Marmite, it’s funny stuff. As the ol’ cliché/tagline goes - you either love it, or hate it. It’s quite true, too. I happen to love marmite. The Club is a bit like marmite, not in taste, silly, but you’re either gonna love it or hate it.
In a case of curiosity killed the cat, I downloaded the demo for The Club, I’m not entirely sure why, I’d never seen any screens or read any previews or in fact, knew anything about it. I was talking online and I heard someone say they didn’t like it - “It’s just run and gun….” BANG! I was soooo there. Run and gun? Nothing could be simpler or indeed more fun.
Firstly, a small mention of what The Club actually is. The Club is basically a group of rich folk, gambling on what can loosely be described as human hunting. Now, I was somewhat under the impression that each of the 8 main characters where the rich folk, paying to kill. Although, said main characters (or 7 of them at least) could be being forced to take part in this game of survival. I’m really not sure, because it’s never really explained. I can only deduce, that the developers are happy for you to draw your own conclusions. Obviously, if either of those suggestions had been played up, you’d be hearing “Snuff!” chants from gaming’s favourite MP…..
The object of the game is fairly simple; kill - score points - repeat. Now, I may not be selling this to many, but that’s basically all there is to The Club, in terms of gameplay. The idea is very simple and it works very well indeed. The game consists of 8 locations, each location offers you 6 or 7 levels/missions. You’re battling it out with computer controlled opponents in a league. Each location will have you ‘Run the gauntlet’ - reach the exit before the timer runs out, Sprint - which loses the timer, so will allow you to take as long as you like, Siege - which has you defending a certain area until the timer runs out, Survivor - which is very much like siege, but gives you a little more scope of where and how far you can go, and finally; Time Attack - which is like a racing game - on foot. Time Attack is very simple, but a genius idea.
To really get the most out of the game, you’re going to need to be a high score monger. Simply playing through once and expecting value for money is not what The Club is about or how it is intended to be played. Getting high scores is where the fun lies - how do you get high scores? Combos. The combo system is fantastic, each kill you make adds to your combo, but you have a limited time to kill again or the combo will begin to bleed out. Now, if you have a x10 for instance, you are given a little bit of time to kill someone whilst the combo does bleed out, if you can catch it by x2, your combo will go on. Things get tough when you get to x27, the combo meter bleeds out super fast and may lead to panic. Helping you slightly are Skullshots. Skullshots are badges scattered about the level which will also add to your multiplier when shot. Each level contains either 5 or 10 skull shots, but getting them all requires a completely different approach - especially in the timed modes, which allow very little for exploration. There are also secret skulls to collect - these however don’t add to you multiplier, instead these reward you with, pretty much worthless, unlockables. For maximum scores, you’re gong to need to get some ‘awards’. These are stylised kills including heads shots, crack shots, multi-kills and the ever faithful death roll. Some are pretty easy to pull off, others happen by sheer luck. The awards certainly add to the skill factor.
As well as the ‘’Tournament’ mode, you can also play through each individual challenge at your discretion. Again, high score junkies will get the most out of this - a place on the online leaderboards awaits…..Also included is ‘Gunplay’ mode, which will allow you to somewhat set up your own tournaments. Picking your own level, mode and weapons - design and build if you will. Speaking of weapons, 17 is the magic number here. All of the weapons have their uses, but will ultimately affect how good you score. The double barrel shotgun for instance, is no good for head shots and is pretty much useless for achieving high scores with. The assault rifles give you much more scope, but as ever, the faithful pistol is the choice of kings.
The Club offers you 8 person online multiplayer with 8 different modes to choose from. From your basic, kill games and score games, to the more inventive skullshot mode where the objective is, not to kill, but to shoot your opponents colour coded skull shots located within the level. This review has been fairly upbeat - so here’s the snag……The multiplayer isn’t the greatest. I assume it was added on after the single player and for serious games, it really doesn’t work that well. With a bunch of mates having a laugh, it’s fine, but due to the aiming system, it’s not really designed to be a ‘death match’ game. In single player, enemies are on a set route - in fact remembering the route they take is one of the key factors in achieving a high score - learning the levels, if you will. You can’t of course program real players, the aiming system just doesn’t cut it when you have another character moving erratically in front of you and 9 times out of 10, heads shots and the like are down to luck. Snipering is pretty near impossible due to the erratic nature as well as the ridiculous red laser line that gives you away. If you see a red sight on you - you’re naturally going to find the nearest cover - and the red sight is easy to spot.
As I’ve said, you’re either going to love The Club or hate it. The multiplayer is a letdown, but for me personally, it was always an added extra anyway. Visually very good, with a great arcade feel to it and a good learning curve - if you avoid the insultingly easy ‘Casual’ mode. Good stuff.
