It's A First-Person Shooter With Batman. Except It Doesn't Actually Feature Batman Because Batman Doesn't Shoot People. So You Play As An Imposter Batman Instead In This Batman Team-Based Shooter.

E.A.R. to cook up next? If you answered "first-person shooter", then give yourself a pat on the back. If you answered "gritty first-person shooter with scary pregnant mutant women", take that pat away. You don't deserve it anymore. Warner Bros has announced Gotham City Imposters this morning, a PlayStation Network team-based FPS based on the Batman franchise. And yeah, you guessed it: it's coming from Monolith — the guys behind F.E.A.R..

The eight-player multiplayer shooter puts players in the shoes of a highly customisable superhero imposter. You're not actually playing as Batman or the Joker, but instead a "fanboy" of either character. "Posing as amateur vigilantes or villains," explains the press release, "gamers will create their very own Bats and Jokerz characters using unprecedented customization options including insane costumes, homebrewed gadgets and a wide range of traditional and imagined weapons."

The teams will duke it out over a series of maps inspired the by the DC universe. Expect more details to emerge at E3.

We're torn by this announcement. Part of us thinks the idea is pretty cool. But then the other half of us feels like it's really cynical. It's almost like a Warner Bros boardroom realised that shooters make lots of money and figured a "Batman Shooter" would be cool.

We guess we'll reserve judgement for the time being. Monolith's got chops, and we're eager to see what they've cooked up here.