The premise behind the club is simple. An organization employs or blackmails 8 individuals with superior firearms and athletic ability to perform in an extreme murder sports league. The heroes are tasked with various goals in a series of filmed gunfight events for the entertainment of the ultra rich.
That's it, no real plot, just the tournament. It's really rather akin to a racing game, in that you have events and you are looking for the best score.
There are several introductions to the characters and the owner of the club. Also once the game is completed on tournament mode with each character you get another cut scene for each one showing more of their brief story.
The game is viewed from a third person perspective, there is no cover system. Though you can duck behind objects by pressing the left stick. You can zoom in for more precise aiming. Your character can vault over low objects and break through some barriers. Pressing Y turns your character 180 degrees which can be quite handy when fire comes from behind.
You can melee attack and throw grenades. The game is very much run and gun, with several of the events against the clock there is little time to stand still.
There are several ways of playing, however the intended first choice is tournament where you play through the game in a set way.
There are 8 locations, a steelworks, Venice, a prison, an ocean liner, a warehouse, a manor house, a bunker and a war-zone. In each of these locations there is a selection of eight events. There are 5 types of event siege, sprint, survivor, time attack and run the gauntlet.
Siege
This game-type sees you hemmed into a small area by markers, if you stray outside the markers for more than five seconds you explode thanks to explosives implanted in you. You basically have to shoot as many of the hordes of attackers as you can and survive for the length of time specified.
Sprint
You have to go from point A to point B as quickly and as efficiently as you can, you are given marks on time taken, amount of bullets used, head-shots etc.
Survivor
Much like Siege only with a larger area.
Time Attack
This game-type has an area marked off like a track and you have to complete a set number of laps without dying or running out of time. Time can be gained by shooting enemies or little signs placed around the level.
Run the Gauntlet
Very like sprint except this one is against the clock as well.
So, basically, instead of the usual eight levels strung together and the player working their way through them. You have 5 event types in each area. Some events reuse parts of the location, others don't, think of the locations like small sandbox levels with each event fencing off or laying down chalk marks to denote the area for each event.
Personally I found the sprint levels to be the best for my playing style. I tend to spray and pray a little and the basic getting from one end of the level to the other felt right. The survivor and siege sections were averagely tolerable.
The time attack and run the gauntlet spoiled the game for me. Running out of time was a real pain. Yes there is a lot of skill involved and perversely taking your time on the time attack and shooting each and every enemy and time sign works best. It's just that on the hard difficulty the time limits are very very tight.
The actual difficulty of the game isn't that hard. I know I could have breezed it, however I was forced to go to the normal and ultimately the easy setting for the last location time attack.
The problem is compounded by the fact that you get five goes at each event before being sent back to the start of the tournament. For example you have to complete 7 events to find that the last event in the tournament for a location is time attack. You then fail that time attack five times and are dumped at the menu. Where to get back to the time attack you have to do seven events that you have already completed again. I hated time attack, really really hated it to the point i considered stopping playing this game.
Playing with different characters is slightly different, with some being slow damage sponges and others faster. There is little to distinguish all 8 of them however other than their looks. Like the difference between fine wines some people it will just be lost on, and I was one of them.
There are various collectibles like health and ammo, also the signs to shoot for time a score.
I can't help but wonder if this game would have grabbed me better if it had been presented in the normal fashion. Having a story with all eight levels strung together is a semblance of plot.
I understand the idea here. Bizarre creations have taken the menu system from Project Gotham racing and implemented it into a shooter. Bringing the Kudos system with it for luck.
You are playing for score, to see your name on the leader board. I imagine people playing these events over and over again so they can run faster than seems possible through the levels killing each enemy with a single headshot and hitting each hidden sign. Ranking up huge scores and sitting at number one on the leader board to the envy of their friends. Just like a racer, practice makes perfect.
It's innovative, even if the game itself isn't, I have to give them that. I don't like it though. Against the clock gaming now goes down in my pet hates list.
I managed to complete the tournament technically finishing the game, but this is a game you can never really finish until you have the highest score.
The a.i. is satisfactory, it takes cover and runs at you. Nothing innovative there. There are no boss fights at all. The levels are video game cliches from every other shooter out there and there is only really corridor level design shown.
Graphics are average, good frame rate, though nothing that taxing anyway. Sound, what can I say, it has some. There are no checkpoints or save system as they aren't needed due to the short event style structure. Menus are instantly familiar to players of PGR, everything seems clear enough.
I played the game for roughly six hours, around three of those were too long. I only got 360 achievement points, I felt cheated I should have got the whole 1000 for the amount of frustration that time attack caused me.
The multiplayer I gave a try and it seemed to be still populated, and not actually that bad in an old school way. No ranks or xp points to nerd over here.
I actually wanted to snap the game disc a few times, not a good thing really. Though what that says about me is about as much as it says about the game. I hated it, it pushed my buttons in all the wrong ways. What I think is so stinging is that the sprint events were really good fun. I liked them a lot. The game could have been good, as it is for me it's something I wish I had never bought.
This must be tempered though as for the person that enjoys playing a game with style and grace it might just be a perfect fit and deserve a higher score. The score it gets here would be upgrades to the 6.0 area if there were no time attack events. Even so the content here is slim pickings and experienced shooter experts can expect less than the six hours I spent with the game.
In short flawed and too short, a real missed opportunity.
Scoring
Graphics 7
Gameplay 5
Story 0
Level Design 5
A.i. 5
Total 4.4
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