The Club

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Game Information

Developed by Bizarre Creations Limited.
Published by Sega
Platform : Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and Microsoft Windows
Genre : Shooter
Age Rating : 18+
Players : Single Player and Multiplayer
Additional Contents Provided : None
Release Date - Xbox 360, Playstation3 and Microsoft Windows : (AUS) 7 February 2008, (EU) 8 February 2008, (NA) 19 February 2008

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Synopsis

In the tradition of such films as The Running Man, Hard Target, and Surviving the Game comes The Club, a fast-paced underground "sport" featuring a kill-or-be-killed objective. The world's most affluent citizens are gambling on various fighters to survive a battle of attrition. The game's eight combatants have their own personal motivations for competing, as they attempt to rocket through the ranks using whatever means necessary. Characters can be equipped with a choice of 17 weapons, ranging from automatics and sniper rifles to submachine guns and pistols. Eight atmospheric locales include a factory, steel mill, prison, ocean liner, and other abandoned areas from across the globe. Objects found within the environments can also be used to a character's advantage. Players are able to challenge up to seven rivals online or choose from the following five solo modes: Sprint, Time Attack, Survivor, Siege, and Run the Gauntlet. Eight distinct multiplayer modes are available as well, each featuring a cumulative score-based system used to unlock new weapons, characters, and maps. The console versions of The Club support local multiplayer action for up to four combatants via split-screen display.

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Gameplay

Gameplay in The Club has so much variety where you can partake in loads of different missions, fight in different environments and explore your surroundings. Even though there is a lot to do in the game is seems to me to be very corny and gimmicky. The game is like marmite. You either love it or you hate it. Personally, at times I would get frustrated at the game because of the glitches and bugs that there were, certain enemies that wouldn't die and missions that could not be completed. But the next I would play and I would be addicted to it. The guns in the game are pretty decent and you'll know what guns you are running around with and picking up if you have played popular shooters. They all seem to carry the same damage statistics in the game even though it may say different on paper. They are quite enjoyable to use however they do run out of ammo quite quickly so I would advise picking up a weapon that is used a lot in the game so you can pick up ammo from your dead enemies. There aren't that many single player missions included in the campaign which is pretty disappointing. The campaign can be completed in a day or more depending on how quickly you get used to the controls and your pace through the progression of the levels. You might want to play the campaign on an easier difficulty to get a feel for what you need to do and crank it up a notch when you're feeling comfortable to kill some enemies on Insane difficult. Which is Insane. A couple of bullets to you and you're down in seconds so be quite witty and wary when you go into certain situations that you will encounter. In the top right hand corner you have a multiplier that will grow every time you kill an enemy but it will award you more points if you can pick them off in quick succession if you are accurate and earn a big bonus. Campaign is only enjoyable for a short while and it would've been nice to see them extend it some more because it doesn't seem enough. The Club also has Multiplayer compatibility but it's nothing special. It's pretty much the same as the campaign, on similar maps, with similar weapons against players around the world. No real special or unique features were implemented into the multiplayer which I found pretty boring.

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Graphics

Now graphics in The Club can be good and times and in others they can be quite bad. Enemies don't look like as if they want to kill you. Casually walking towards you while you picking them off with easy head shots isn't that exciting if they aren't putting up much of a challenge. This doesn't look appealing to the gamer playing especially if they aren't putting any work in. Textures on things such as riot shields and vans look really weird and look somewhat fake. Gunfire and explosions look pretty decent in the game and sometimes make you say 'Whao!'. Now who doesn't love massive fireballs of explosion! This is what I expected to see from this game but there were only petite explosions that didn't look that stunning. Weapons in the gun are textured and detailed well and sometimes you may be able to find one or two with a camouflage on them. But this is pretty rare so if you do find one, and let me tell you they look really nice you may want to cherish them. The environments that you fight and venture out around look better than mediocre and it shows that the developers put quite an amount of work into making their environments suitable and looking good.

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Controls

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Overall this game is pretty decent. There's nothing amazing about it and it's just a general game with general functionalities. Some of you may like it and some of you may hate it, usually depends on player preference of course. Personally, I think that this should had been released as an arcade game instead of a full Xbox Live game as the short campaign and multiplayer aren't that thorough as they could be.

Game Rating : 5/10 (Campaign is way too short, multiplayer function is decent and poses nothing amazing, graphics are developed well in areas and the controls are really easy to get use to and they respond well.