Old Boys'... Well, You Know
The Club valiantly tries to mix risk/reward scenarios with normal first-person shooter trappings, but...
Published: March 15, 2008
It can be a difficult thing, getting lighting to strike twice -- particularly where video games are concerned -- but UK developers Bizarre Creations have done it not twice but by my count five times now. I'm speaking of course of the risk vs. reward mechanic of stringing together stylish moves back to back that started with Metropolis Street Racer and continued on into the Project Gotham Racers has made for an intoxicatingly unique arcade racing experience.
Moving that system into a third-person shooter certainly seems like a solid idea, though it takes the kind of keen sense of balance that Bizarre has honed with their racing games. For the most part, The Club successfully translates the basic ideas, if not quite the same nail-biting sense of tension, to a shooter. The rules are simple: keep offing guys or hitting carefully placed "skillshots" to keep the combo going and the multiplier ratcheted up. Take too long between finding homes for all those bullets, rockets, and grenades of yours and the meter will start to bleed, eventually dropping to nothing.
In a way, it's a return to one of the most old-school determining factors of skill games have ever had: a score. In The Club, score is absolutely key, because despite having modes where you'll have to run a couple of laps around a level or survive a countdown clock or just make it to the end before time runs out, in the end, it's still all about racking up those points. Things like head shots, ricocheting bullets around objects or just plain shooting through cover mean more points, but ultimately it's about keeping that combo meter up.
The biggest problem with this approach isn't the mechanics fail per se, it's more that actually getting through a level requires rote memorization of where enemies and skillshots (or time extensions, or secret skillshots, or health packs) are located in a given level. With a good four dozen actual rounds across eight different environments, that's a lot of memorization. It might work for OCD-addled gamers, but for the rest of it, it makes the single-player game feel a little tedious -- especially because there really aren't that many modes spread across the nearly 50 runs through the levels, though at least each is a different chunk of them.
Taking things online, things get a little more involved. Though little of the urgency that's found in the single-player game is here, the move to a more straightforward set of multiplayer offerings combined with a cap of only eight players per level means online matches are almost always frenzied as players race to find the best weapons (usually the chain gun or rocket launcher). Modes such as the tag-like Hunter/Hunted add a little something different beyond the requisite team and solo modes in capture-the-flag or capture-and-hold or straight deathmatch stuff. It all runs quite nicely, and the single-player levels' size matches perfectly with the number of players.
Though the actual cast of characters -- eight in all ranging from an extreme sports buff to a set-up cop to a bloodthirsty killer (well, that describes a good half of the cast, really) -- isn't all that imaginative, nor are their storyline bits, which end with The Club, a draconian and all-powerful secret society, basically screwing everyone over. Luckily, they all at least look great, with plenty of bits of detail. The level designs, too are rife with detail and are nicely varied. The weapons all have their own unique feel and are actually useful in different situations and the animations for all the characters impart a little personality to each of the contestants.
Unfortunately, the game isn't without some performance issues. There are moments of outright slowdown at times, not to mention fairly regular bouts of framerate drops in all of the levels. That it can happen during particularly heated firefights means it can actually hurt the game. At least the default over-the-shoulder perspective and jittery camera while sprinting keep things fairly cinematic most of the time.
The audio arrives a little less bumpy. There's hardly anything in the way of voice work -- just the odd positional quip from the enemies in a level when they spot you (though some of these are in foreign languages to match the level's geographical locale, which is a nice touch) -- but it's fine, really, as the weapons themselves sound fantastic. Even the lowly pistol has a clap that's meaty and weighty and actually sounds dangerous. From the booming rockets to the belch of bullets from the chain gun, the weapons all sound absolutely deadly.
Though it may not hit on quite the same level as Bizarre's racing efforts, The Club is at least an interesting take on the already overcrowded next-gen shooter market. The basic ideas are sound, if recycled a little too much, and the online play is smooth and largely quite enjoyable. Should Bizarre find enough reason to attempt a second game, this could well be one of the most enjoyable franchises to debut this generation. For now, though, it's a solid rental and maybe a good bargain bin buy, but little else.
Moving that system into a third-person shooter certainly seems like a solid idea, though it takes the kind of keen sense of balance that Bizarre has honed with their racing games. For the most part, The Club successfully translates the basic ideas, if not quite the same nail-biting sense of tension, to a shooter. The rules are simple: keep offing guys or hitting carefully placed "skillshots" to keep the combo going and the multiplier ratcheted up. Take too long between finding homes for all those bullets, rockets, and grenades of yours and the meter will start to bleed, eventually dropping to nothing.
In a way, it's a return to one of the most old-school determining factors of skill games have ever had: a score. In The Club, score is absolutely key, because despite having modes where you'll have to run a couple of laps around a level or survive a countdown clock or just make it to the end before time runs out, in the end, it's still all about racking up those points. Things like head shots, ricocheting bullets around objects or just plain shooting through cover mean more points, but ultimately it's about keeping that combo meter up.
The biggest problem with this approach isn't the mechanics fail per se, it's more that actually getting through a level requires rote memorization of where enemies and skillshots (or time extensions, or secret skillshots, or health packs) are located in a given level. With a good four dozen actual rounds across eight different environments, that's a lot of memorization. It might work for OCD-addled gamers, but for the rest of it, it makes the single-player game feel a little tedious -- especially because there really aren't that many modes spread across the nearly 50 runs through the levels, though at least each is a different chunk of them.
Taking things online, things get a little more involved. Though little of the urgency that's found in the single-player game is here, the move to a more straightforward set of multiplayer offerings combined with a cap of only eight players per level means online matches are almost always frenzied as players race to find the best weapons (usually the chain gun or rocket launcher). Modes such as the tag-like Hunter/Hunted add a little something different beyond the requisite team and solo modes in capture-the-flag or capture-and-hold or straight deathmatch stuff. It all runs quite nicely, and the single-player levels' size matches perfectly with the number of players.
Though the actual cast of characters -- eight in all ranging from an extreme sports buff to a set-up cop to a bloodthirsty killer (well, that describes a good half of the cast, really) -- isn't all that imaginative, nor are their storyline bits, which end with The Club, a draconian and all-powerful secret society, basically screwing everyone over. Luckily, they all at least look great, with plenty of bits of detail. The level designs, too are rife with detail and are nicely varied. The weapons all have their own unique feel and are actually useful in different situations and the animations for all the characters impart a little personality to each of the contestants.
Unfortunately, the game isn't without some performance issues. There are moments of outright slowdown at times, not to mention fairly regular bouts of framerate drops in all of the levels. That it can happen during particularly heated firefights means it can actually hurt the game. At least the default over-the-shoulder perspective and jittery camera while sprinting keep things fairly cinematic most of the time.
The audio arrives a little less bumpy. There's hardly anything in the way of voice work -- just the odd positional quip from the enemies in a level when they spot you (though some of these are in foreign languages to match the level's geographical locale, which is a nice touch) -- but it's fine, really, as the weapons themselves sound fantastic. Even the lowly pistol has a clap that's meaty and weighty and actually sounds dangerous. From the booming rockets to the belch of bullets from the chain gun, the weapons all sound absolutely deadly.
Though it may not hit on quite the same level as Bizarre's racing efforts, The Club is at least an interesting take on the already overcrowded next-gen shooter market. The basic ideas are sound, if recycled a little too much, and the online play is smooth and largely quite enjoyable. Should Bizarre find enough reason to attempt a second game, this could well be one of the most enjoyable franchises to debut this generation. For now, though, it's a solid rental and maybe a good bargain bin buy, but little else.
