The Club

[twmac]

I've been quietly getting excited about this one for a while. The way it was being described in the previews sounded too good to be true (it seemed to be based on an idea of a game that I'd always wanted to be made) so I didn't want o say anything until I'd had a chance to play it.

The demo came out a couple of days ago and gives you the chance to play in one map, two different challenges, and three difficulty settings. The premise is a weird mis of Outtrigger, Project Gotham Racing, Time Crisis and Tony Hawks.

It is a shooting game where by you are required to run through a fairly linear pathway killing people, the trick is a little like 'New York Minute' difficulty on Max Payne or the recent stunt man game, whereby you have to keep the kill score going to keep your multiplier or timer running so that you can beat the high score. There are ways of taking people out more stylishly for added points and there are a series of extras like signs to destroy to for more points and bonuses.

Me and a couple of guys played this for about an hour and half last night and it rewards action fans and strangely rythm addictions as the only way to get bigger and better scores is by memorising every spawn point and position to increase the combo meter.

I'm now fully excited about this game, despite the fact that I know that as soon as I go on LIVE there are going to be about a 10000 people who will own my score instantly.

Anyone else gets the chance they should check it out.

[TracerTong]

I've had the pleasure of the finished game and the thing about it is, when you're playing with other blokes it's fiercely competitive and exhilarating, but sat on your own in your bedroom it's not nearly as satisfying. Like playing darts with yourself, or reciting poetry to the cat.

The actual mechanics of the shooting are fine, if a little sluggish, and the level design's incredibly sharp, but to me it's a better concept than it is an actual full-price game that they want you to buy in a shop.

But, then again, if you're a score-chasing maniac and regularly replay R-Type games just to see if you can add another five nano-points to your overall score, you'll probably love it.

[Wrestlevania]

I played the demo and was very impressed with the overall polish and character design; SEGA's influence at it's best, I'm certain of it.

Thing is, The Club just seems like a score attack version of Gears of War. Which isn't really my bag to be honest -- multiplayer or not. I'm sure it's great for classic high score competitions (something sorely lacking in gaming nowadays), but it's not the sort of game I'd want to play in order to do this.

So I guess, after being initially excited about the game, actually playing it has made me realise it's not really what I'm looking for.

[twmac]

Tracer, that is exactly what I'm looking for. I recently played Amped 3 and got addicted to the way they instantly upload your score to Xbox LIVE and the challenge it sets you of wanting to crawl just a little further up the ranks. The Club seems to offer that too, every jump, roll, turn has to be calculated for the best possible score. I'm sucker for stuff like that.

Wrestle, I understand what you mean by it seeming less than serious. It is definitely going for the arcade style of play. In the same way that I think that SEGA rally revo is a great arcade game, in contrast to DiRT which is very serious. Both have their place. Happens to be that The Club is what I'm looking for. It works even better (were you suggesting this Tracer? I tried the multiplayer splitscreen and thought it was a bit rubbish) when you have 3 or 4 friends around at the same time, all trying to beat the score on Insane (can't wait to play the difficulty setting named 'Real' even if that is a shit name for it) and trying to figure out where all the hidden skulls are.

[JoeX111]

twmac, you may also enjoy GripShift on 360 or PS3, which sounds a lot like what you are describing as well.

[twmac]

Downloadable XLA title?

I'll check it out.

[Wrestlevania]

Downloadable XLA title?

No, it's a retail title by Bizarre Creations (Project Gotham series) and SEGA.

I'll check it out.

The demo's pretty well featured, although I think they missed a trick only including one character and one level.

Certainly the level limit's not such a biggy. But, having shown off those splendid-looking characters, only then giving you one to play with seems daft to me.

[twmac]

Thanks, I was referring to Gripshift... Or are you deliberately trying to confuse me?

[Wrestlevania]

No, that's me clicking the email notification and coming in here immediately on your post, assuming you were talking about The Club.

[n0wak]

I played the demo last night and I liked it. Some old school arcade action there. I can see myself enjoying the game (and I can see people doing some insane combos and shit on the leaderboards), but then I realized that it's a $59.99 release. If it was twenty bucks cheaper it'd be great, but as it stands it's hard to justify for something that feels like a bigger, more polished version of an XBLA title.

The voice overs were hilariously bad though

[twmac]

That's a fair criticism I suppose although that might be exagerating the low-end quality of the game.

I'm happy to fork out that amount as I know I'll get a ton out of it.

[twmac]

Euorgamer review:

http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=92024&page=2

Pretty much what I expected, they give it a score based on the fact that it isn't exemplary of it's genre but those who liek it will really like it.

Cannot wait.

