THE CLUB
Published by:
Sega
Developed by:
Bizarre Creations
Available on:
Xbox 360, Playstation 3, PC
INTRODUCTION:
The Club is a third person shooter where you play chicken… with your life.
Essentially, you have no choice but to fight for your life in a shady sort of
Fight Club-esque organization where millionaires bet on who will survive. You
get to pick one of eight different characters as you blaze through destructive
environments. This game reminded me a lot of the old-style arcade shooters that
are very difficult. The ones where you only have a few tries and are aiming to
get the top high score through memorization and endless repetition. It’s got a
twinge of style added to the mix, and although the plot is almost nonexistent,
you’ll find a pretty solid (and violent) game in this package.
GAMEPLAY:
First thing you’ll do in this game is pick your character- one of eight silly
stereotypes with varying strengths and weaknesses. The moves are always the
same, but the attributes differ, but you probably already knew that. Then you
jump into a burnt out level (you know, all decrepit and post-apocalyptic
looking) and are forced to compete in challenges. There are five different types
of challenges, although most of them are all very similar and don’t really vary
enough to really thrill.
The point of this game is simple, if you’re ever in doubt. Regardless of your
secondary objectives or perfunctory time limits, the idea here is to shoot as
many targets as you can, as quickly as you can, as close as you can, with as
much style as you can. As I mentioned before, achieving maximum points is a
process of repetition ad nauseum. The enemies are always in the same place and
they’re going to kill you fairly often. It’s up to you to go through each level
and really just map things out and repeat until you get the best score. Order
counts, and you can even find hidden targets throughout each stage to up your
score.
You can blaze through the single player game pretty easily, if you don’t care.
With that being said as I mentioned before, this one is really going to appeal
to the hardcore high score gamer. That’s where the fun comes in-you really rely
on headshots, group kills, explosions, and such to string together huge combos
to get the best score. The weapons work well, and it won’t be long before you’re
clamouring to just do ‘that much better’ the next time around. So memorize your
patterns and before you know it you’ll be an efficient killing machine.
Gameplay: 7/10
GRAPHICS:
The graphics in The Club are decent enough, with some sharp textures and decent
effects, although the game really isn’t a powerhouse in any sense of the word.
The problem here is that it looks like many of the games that came before it and
this makes it kind of bland. Everything here is just a bit blah and uninspired-
passable, but unremarkable. How many times have we seen this kind of lame level
design?
Graphics: 7/10
AUDIO:
Sound is the best part of this game. The soundtrack rocks, the announcers’
voices are booming, and the weapons sound perfect.
Audio: 8/10
FINAL VERDICT:
At the end of the day, The Club was a fun enough game to kill a few hours with.
The best modes are all in the multiplayer, for those of you with an internet
connection (or a big TV). The game really only appeals to that hardcore
demographic though and probably won’t thrill a lot of people. The premise isn’t
as fleshed out as it could be, and so you’re certainly not playing for story. If
you like to set standards for yourself and trying to beat them, you’ll dig The
Club- otherwise, rent and see for yourself.
Final Score: 7/10