The Club: 3rd person Geo Wars on steroids
Next Gen recently took a long look at Bizarre Creations'The Club. Touched on briefly before, The Club is a 3rd person action shooter being published by SEGA. We imagine many fanboys are already thinking that the Xbox 360 has enough 3rd person shooters as is, but The Club looks to offer something different. Yeah, we've heard that before, but Bizarre looks like they're set to deliver.
The Club is not about deep tactics and careful strategy, quite the opposite in fact. The Club rewards players for killing opponents as quickly and efficiently as possible. Players are awarded with score multipliers as kills are made. If you want to keep and increase your multipliers, you'll have to make successive kills quickly, as your multiplier meter drains constantly. Also different from typical 3PS games, levels are short, averaging 3-5 minutes a piece. Taking a cue from their racing games, Bizarre has created several large environments, from which smaller course are taken. Levels are organized into different routes through larger areas, akin to racetracks in Project Gotham Racing for example. As such, you'll be able to memorize important areas. Also similar to racing titles, you may find yourself restarting a level if you make a mistake early in the game.
Memorization and timing play heavily in The Club. Similar to their Xbox Live Arcade offerings, and Geometry Wars and Boom Boom Rocket, The Club asks players to find the most efficient route through a given level. Enemies will be in the same place each time (though their AI may react differently), so the ideal is to uncover the "perfect" run through a level. In fact, lead designer Matt Cavanagh has even referred to the games' enemies as "corners," again drawing upon Bizarre's racing heritage. It's Bizarre's hope that The Club will appeal to speed run fanatics and arcade enthusiasts. A multiplayer mode, including modes based on the scoring system and more traditional deathmatch, is also in the works, with up to seven modes expected in the retail release.
Bizarre is attempting to turn the 3rd person shooter on its ear with The Club. We'll see if it pays off when The Club releases (possibly by the end of the year). Hit the "read" link for the full preview.
[Via Evil Avatar]
