The Club Review

Liverpool based development studio Bizarre Creations is primarily known for its successful Project Gotham Racing series, which started out on the original Xbox console. The developer is also recognized for Geometry Wars, a retro-style multi-directional shooter - the game was initially released as a mini-game in PGR 2. Eventually, it made its way onto today's Xbox Live Arcade and was recently ported to the Nintendo DS and Wii. Although Bizarre restricted most of its attention to perfecting PGR, smaller projects such as Geometry Wars and Boom Boom Rocket (also available on Live Arcade) suggested that the developer is keen on new ideas.

You think that's gonna stop my powerful mini-gun?

If knew where to switch it off, I would!

The Club represents their first major venture beyond the racing genre. So, is Bizarre capable of tackling the shooter genre? Let's find out.

The premise of the game puts you into a hostile and dangerous environment. A mysterious and well-hidden organization, formed by powerful leaders, dedicates its time to arranging deadly shoot-out tournaments. Recruiting fighters from all around the world, this organization created its own lethal underground fighting events, resembling ancient gladiator-battles (wrapped in a modern-day setting, of course). The Club has existed for ages and now boasts many members such as media tycoons, international arms dealers, drug lords, dotcom billionaires, Third World warlords, Hollywood superstars, royalty and many others. To enter and become a part of this event involves an astronomical fee and once you become a member there's no going back.

Before you enter a tournament, you choose one of the game's eight characters. Each character has personal reasons for getting into these tournaments; some are in it for the money, some seek to put a stop to The Club, while others are simply forced to take part in it. There are also three specific skills, which differ according to character. These are speed, strength and stamina.

The gameplay is very straightforward in this game. You enter tournament arenas and everything revolves around shooting as many opponents as quickly and skillfully as possible. Every kill registers on the so-called combo meter. However, the trick is to keep on killing or the combo meter will run out. If you successfully continue to gun down enemies, the combo meter continues to rise, improving your overall score in the tournament. Different special moves are included as well, to make things a bit more interesting. For instance, you earn more points by ricocheting bullets off of walls or by shooting through certain surfaces (which gains you the so-called Penetrator bonus). Headshots in addition to well-placed shots from great distances bring in extra points. In case there aren't enemies in the immediate area, you can boost your combo meter by taking out skullshots - small targets scattered throughout the area.

The compelling thing about The Club is that no matter how shallow the gameplay may seem at times, you're going to want to go back into the arena and accomplish a better score. It drives you to play on until you achieve the best rank on the game's local leaderboard. Therein lies the challenge of The Club. Competing against others won't be easy. Most of your adversaries are adept at getting a very high score, so it's doubtful you'll achieve a desirable score the first time around. To really boost your score takes a bit of practice (you only have three attempts at getting the prefect score). The maps and locations in The Club are enjoyable and they all have a unique feel to them.

The game looks and sounds okay too. Still, I might've stretched that "okay" a wee bit when it comes to audio design. The game's crammed with a variety of audio effects and the soundtrack is cool. On the other hand, firing certain weapons doesn't sound as realistic as you'd expect and the same thing could be said for the explosions.

Each location -- from the Steel Mill in former-Communist Germany to sealed-off areas in the city of Venice -- features a set of different events or game modes, if you will. Survivor, Time Attack, Run the Gauntlet, Siege and Sprint are the available modes. It may sound like a nice choice, but ultimately the goal varies between making fast kills or beating the clock. In this sense, The Club is a great disappointment, because it never really goes beyond its arcade-style simplicity, although it does in some aspects have the potential to do so. The experience gets dull and amounts to old-fashioned run-and-gun gameplay mechanics.

The only thing that keeps you going is the need for a better score and outperforming your opponents. There isn't any story to be had here or any character depth worth mentioning. Let's face it, there is no immersion to be expected here, since it's all about the shooting anyway.

The thing you have to decide before playing The Club is whether or not you're the kind of gamer who enjoys pure action with no sense of purpose to it.