The Club

07.02.2008

What actually is 'The Club'? A military organisation? A special task force? A terror cell even?! Nothing of the sort. 'The Club' can be best described as 'entertainment for the illustrious'. Mafia bosses, finance gurus and other big shots indulge in a macabre game where you play the main role. With one of eight (initially six) characters, you slaughter your way through various levels in a total of eight scenarios. Your choice should focus more on the different attributes and less on the optical aspects. With Kuro from Asia, you scurry at breakneck speed through the levels, the brawny Dragov combines strength and endurance and Rennwick, a tough cop, embodies a bit of everything. There's something for everyone.

With 'The Club', the makers of 'Project Gotham Racing' bring us a shooter with a game principle not so different from that of the racing series. While in the asphalt-based mania you combine drifts, slides and daredevil manoeuvres to make combos, in 'The Club' you take care of a series of opponents as fast and stylishly as possible. By taking skull shots (small panels with skull symbols), you can keep your combos in opponent-free sections and increase your points. A display in the top right-hand corner of the screen keeps you on the move and shows how many consecutive opponents you have killed. If your bullets stop finding their targets, your combo will start to decrease. That's when you need to find new canon fodder without delay, otherwise the combo's gone.

With dive rolls, jumps over obstacles, 180° turns a la Resident Evil and a plethora of crunches, the gaggle of enemies meet their end. Always with the intention of pushing your combo to the limit, you hasten through the fantastically designed and functional levels. The sleek gameplay and solid control leave little room for frustrating moments. Despite the robust framework, you miss a little variety over time. Whether you're in Venice, a Russian bunker or on a cruiser off the African coast, the sequence is always the same. In a handful of level sections, the aim in tournament mode is to get to the other end as fast as you can (Sprint), save your own skin in a confined zone until the time is up (Siege) or complete several rounds through the area under time pressure (Time Attack). As well as these three modes, there's also 'Survivor' and 'Run the Gauntlet'. The first one is like 'Siege' with no confined area and the second like 'Sprint' under time pressure.

Besides tournament mode that kind of represents the campaign, there's also Single Event, Gunplay and, of course, Multiplayer. Single Event is a pure points and medal hunt — the higher the difficulty level, the more points you can land. You can then compare your points online with the high scores of other players. Gunplay allows you to be fairly creative and start one of the five modes described in the last section at any level to measure yourself against your friends. The multiplayer function has a number of different play modes, like the ones known from other shooters. It also has some new features such as Team Skull Shot, a kind of team-based target hunt. Hunter/Hunted is also fun. The player with the first shot becomes hunted by all others and wins more points the longer he survives.

Technically, this title is above average. The level design satisfies its purpose and the visuals are mediocre. The textures are pin-sharp in a few places, but by the same token nowhere are they terribly fuzzy. Although the potentially destructible environments, fluid animations, explosions and sound effects convey a positive overall picture, they set no new standards. The game, in many respects is functional. That is to say, it is geared towards the impulsive hunt for points, as is the case for the opponent. From the simple pistol carrier to the armoured shield bearers to the tattooed giants with the minigun, with the correct procedure, they are all mere pieces in your combo masterpiece. They take cover and change their position, first and foremost aiming to pump you full of lead from all sides.