Rachel Reviews: Gotham City Imposters!

The Premise

Batman is known for his non-lethal take downs and letting the police arrest people, but this is a Batman game with guns and killing, isn't it?  Well, no, not really.  It's set in Gotham City but it's not about Batman.  The back story is that a variation of the Joker Gas was released and it turned some citizens a bit coocoobananas.  The split into two groups with their own leader.  One group imitates Batman and represents law and order, and the other group imitates the Joker and represents chaos and lawlessness.  And this is where the player comes in!

The Gameplay

The game currently has four game modes (three with one on the way if you're on a PC or PS3).  The first is a standard team death match.  The second is an area control mode with three points to control called Fumigation.  When one team wins a gas is released that kills the entire enemy team.  The third is a one flag capture-the-flag mode with a twist called Psych Warfare.  The 'flag' is a battery that powers a propaganda machine that needs guarding while it powers up.  Once it has been powered up the enemy is driven mad and can only use a fairly ineffective but still lethal panic slap melee attack.  After the propaganda ends they can resume using their guns again.  The last game mode is called 'Bounty Hunter'.  When killed each player drops a coin, the Bounty.  Collecting these wins the game and gives the player a short damage boost.

Customisation

Talking of guns, there are nineteen weapons in all and most of them can have a mod.  These mods include the usual scopes and silencer as well as a BO Sniffer that highlights enemies with a little stink cloud above their heads.  They all have an array of paint jobs that can be unlocked by completing feats.  These include camos, pink cheetah print, hears, and a new pizza paint job.  There are many support items to choose from with my favourite being a tin of beans that lets you fart out deadly gases that cause damage and disorientates the enemy.  Gadgets include a home-made glider rig, rollerskates, and beachballs taped to the feet that allow the player to double jump.  There are different body types and 'fun facts' for different play styles, and Rampages that are triggered by dealing out damage or being killed several times in a row without getting a kill.

It doesn't end there!  At level 8 a plathora of costume items is unlocked that the player can buy with Costume Coins earned during each match.  Both teams have options for the torso, hands, legs, and feet.  The Bats have cowl, logo, and cape, options, while the Jokerz have hair, face paint, and flair, options.  These, along with voices, add a huge amount of personalisation that is sometimes hilarious, often disturbing, and always fun.

Community and Support

Worth mentioning is the support from the game devs.  There always seems to be someone on Twitter who'll answer questions, which is great as it makes it feel like the player is important.  Ages ago I tweeted this:
@moosemousse Couldn't sleep so I stayed up to get the gold Dawn Patrol in @GothamImpostors! I did it and it was so worth it! \o/
They replied with this:
‏ @GothamImpostors @moosemousse High Five! Sleep is overrated.

Yeah, it's the little stuff.

They've also released two lots of DLC for free!  The first added ninja costumes, a new map, and two weapons.  The second added the new mode 'Bounty Hunter', a new map, and the option to choose the language of your crazy voice.  The first bit of paid DLC added a new weapon, a new support item, a new fun fact, Rodeo and Pirate costumes, a new pirate voice, and the pizza paint job.

On top of that, they regularly do community challenges to earn XP, costume coins, backgrounds for calling cards, and the coveted snowflake paintjob for a selected weapon.

Graphics and Aesthetics

This game is really best suited to a widescreen display on a 360.  It's not unplayable but it does look a bit weird.  It's not the most breathtaking game out there but it certainly looks good.  It could be tweaked a bit in terms of lighting but there's nothing that's really wrong with it.  The aesthetics are rather good with each map having a different feel to it.  It still feels very Batman-y without having Batman in it.  Telling the two teams apart isn't always as easy as it could be but it's not too bad.  The biggest problem I've had was forgetting that I'm on a different team to the round before.

Overall Verdict

Gotham City Impostors is certainly one of the most fun games I've ever played.  As I write this I've killed 3840 enemies, completed 546 matches, accumulated 67:42 minutes of play time, and travelled 671.51km in the game. If I didn't love the game I wouldn't have spent so much time playing it, so I definitely enjoy the game perhaps more than I should.  It's definitely well worth checking out at the very least.  The game modes are addictive, the customisation is fantastic, the weapons are great and feel different to each other, and it cheers me up when I'm feeling down.  Go!  Get it now!

Links

The official website: http://www.gothamcityimpostors.com/
The official twitter: http://twitter.com/gothamimpostors
The official facebook: http://www.facebook.com/GothamCityImpostors

Rachel Reviews: Prince of Persia Classic

Prince of Persia

The original Prince of Persia game was a 2D platformer released in 1989 on the Apple II and has been ported to numerous  platforms in the following years (see the wikipedia article for more info).  Set in Ancient Persia, the sultan's vizier Jaffar siezes control while the sultan is away fighting wars and threatens to kill his daughter.  The player takes on the role of the princess' love interest and has to escape the dungeons and rescue the princess in under an hour.

The game used rotoscoping for the animation, whereby Jordan Mechner, the developer, studied filmed footage of his brother performing the moves and translated them into computer animation.  This was a first for computer games and marked a huge step forward in video game animation.

In 2007 it was remade and released on the XBox 360 in 2007 and on the PS3 in 2008 under the title 'Prince of Persia Classic'.

Then and Now

Comparing the two versions side by side, the biggest difference seems to be the updated visuals in Prince of Persia Classic.  This includes the use of 3D modelling and levels in the style of the Sands of Time game with smoother animation.  The actual level design was unchanged, as was the premise, so it still plays like the original version.  There are some new features though, and they add to the game experience rather than detract from it.

The biggest addition to the game is progression saving.  The players still have to complete the game in under an hour to win but in the remake players can stop playing or lose all their lives and pick up where they left off.  In the original this would have meant starting over from the beginning.  This added feature also allows players to retry completed levels to get a better time.

Another addition is a little 'guide', a floating light thing that tells the player which way to go.  I never bothered with it and found it easy to ignore.

Included in the 360 version are some achievements.  These aren't as easy to get as with some arcade titles and getting them may required replaying levels to find things.  With the save feature this isn't that hard to do and taking a while to explore the levels won't affect the game as it's the fastest time that counts.

Overall Verdict

The updated graphics look great and the sound is much improved on the original while keeping the feel and gameplay of the original.  Fans of the original should definitely check out this version and anyone who hasn't played it before should definitely look into it.  The addition of the save feature takes away the frustration of 'Game Over' and the achievements add replay value (if you like that sort of thing).

What I didn't realise was that I was five when it first came out.  I'm not sure if this makes me feel old or not.

Welcome

Welcome to my new blog, Rachel's Reviews!  Over the past two decades I've played a good many games.  Most have been good but some have been bad.  Some of them have been download only games and some have come in lavish special editions.  I hope to review a good few games, both new and old, and give my opinion on them.  I won't give a score because I've never paid attention to scores before and this is just my opinion.  I've loved games that other people have loathed and hated games that other people think are the bees knees.  This really is just a statement of what I like and what I don't.

As well as reviews I will be doing unboxings.  I have a good few of these stored up so they won't all be the latest titles, but I hope they will all be interesting.  The pictures are taken in my room using the camera on my phone.  It's not a great camera and the lighting isn't ideal but hopefully it'll be good enough.

Without further ado, I will kick off with something!  A nice blast from the past that occupied many hours of my time when I was young, really young, and one of the first games I owned.