the Dark Knight's home town and is developed by Monolith (FEAR, Aliens vs Predator 2, Condemned). However, the shooter doesn’t actually star Batman or his rogues. Instead you’ll be playing as a customizable squad of vigilantes that either fall into the camps of the Bats or the Jokerz (though the “z” on the end is regrettable).
Currently the official site is detail-free, but some of the GR team were present for the reveal and sent us some early details. Impostors is styled like a grittier Team Fortress 2, with a look close to Arkham Asylum, though more colorful. You create a character starting with one of five body types which define your speed, strength, melee, damage, and durability stats, along with your weapon load out. You also have a set of gadgets to choose from that include skates, grapple guns, glider rigs, and smoke bombs. The first map our guys saw took place in an abandoned amusement park, a very fitting stage as roughly 45 percent of Batman comics take place in that setting (that's a fake number).
We’ll have a full preview soon enough, but this info is interesting, even if you’re initially letdown that you won’t be playing as the Dark Knight himself. And for comic nerds, there are several precedents forthis situationin comic history. Who could forget the Sons of Batman, a team of street warriors from the seminal Dark Knight Returns? And in another alternate Bat-future, there's the gang of street punks known as the Jokerz in Batman Beyond, an animatedseries that was a million times better than it deserved to be. Will Gotham City Impostors follow anythese examples or strike out on its own?
May 16, 2011