[Wrestlevania]

I'm glad it scored well, because I think it's one of those games that I might not necessarily like personally, but I can still see it's a polished, well thought out product.

Good for Bizarre Creations (and SEGA) I say.

[twmac]

I have purchased my copy and now I need to find someone with a 360 to play it on as mine is currently not in my possesion.

Added:

Okay I did a really long edit and lost it all because I spent too long writing it, in short The Club is great the pros and cons are as follows:

Pros:

-Alot more varied challenges in the full game

-The levels are well laid out (I can already see ways to get a comboe running for the whole level on some of them)

- Enemies varied in appearance

- Weapons all feel different (so far)

- Achievements are intersting and challenging

-Plenty to muck about with

- Feels like you are playing the Running Man

Cons:

-Multiplayer is passable

-Choice of character seems to merely be about aesthetics (that could be a pro as the multiplayer will be a little more varied)

-So far all the levels have the same bland browns and greys

-If you don't have a gold account you cannot check the leaderboards

The last negative really pissed me off.

[twmac]

Okay I'm going to bump this one.

The Club has gone down in price, please, please is anyone interested?

The game has been my staple diet for the last couple of weeks, as soon as I get back to England I'm upgrading my account to a Gold so I can get my scores up there (and get the achievements for the scoreboard).

This game gets better the more you play it. The levels are tight and the achievements are perfectly pitched as a way of learning how to keep your multiplier rolling.

I would have thought this would have been up a few you rythm/arcade gamers out there and I would absolutely love to compare scores (but not in a gay way) come June.

[miffy495]

It's all about money for me right now. The club interested me, but I can't afford a to risk money on a game that is only "interesting" until I have some steady income. I still intend to pick it up when I have said income, but in the meantime my gaming is all games I already own.

[JoeX111]

For any US Thumbs, the PS3 version is currently on clearance at many Target stores for about $40, and will probably keep dropping every week.

I plan to pick it up when it hits the $20 range.

[Wrestlevania]

I've just picked up a copy of The Club for cheap on Xbox 360 in the post-Christmas sales. Definitely worth a punt for less than a tenner.

[n0wak]

I've just picked up a copy of The Club for cheap on Xbox 360 in the post-Christmas sales. Definitely worth a punt for less than a tenner.

haha. So did I. Haven't cracked it open, but it's sitting right here.

[twmac]

hurrah, people are finally playing it!

Just re-read some of my posts... I could really use some proof reading as my spelling is terrible.

[Wrestlevania]

haha. So did I. Haven't cracked it open, but it's sitting right here.

Excellent! Maybe we could go Club-ing after our Grand Thumb Auto sessions?

[Wrestlevania]

*bump*

Having sat patiently on my gaming shelves, all-but-neglected, for months now, I finally gave The Club a proper play-through yesterday and... I'm actually quite impressed.

When I first played it just after Christmas, I was pretty indifferent towards it. The game felt sluggish, the movement seemed imprecise, and aiming your gun was wildly inaccurate. But, after last night, it's clicked.

You need to decouple your brain from the whole Gears of War mentality for The Club to work. If anything, it's more like Track & Field than it is Halo; it's a raw, speed-based arcade game, not the roaming shooter it appears to be.

I still find the presentation a bit clunky - and the load times seem laborious and overly long - but I had a lot of fun running through the first single-player tournament a few times last night.

Critically, for an arcade-like game, it's all about score--and this it gets pretty much bang-on. I can see it being quite addictive to go back and improve your ranking in a single-player tournament, though I've not taken it online yet.

Anyone interested in playing over Xbox LIVE at some point..?

[gdf]

I got this in Zavvi (on PS3) in their closing down sale for £6. It's OK. So OK in fact, I'd consider it almost completely average. I published a review for this the other day, COINCIDENCE?!

But yeah, it's a bit cack to control and has no sense of spectacle, so it fell quite flat with me.

[twmac]

Wrestle, I'll check the XLA thread and add you if you want to, at least, check high scores against some one else who played it.

I was compulsive-obsessive about it while I was in Melbourne last year and chalked up about 15 hours on it.

Last time I checked I was ranked in the top 50 for quite a few maps (that might have been because there was only about 50 people who played it )

Gdf, I would be interested in reading your review, partly because The Club was one of my most loved games last year and I'd like to be able to counter point what you felt about it.

I got the same feel as Wrestlevania when it clicked for him.

The flow is perfect, in the way that a rhythm game holds the same kind of appeal to people. The music is actually really important too.

[gdf]

I played it to the end and I suppose I never had that "moment" like you guys. It's happened before in other games, and although I enjoyed The Club I never came close to that feeling. Beware of my review style, a lot of people dislike it. With trepidation, here it is.