The Club First Impressions
Groucho Marx once said, "I refuse to belong to any club that will accept me as a member." Clearly, he hadn't seen Bizarre Creations' upcoming action game for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. While The Club is still in pre-alpha state and a little rough around the edges, it looks like the moustached funny man would definitely want to sign up for this is organisation.
Thanks to the success of Bizarre's Project Gotham series, the number of internal teams at the UK developer has now swelled to three. Obviously, one of those is working on its fourth racing game for Microsoft, while the second is devoted to creating technology that will work across all games. The third is the 55-strong team behind The Club, which has been toiling away for more than 18 months now. Many of them originally worked on Fur Fighters, while some moved to break up the routine of developing the Gotham franchise. Given that development time, it's no wonder that The Club started life as an Xbox title. Before that, it was a concept that had been gestating in the studio's creative minds for many years.
If little imagination went into the naming of The Club itself, then at least it can claim to be the most exclusive in the world. Made up of world leaders, Internet billionaires, and Hollywood superstars, The Club was set up so that the ultrarich could indulge in a common interest in blood sports. The organisation recruits competitors and throws them into arenas to compete to the death, while the members watch on ultrasecure Internet connections and bet millions on the outcome.
On paper, the theme in The Club is almost as dark as in RockStar's Manhunt. While it's not quite as graphic as that particular masterpiece, it's still a violent and very mature game. Characters swear at each other before being dispatched by a variety of ballistic, explosive, and melee attacks. And while the idea of to-the-death voyeurism has been explored in such films as The Running Man before, it's quite an original setup in the video game world.
While Bizarre has worked hard to make the backstory as original as possible, it has clearly transferred its strengths from the racing genre into an action game. Yes, the developer of the Project Gotham series says it has successfully captured that feel you get when taking a perfect corner and made sure you'll feel the same when you play The Club. The gameplay essentially revolves around killing people as quickly as possible to maximise your combos. After taking someone out, your score multiplier will gradually deplete until you move onto the next person. So the aim is to map out how you're going to dispatch a set of enemies before you go into a room. By playing the levels over and over you'll be able to maximise your score, much like you can grow your kudos in Project Gotham Racing
While we didn't see any Max Payne-style slow-motion diving, your score can increase by performing a barrel roll into a room. In addition, extra points are awarded for making headshots, killing someone with the last bullet in your clip, or shooting an explosive barrel. Bizarre gives the example of Tony Hawk's points system, where the difference between good players and top-level players can be massive. It's only through replaying the same level over and over again that you'll figure out new ways of amassing the high scores. Each level requires a minimum score to progress, while the best players will have their results automatically uploaded for others to see online.
As you'd expect, the characters that want to indulge in this "sport" are a mix of killers, lunatics, and those who are simply forced into it. The eight competitors that make up the roster are a mixed bunch, and the plan is for all of them to have individual strengths and weaknesses so that you'll want to play through the game several times. Bizarre hopes that the end result will be like a fighting game, where people favour certain characters not only for their appearance, but also for their style and moves. There was no evidence of how that might work in the demo that we saw, but there were some subtle differences to the way that different characters carried themselves in-game. The undercover cop character authoritatively kicks down doors, while the crazy Eastern European uses his bald head to smash any obstacles in his way.
Because this is a highly illegal blood sport, The Club is hosted in some underground locations. However, with access to unlimited funds, the organisers can buy anywhere they want and cut off the surrounding area to prevent any interference. With locations set all over the world, the participants of The Club's games will travel to underground bunkers, war-torn cities, English manor houses, and even ocean liners to take part. Bizarre has decided to build levels in the same way that it built race tracks in Project Gotham, initially creating a huge environment and then designing multiple routes that are tailored for different gameplay modes. When you add to that a variable day and night system, as well as various weather conditions, there should be plenty of variation in the levels. Fans of Gears of War will be pleased to hear that John Wallin has collaborated at the concept stage, and some of that distinctive "destroyed beauty" certainly seems to have made it through to Bizzare's game.
While the demo we saw isn't final in terms of artificial intelligence, frame rate, or rag-doll effects, it's already looking polished in a number of areas. The characters make subtle expressions and chew gum as you're deciding between them. You're also presented with a backstory about each of them as the game loads. The campaign mode will be The Club's main focus, but it's clear that Bizarre is still working out its finer details. When quizzed if the main game can be completed in a matter of hours, the representatives seemed unsure, but the experience will change depending on which character you choose.
On the multiplayer side, levels promise to be much larger to allow for frenzied battles. Up to 16 players will be supported, and you can choose to play around with nine different modes. Excitingly, the prospect of GoldenEye-style local multiplayer is something that the designers wanted to bring to the next-generation consoles, so four-player split-screen has also been included. Bizarre was cagey when we wanted to know more about this area of the game, and we certainly didn't get to see it in action, but we were told that all multiplayer features would remain constant between the different platforms.
The Club is a novel and highly promising title. It takes the action genre and fuses it with fighting game-style character selection. The Project Gotham influences are clear, from the points system to scoring that perfect run, and we're happy to report that it genuinely seems to work. While we have yet to see how well Bizarre will differentiate characters and whether the combo game mechanic will sustain interest over a prolonged period of time, what we saw is sure to get action fans salivating. The Club is set for release in winter 2007 for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.
