Title: The Club
Platform: 360 and PS3
Developer: Bizarre Creations
Publisher: Sega
MSRP: 59.99
Editor: Nicholas '
bapenguin' Puleo
The Club
If you are a Jason Statham fan (and who isn't?), then you've probably seen the movie Crank. In the movie Statham's character is injected with a lethal poison; the only thing he can do to stay alive is keep moving... and to keep killing. This same basic concept applies to Bizarre Creations's latest game The Club. Imagine a video game version of the movie broken up into bite size pieces with a splash of arcade flavor, and you have The Club. The game is made of adrenaline rushes, flashy overlays, motion blur effects and a thumpin' techno soundtrack.
The best way to describe The Club is a genre mash up between a racing game, a 3rd person shooter, and a classic top down shooter. What defines The Club is the focus on speed and combos. Combos are gained by killing enemies in quick succession; that with every body that hits the floor, your combo meter ticks up. If you wait too long between kills your combo slowly bleeds out until eventually may be lost. One way to save it is to shoot the skull and hidden badges that are conveniently placed around the levels.
The game uses its eight different "real world" tournament locations to unlock individual levels and game modes. Siege mode and the Time Attack mode held our attention the longest, and kept us coming back for the best score. In Siege you have to survive for a given amount of time while a constant onslaught of enemies are thrown at you, but there's a twist: you can't leave a coned it area for more than five seconds or you explode. The Time Attack mode has you completing laps like a racing game before time runs out, but shooting enemies will add time to your bank. If you don't feel like playing consecutive events you can hone your score in the unlocked single events, competing against other players from Xbox Live.
The Club feels like a game that could be seen in a boardwalk arcade, groups of gamers all huddled around the machine, putting quarters in a row to see who can best the previous high score. Even the character select screen is very reminiscent of arcade fighting classics like Mortal Kombat or Street Fighter. Inspiration from these games can be seen in the characters themselves, and in the game's story. For an arcade game, the Club shines- it exemplifies that ideal. As $60 console title, the lack of depth may turn some people off. But it's not the depth that makes The Club a great game, it's the bite sized adrenaline rush each level will give you.
Beyond the single player there's an extensive multiplayer mode with numerous game varieties. While the game has your standard deathmatch and team deathmatch, the score based game types that are really fun to play. The tides of a match can shift quickly by defeating foes in rapid succession. Unfortunately it doesn't look like the game is very popular online, as we had a difficult time getting into consistently available multiplayer matches.
The Club's only weakness lies in its graphics and level variety. While the character models are detailed enough, the levels themselves are fairly bland and straightforward, with most locations feel like a different skin of the previous and no true difference. Almost all the maps are tight corridor runs, with very few outdoor environments. Its obvious this was a design choice
For anyone short on gaming time, The Club is the perfect pick up and play game for 15 minutes at a time. Bizarre's latest tries to do something new by blending genres, keeping things simple, and focusing on speed and score. The risk paid off with a game that's fun, rewarding and re-playable.
The Good:
+ Adrenaline filled gameplay
+ Siege Mode
+ The arcade feel
The Bad:
- Style of game not for everyone
- Level variety doesn't exist
The Ugly:
- Nobody is playing multiplayer
*Note - This review is based on the Xbox 360- version.
