Customer Reviews

The Club

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

When I first heard of The Club, I assumed it was a story in the same vein of The Most Dangerous Game or The Running Man. However, once the game booted up, I discovered this was not the case.

To start, you pick from six characters (or eight, you can unlock two characters through repeated gameplay). Each contestant with their own statistics for Speed, Stamina and Strength. There's the typical speedy but weak character, a strong but slow character, and a mismash of other statistics for the remaining contestants.

The Club does have some foul language and frequent bloodshed/violence, so it earns its "M" rating with flying colors.

There's a basic training level, which gets you accustomed to the 'over-the-shoulder' camera view, and explains the button layout quite well. Your ultimate goal is to score the highest amount of points possible.

The point scoring depends on a few factors - if you are far away from an enemy and you place a perfect head shot, you will get a high number of points. Conversely, if you are right up against an enemy and you shoot him in the leg, your point score will be minimal. With every kill, you start a bonus multiplier. This multiplier immediately starts to count down and if you don't kill another enemy or shoot a skull target multiplier, the bonus will bleed out and you'll have to start over again.

The mission stages fall into the following categories:

(1) Kill as many enemies as possible and make your way to the exit.
(2) Kill as many enemies as possible within the allotted time limit.
(3) Kill as many enemies as possible while running laps around the level.
(4) Kill as many enemies as possible without leaving the predetermined boundaries.
(5) Kill as many enemies as possible and reach the stage exit within the alloted time limit.

This basic formula makes up the 48 stages of the game. You can choose from 4 difficulty levels: Casual, Reckless, Insane or Real, each more difficult than the last.

Aside from the Tournament Mode, there is a Gunplay editor used to combine stages with weapons that are unlocked through the course of the game. There is also a multiplayer option that can be used to battle other Club members online, or to pit two players against each other via split screen battle mode.

Pros:

This game is a shooter, and it provides plenty of shooting. There is no shortage of bullets, blood, or bonus multipliers. Anyone who likes shooting games will be entertained.

There are plenty of secret areas in each stage. You'll have to look carefully to find all the Skull Shots, the Secret Skull Shots, and other hidden items.

There are all kinds of creative ways to put down your enemies - from the ricochet (better known as Rico-SLAY) technique, to the Crack Shot, to the Snap Shot, you can master them all when you join The Club.

I really, REALLY enjoyed the levels with boundaries. If you stray outside the safe zones, you have 5 seconds to "GET BACK!" before your character gets killed instantly. Not only do you have to avoid enemy fire, you have to watch those chalk lines too! What a great way to spice up a shooter game.

The online mode offers fierce competition, with everyone striving for the highest score on any chosen level. If you feel bored by your local competition, hop on the internet and see how tough The Club can be.

Cons:

There really isn't any story to speak of, all the characters are simply different choices to go into battle with.

The Club is fun to play at first, but it gets old quick with the constant repetition of aim, shoot, run, rinse, and repeat. The level layouts are fairly short, and quite similar to each other. The graphics are reminiscent of Resident Evil 4 - so it doesn't feel like a Playstation 3 game.

The offline replay value is virtually non-existent. A player can run one character through the whole tournament in about 4 hours, but after that, there really isn't any desire to finish with other characters.

What's the biggest drawback? Well, it's clear The Club was primarily designed to be played online. Without an online presence, it quickly becomes boring, even a two-player option can't keep the game interesting for long. This is a fun rental, but I wouldn't pay full price to own it.

The development company behind The Club, Bizarre Creations, is better known for their work on the Project Gotham Racing series, and other racing games.

Since this is their first venture into the world of shooters, I'm hoping Bizarre Creations can learn from their mistakes and work on making shooter games that are fun for both online and offline gamers.

This game is a pointless shooter, but don't get me wrong it has good online play. It reminds of sega's outrigger for the dreamcast. The online gameplay does rock and sega knows how to create fun games. The type of people who will dislike this game are the one's who prefer a story line with their game. But this is a run n gun!

The Good:
- Solid graphics with realistic movements and good scenery, but nothing revolutionary here.

- Controls takes some getting used to, but once learned they are pretty easy.

- Game concept is fresh and original... this isn't your typical shooter. The basic concept is kill as many people as fast as possible to earn the most points. There are different game types, but this goal is the same in each.

- Nice locations, with descent level design. You'll play in a wide range of locales, from Venice to underground compounds in Russia to an abandoned cruise ship. There are 8 locations in all.

- Characters/Weapons: you get to pick from 8 unique characters with varying degrees of speed, strength and stamina. The weapon selections includes shotguns, machine guns, rocket launchers, pistols and a sniper rifle. Overall a good degree of choice in this department, but the game's frenetic pace limits how often you'll use this range of weapons.

- Tight menu structure/graphics

The Bad:
- This game gets old pretty fast. You'll go back a few times to improve your scores, but it just doesn't have much replay value. Part of this stems from the fact there are no rewards for your score or winning (besides the bullet for winning a tournament... awesome). Let's say you could improve your character's attributes by performing better... that would add some replay value. Or if they had a create a character where you could select attributes, pick your weapons, etc. But they chose a very structured arcade style gameplay, and that hurts replay value in my opinion.

- Sound is mediocre at best. The gunshots sound unrealistic... very arcade-like.

- Storyline seems like an afterthought or just filler.

