We live in interesting times, we gaming folk. After literally decades of single-player experiences that shaped and molded our expectations of games, the rise of the almighty multiplayer shooter isn't just a paradigm shift; it's a complete upheaval of what's being considered mainstream. Games without some form of multiplayer are (unfortunately) growing increasingly rare, but pure multiplayer games are rarer still, which is why we were intrigued to hear about Gotham City Impostors, a competitive first-person shooter that takes place in the home of Batman and the Joker but stars neither.

It sounds a little odd at first. How can one do a game in a city as iconic as Gotham without, y'know including the guy who tries to keep it all safe -- especially on the heels of his best game yet? Instead, a gaggle of villains decide they want to slip into the clown shoes or cape and cowl of Gotham's biggest hero and villain, donning thrift store garb while gleefully gunning down the guys on the other team with far more violence than the goofy costumes would suggest.

Here's the thing, though: it works. This isn't meant to be a Batman game, and that freedom from having to adhere to the core characters has meant developer Monolith Productions (the same folks behind the Condemned and F.E.A.R. franchises) has had carte blanche to go as far off the rails as possible with their character designs. Rotund Dark Knights with their bellies spilling out of their "suits" mix with lithe clown-faced ladies with just about every combination in between. Best of all, the constant progression through the game unlocks new bits of kit to customize the look and feel of your character.

It's more than just a different visual appearance; bigger, burlier enemies might move slower and can't jump as high as their skinner counterparts, but they'll soak up more damage and work as a sort of impromptu (or intended) tank -- though it's important to note that the actual hitboxes are identical across all body types. Given the dozens of different ways to change different body pairs, hair, shoes, clothing, bat-symbols, and the like, that's a great way to help differentiate the various combatants you play along with and against. These customizations are coupled with something called a Calling Card; a tag lifted from more modern fighting and first-person shooting games that enemies will see when you take them out. With different logos, mottos, backgrounds and more, the last thing your enemies see doesn't necessarily have to be your character.

All this customization is neat, of course, but we've never been huge fans of tinkering with our virtual appearance. It's nice that it's there, and we no doubt look forward to dabbling at least a little, but the real draw here was in seeing how all these goofy looking characters actually got down to business.

Whichever side you choose, the actual abilities are identical, even if the looks of the people using them aren't. A rather deep series of Challenges are available for those that want to get up to speed in an offline capacity (which we did, what with this being the first time we'd had a chance to go hands-on with the game), though even these have leaderboards for those that want to keep up the competitive spirit with friends. The time-based objectives offer simple bronze/silver/gold goals, but the real objective here is to figure out how all the different means of conveyance work.