The Club Review (PS3)

If you like a lot of kudos in your shooter, join The Club

When you think of the Developer Bizarre Creations, you instantly think Racing games?Quality-racing games that ooze style and have that little bit extra. I am of course talking about the Project Gotham Racing series, where you get Kudos for driving with style. Well The Club is their first attempt at a third person, action shooter designed for next gen consoles.

This is also the perfect ?after the pub? blaster

The story behind The Club is a little bit clichéd, but does help to drive the action, kind of. You chose one of 8 characters, each of which has a different story to tell ( a little bit like soul calibur and other such beat em ups). Each of the 8 killers are forced to fight for their lives in an underground blood sport. There are 8 different locations around the globe to compete in. There are different game modes as you would expect. These include the meat of the single player game- Tournament. This is where you have to get as many points as you can, and playing against other rivals to get to the end of the level. Survive with enough points and you unlock the next location. Other modes include siege, sprint, time attack and Run the Gauntlet.

Points are obtained by scoring classy kills and killing with style. You also get a Tony Hawks style combo meter that multiplies your score when you ?chain? kills together before the meter expires. Points can be had for things like headshots, shots from distances and for killing after performing a roll or crashing through a door. There are also skull signs dotted around which when shot also give you points.

Now if this all sounds like it would work so much better as a multiplayer game, then you would be right. Much like the Unreal Tournament games, the single player mode is simply there to let you practice for the multiplayer game. This is also the perfect ?after the pub? blaster, if you can’t be bothered loading up COD 4 or Halo 3!

The graphics are very much arcade style, as you can see by the screenshots, not quite Team Fortress 2, but certainly not photo- realistic. Everything is well animated and smooth, and there seems to be no lag while playing online. Sound wise the shotguns seem to lack a little oomph, but mostly the weapons feel suitably meaty. A fun enjoyable shooter, that lacks a little depth to elevate it to a ?must have game?. Close, but no cigar. Better luck next time Bizarre Creations.