- Online mode is BORING. I couldn't get into it.

- It takes forever to turn. You can speed this up in the settings, but it doesn't get fast enough. This is frustrating when you need to turn to kill someone.

- Some levels are too dark, making it hard to spot enemies.

The Verdict:
Overall, this is a fresh concept, but the structure of the game limits replay value and ultimately makes the $60 asking price seem unreasonable. I had high hopes for this game and I'm a little disappointed. I would rent it first, or pick it up used.

There's not much to say that hasn't been covered in previous reviews. Single-player action is just awful: don't waste your time on it. Online, however, it pretty entertaining. While not introducing anything novel or innovative, the game does just fine in being a solid multiplayer game with few major flaws. It has your classic multiplayer modes: kill, team kill, capture the flag, king of the hill, etc. Had I spent $60 on this game, I would have been very disappointed, but at a measly $10 AND eligible for free shipping, it's a great buy - even if it only entertains you for a few evenings.

This game is a good game. I like the game but when it come to the time on the on the clock you have to be fast to one to 10 i give it a 5.

This game is all about 1 thing and 1 thing only... Accessibility!!!

The club has no story. If it does I don't know what it is. The Club is all about running around, shooting people, racking up points, getting modifiers and moving on. This game, published by Sega, is an Arcade lovers dream come true. If you lived in the 80's and 90's and got a chance to play at an actual Arcade, this is the kind of game you'd have loved to sink quarters into. It's just easy to pick up. Easy to understand. Light on forced story and heavy on fun. It looks good, even by today's standards and offers up just enough to keep you coming back to it. While the game was overlooked by a great many due to other big name games at the time of release, you shouldn't pass it up and keep putting off playing it. It's one of those games you can sink 15 to 20 min into and put down without thinking you've missed out on your whole life. It isn't Red Dead Redemption or Uncharted 2. It has no epic scale to it and it isn't trying to.

But if you look at what it wants to do. What it accomplished and how easy it is to get into, this game is a success. It's an arcade game and probably would've thrived had it been a download only title on the PSN/XBL networks. It won't eat up your life and needlessly keep you there for hours on end doing the same thing over and over and over, but because of that I like it that much more. I don't game a lot and when I do it is in tiny spurts or because I'm in need of creative outlet. This game has fit the bill. Buy it, it's like 5 bucks, and you won't regret it. Easily one of the better, said to be "bad" games that you'll play.

This game is a good buy, especially for the cheap price.
The single player mode is decent, but not the main reason to buy this game. It's time and challenged base where you either kill as many people as possible, do killing laps, survive for a certain amount of time, or other related challenges. It's fun for a while, but it gets old and repetitive. The baddies are somewhat easy to kill and you can sometimes survive just by avoiding most people. Plus, you're "competing" but never actually see your competitors (the game's other playable and unlockable characters). I will concede that I haven't tried the harder settings or progressed horribly far in the game so I can't say the above wouldn't be different if I did, but I alo haven't been compelled to do so, which should say something.

In contrast, the multi-player on this game is AWESOME. It feels realistic, has interesting (if not learnable, but all are eventually levels, and really gets your adrenaline going. I'll admit that it's a little odd to be able to pistol whip someone with a rocket launcher but not be able to tuck and roll with it, but it's fun. I've never done online play, but I imagine it is great. What I have played is the two player, man to man, deathmatch mode. This is the single reason I bought the game (and desired a PS3, along with blu-ray and the price drop factors). Play late at night with a friend with the lights out - best deathmatch ever.

In the end, don't buy this game for the single player mode, but do buy it for the death match and low price. You won't get a better deathmatch for a better price.

Well the game was alright. I am not into 3rd person shooters anymore. MY nephews loved the game so much. I am guessing it was good for some other people but not me.

When I first tried the demo with my friends I thought the game was awesome. I immediately ordered the game and when I got it I tried it right away. I was pretty peeved that I blew 60 bucks on this game...

It is fun but that doesn't last long. The whole game is just the same thing over and over again. There is virtually no real story and the 'characters' are pretty much just avatars you wear while you run around slaughtering people. They have no actual personalities or any kind of development.

But...If you are just the average brute and don't care for such things as plots, then this might be good for ya. It is basically an arcade game. You have to reach the end of the level as quick as possible while racking up the highest score possible(Shooting Baddies in the Face).

The multi-player is ok. It was fun for a time but then the lag just started to get to me. whatever, an ok game...worth 20 bucks, NOT anymore.

Like I Said This Game Is All About THe Killing which is why i bought it, i mean anytime my friends came over its like the only demo we played and i mean the only one so i just had to order it. Besides the pointles killing and all its like really a fun game to play multiplayer wise ofline with friends, i mean it brings alot of fun to the gaming experience besides always having to go online and play multiplayer, and it also does have the online multiplayer ability which is even more cool... ok well if you dont like alot of violence in games then dont buy it cuz its like encore killing which is what makes it a gr8 multiplayer game but in single player well its ok and the story line isnt all that necessary to make it better, i mean its ok as is its just that you get a lil bit tired of all the killing thats why I consider it to be more of a game to play with friends and not just on tournament.... well thats that so if you like playing with friends at home and not only online then this game is ideal, and you can also play them online so it also is ideal so get it, i mean c'mon who deosnt like a little shooter game now and then when frustrated lol...