Jonas Polsky

by Jonas Polsky

I played the 360 beta for “Gotham City Impostors” today for about two hours. It’s a pretty interesting semi-team-based multiplayer game set in the Batman universe.

One feature that stands out is the player’s ability to attack from above, via the glider, trampoline jumps, or grappling hook. Unlike most shooters where you’re simply checking the horizon for enemies running towards you, opponents are being airdropped to your position and appearing above, or behind you.

Abilities like the grappling hook are so powerful I think, that they should be equipped at the expense of a secondary weapon, or other perks. It is the beta, so issues like that could possibly be addressed, and I continued on, trying to adjust to enemies appearing from virtually nowhere.

Then something alarming happened. As is the norm in modern shooters, levelling up awards the player unlocks. When you select an item to be unlocked (body type, weapon, attachment) it states, “Unlock this item FREE.”

Since I earned an unlock, I didn’t see why you would point out that it’s free, it’s an in-game item that I can choose, but figured I was reading into it too literally. Later, when I had earned no unlocks I was checking out other perks and saw the statement:

“You can’t afford this item yet, but you can still access it now by purchasing it with Mircrosoft Points!”

Say what?

First, this isn’t a “freemium” title. It is slated to launch for 1200 Microsoft Points, or fifteen dollars. Fifteen bucks is already a little pricey for a game that’s online multiplayer only, spread across a few different modes.

Knowing that they are going to peddle virtual items lets me know that there will be no interest in preventing a player from being overpowered with too many perks and abilities, because they want to sell as many as possible.

More worrisome, what do they think they can charge for them? The cheapest item I’ve seen on XBOX Live is 40 MSPs, or fifty cents. Do they think an in-game weapon is worth fifty cents, or possibly more?

“Gotham City Impostors”, you are not “Team Fortress 2.” TF2 was a classic shooter that after four years of being a full-priced game switched to a free-to-play model. Impostors is the new, crummier kid on the block, that shows up on day one with its hand out and a runny nose.

I can only assume Impostors will hand out a few “unlocks” in the first part of the experience, then starve players of them in hopes that they will fork over money to continue advancing.

A so-so paid title that also wants micro-transaction payments? You’re not Valve or Blizzard, Warner Brothers Interactive. It would be wise to either make the title F2P, or with a set price tag, but not both.

I wanted to point this out to prospective purchasers of Impostors, as I don’t see any articles online or a discussion on their own forums. I was interested in this title initially, but I’m going to see what happens when purchasers of the game discover this plot.