The Club

The recipe is simple: take eight steel-nerved killers, thousands of low-level thugs, eight dirty and dangerous locales, sprinkle liberally with weaponry, throw in a blender and put on puree. The result is a blood sport-styled shooter where an eliteist organization called "The Club" makes (and in some cases forces) some very deadly men partake in a tournament-style run-and-gun game. Players are scored by how quickly they complete the games and by where the kill shot is made.

Any game that has an action movie plot behind it is automatically going to peak my interest. Sega breaks form by making a racing game that is cleverly designed like a third-person shooter. In the game, players (the computer filling in pre-made scores for the other seven characters) must play a series of events involving timed scores and points accrued via killing in fast, effective and flashy ways. Each level is a tournament unto itself containing five to seven or so events. After each event how well you did is ranked and you are given a set of points that reflects your position in the last challenge. After all the challenges are completed the score is then tallied and you find out how well you did. Finishing in the top three earns you a gold, silver or bronze bullet.

 
"Punch me in the face will ya!"

There are an initial six characters to choose from and each has a small cut scene that gives you an idea of why they are taking part in this insanity. Finishing the game and completing all of the tournaments will unlock the first hidden character; likewise, playing through as many of the other characters as you can will unlock the last. Each character has certain subtle attributes that give them a possible edge. Some of the smaller characters are quicker when they run and will reload the weapons faster, but have less accuracy and movement with the heavier weapons. Likewise, the big tough characters can handle those big guns more effectively and can take more damage, but reload and run much slower. Since there are eight characters there is a slight variance in how they work. If I had to guess, I would say Kuro is the fastest of all the characters, while Dragov is clearly the toughest and can take the most damage. There is no way to upgrade these characters as you play through the game. If anything, you will learn to work out the best strategy with the character you most enjoy "working" with.  

There are many, many guns in the Club and even more become available when you play multiplayer. The guns range from several handguns to machine guns, heavy weaponry, grenades, rocket launchers, uzis and even shotguns. There are several versions of some of these weapons and it doesn't take long to figure out who works well with what weapon. As you run around mowing everyone down, there are additional points scored should you kill with a head shot, with the last bullet in the clip, ricocheting the bullets into an enemy, spinning around quickly and killing someone and killing thugs in one fell swoop and penetrating armor or a barricade. Killing bad guys is essential in scoring points as each time you do, you are put on a counter, if you kill another baddie before the counter runs down, then your score grows exponentially. You can keep doing this as long as there are bad guys around (not normally a problem if you keep moving) or a sign hanging on the wall called a skull shot. So if you are fast enough then you can score thousands of points per kill and if you figure that there will be some levels where you kill 60 or 70 plus bad guys, then your score can get really big. This is the difference between finishing in the top three and finishing at the bottom of the list.

 
"Because falling off this 40 foot catwalk won't be enough, I'll shoot you too!"

There are five different types of challenges in the game but all revolve around a similar theme, all involve killing but with a slightly different bend. The first involves sprinting to the finish line and trying to score as many points as possible. The second has you confined to a specific area and fending off wave after wave of bad guys. The third requires you to run around an area several laps, and scoring as many points as possible. Another has you needing to find the exit before the timer runs out and the last is called siege but pretty much plays the same as the level that you defended yourself in. So while the game makes you think there are different modes, They all involve killing and killing quickly. In an "Escape from New York" twist, all contestants are outfitted with tiny nano-sized bombs that will explode if time runs out or a character goes somewhere they shouldn't.

It is a pretty decent looking game, and if it weren't for the timer, you could look around at the well-done level design. Fighting in abandoned prisons, factories, derelict ships, war zones and other not-so-pleasant places looks really cool and it is a shame you can't stop and appreciate the dirty and dingy appearance. Some of the levels seem to be a bit better designed than others but they all pass muster and I will give credit where credit is due when it comes to innovative level design. The thugs are all pretty much recycled bad guys and the Club probably own a clone-making machine since you will kill the same character 30 times over before you are through. Fortunately the character models are varied so you see enough different thugs to make things seem "uncloned." The characters themselves all look pretty good and some of theor back stories are actually entertaining. One character called Finn is a unlucky gambler who is in the tournament to pay off a debt. He runs around with a bloodied and bruised face, but the man knows how to use an uzi.

 
"On my count, take three steps and then turn and fire."

The voice work is highlighted by the affluent Secretary, a character who seems to pull the strings of the contestants and makes no bones about his power. He has an arrogant and almost superior tone to his voice and it makes you wish he was running around the tournaments so you could put a couple of slugs in his head. Unfortunately, Sega may have a hit here and he is never killed so expect him to be in the sequel. And just so you understand, the Club dances around the idea that many rich and powerful people are betting on the outcome of how these tournaments will turn out, but never truly fleshes out this idea. It would be cool to see odds-on bets and the money being made and lost throughout the events, but it never happens.

On the console, the multiplayer portion is a decent enough experience, but on the PC, it is hard to find competition and I was hoping that PC players and 360 players would be able to duke it out - it never happens. Only PC players can play against PC players. This is a bummer since I know for a fact that many more people are playing this on the 360 than anything else. But after some thought, it probably is best this way since it is easier to play the game with a controller than a mouse and keyboard, I know that doesn't make a lot of sense but because I originally played the game on the 360 I got used to it and playing with the mouse-keyboard configuration feels forced and therefore uncomfortable to me. You may not feel this way if this is your first go at it, but after playing on the console, I just don't feel right. There are several variations on familiar themes when setting up or playing multiplayer matches, deathmatch, team deathmatch, foxhunt, capture the flag, hunter/hunted and a couple other modes that get the job done but don't raise the bar, or in some cases even match the bar.

Gameplay: 7.0
Control is fine and the multi-kill points scheme is a pretty effective way to garner large point totals and all the hidden things to find and shoot gives the game an arcade feel that few games can match.

Graphics: 7.4
It looks decent enough and I can't say enough about level design and presentation, but you cannot stop long enough to appreciate all the garbage and destruction that is all about.

Sound: 7.8
I like the pompous sound of the Secretary and the music is above par. Gun fire and explosions get the job done.

Difficulty: Medium
With a little tenacity you can make it through the tournaments and unlock those two characters. Getting "medal" bullets will take some time but not too much thankfully.

Concept: 6.5
I said this in my review of the 360 version but the game feels like so many "B" movie plots with one guy going up against an army of baddies and an evil corporation.

Multiplayer: 6.7
Not too many people playing this one. Some decent modes and interesting locations but nothing to write home about; the people have spoken and they are saying don't bother.

Overall: 6.7
I think more production needs to go into the sequel. They have created a decent foundation, but need to sharpen things up by making it a bit deeper and having those stories fleshed out some more.