I’d already gotten my hands on the standard team deathmatch mode for Monolith’s Gotham City Impostors earlier this year. It’s Bat on Joker action, with Dark Knight and Clown Prince knock-offs trying to take each other out with an assortment of standard guns and wacky gadgets.
At PAX this year, Monolith has revealed a brand new mode, “Fumigation.” Basically your standard control point or domination game type, Fumigation has players fighting over three “Gas Blasters.” Controlling a point will cause it leak out your own team’s gas, the ultimate goal complete saturation; the first team to 100% saturation wins.
In my hands on I joined up with the Jokers; the model dressed up as a Joker told me to do it, and I felt threatened into it. We battled on the “Crime Alley” map, the infamous Gotham City location perhaps most famous for being scene of Bruce Wayne’s parents’ death. In the light of day, the gritty locale wasn’t as foreboding as you’d expect… the trampolines (which any player could use to bounce to reach greater heights) didn’t help matters.
It was a close, tense match from start to finish, with the Bats putting up a good fight against our white-faced jesters. While we took a wide lead as the Jokers for the duration, we couldn’t quite reach 100% saturation before the time ran out, throwing us into a three minute sudden death. It was then that the Bats stepped up their game, reclaiming a large percentage of the map’s gasses. We held strong, running down the clock, winding up ultimately with a draw.
While its core and modes may be similar to other shooters (controlling nodes and points seems as old as time itself at this stage), Gotham City Impostors has a decidedly crazier slant. With zip lines and throwing axes as special skills… and trampolines for god’s sake! The game won’t be out in time to pull your attention away from the big holiday shooters (it’s out next year), but Monolith seems on the right track towards offering up a wild, fun multiplayer alternative.
