Summary
It seems like both major comic book companies are trying to capture audiences with new online titles, and so far, that seems to be failing. Marvel Games tried to excite its fans withMarvel’s Avengers, but that fell flat almost as soon as it hit store shelves.DCtried to do it withGotham Knightsand is trying again withSuicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, but fans do not seem very interested in either adventure. Neither studio has been able to really nail down the concept quite yet, butDCcould if it was willing to revisit one of its strangest titles.
There have beensome weird comic book gamesover the years, but perhaps one of the weirdest came in the form of 2012’sGotham City Impostors. It was unlike anything fans of theBatmanIP had seen before, and nothing has really tried to replicate it since. While it was far from perfect, it was rather unique and could be exactly what DC needs right now. With a few tweaks and changes, a newGotham City Impostorshas a strong chance at succeeding where recent DC games have failed, and that potential alone is exciting.
RELATED:Skydance’s Upcoming Marvel Game is Stuck Between a Rock and a Hard Place
Gotham City Impostors Could Thrive Today
Gotham City Impostorswas a strange gamewhen it first hit store shelves, and it continues to stand out among DC’s vast catalog of titles. It was a multiplayer FPS that had players battle it out in the streets of Gotham City. Each time consisted of six players with each player looking like a funny version of DC’s most notorious characters. One team was rookie vigilantes dressed up in Batman-like outfits while the other team was wearing Joker themed costumes. These costumes looked like they were made in someone’s basement, and the guns that players could use were even wilder.
The core gameplay loop ofGotham City Impostorsshould be familiar forfans of games likeOverwatch. Multiple unique modes would pit two teams against each other in high-stakes wacky battles. Psych Warfare had players defend a battery, Fumigation had players capture three command posts, Bounty Hunter saw them collect coins from dead enemies, and Team Deathmatch was just classic FPS fun. These modes could be played on all sorts of over-the-top maps from throughout Gotham City, and the team with the most points would obviously be crowned the winner.
Players were also given immense control over what their character looked like on the battlefield. They could customize their costumes, the gadgets they brought with them, the guns they used, and even the size of their character. These guns and gadgets gave players a wide variety of abilities to mess around with, and most of them were heavily themed afterthings found inBatmancomics. This made it a fun time for fans of the IP, but sadly it would not be around for very long.
Gotham City Impostorswas met with decent reviews at launch, but its connections toBatmanwould not be enough to keep it alive for that long. It would end up releasing on PC as a free-to-play game shortly after its console release, but it would get no new updates once it did. After GameSpy shut down in 2014, the PS3 servers would cease to exist. It would then be left to gather dust on Steam until it was finally removed in 2021. It can still be played on an Xbox 360, but it will no longer be purchasable oncethe Xbox 360 store shuts down. Since no physical copies were ever released, the game will likely be forgotten about.
WhileGotham City Impostorswas not perfect, it was a fun blueprint for a unique online title set within the universe of DC Comics. It seems like it could do well today, too, as hero shooters and FPS games are bigger than ever. If DC ironed out its rough edges and provided a consistent post-launch content stream, thenGotham City Impostorscould be the online game it has been searching for. It is very unlikely thatDCwill ever revisit it, but it would be a fantastic surprise if it took that risk.
MORE:Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League Can Avoid a Marvel’s Avengers Scenario By Doing This
