Little was known about The Club and SEGA Rally when SEGA invited X-Power to take a look at both games. Especially Bizarre Creations’ third-person shooter was surrounded by mystery, as we knew very little of the concept and the gameplay, bar a vague description of the game. Filled with curiosity, me and a co-worker decided to get on a train towards Amsterdam so we could attend this hour-long presentation and at the end of it, one thing was obvious: Bizarre Creations has a lot of potential on their hands with The Club!
 
Think about other third-person shooters for a moment: basically, the gameplay came down to shooting a lot of bad guys (just like most First-Person Shooters) until you reached the end of it. The core of The Club is basically no different, but Bizarre Creations threw the average structure of such games out the window and replaced them with elements that could vastly increase the replay value. The Club doesn’t revolve around its story per sé, but it’s more important to attain the highest possible score while comboing like mad, similar to Tony Hawk. Personally, we believe it has more in common with SSX overall, due to the graffiti menu’s and the stylish intro movies right before the beginning of a battle, but anyway… This was one of the many references made by the representative of SEGA of Europe and it does sound pretty ‘whack’ on paper, but once you see the game in action, you start to wonder why it took so long from someone to figure this out. Just like Active Reload from Gears of War.
 
You can actually compare The Club to Geometry Wars, because earning multipliers (or in this context: combo’s) is of utmost importance. The more enemies you can kill without interruption, the higher your score will be. To avoid possible frustrations, Bizarre included numerous skull shots in each level so that the combo meter stays active for a little while longer after you shot this sign. These very same skull shots also indicate where the next batch of enemies is located and it also clearly shows you how long it’ll take before your current combo runs out of time. Meaning: you won’t have to rely on your instincts at all. The Club goes another step further so that it can shower you with points: if you finish off your enemies as fast as possible, then you’ll (obviously) deserve a better score. Speed and linking combo’s aren’t the most important things to achieve a ludicrously high score, because when you kill people with style and with precision, then you’ll undoubtedly surpass your previous score. In short: the game fixates on your all-round abilities and it (intentionally) rewards the best players out there.
 
What do we mean by this? Let me explain with a clear example: a headshot is worth more than, let’s say, a couple of bullets in the chest. However, if you hit an explosive barrel which in turn takes out two guys at the same time, you will earn more points. Two headshots right after each other are worth even more and if you do this right after a roll – frontal or sideways – towards the enemy, then you’ll be rewarded even more for your ‘dynamic entree’. Next to grenade throws, it’s also possible to fire ricochet shots and you can use scripted events to your advantage for massive damage. The clock, in the mean time, keeps on ticking ruthlessly so there will be plenty of suspense in order to maintain your current combo. The analogy made by the representative (namely: The Club equals a third-person Geometry Wars with gun, and with the pace of a racer) makes sense because of this, and the level of addiction seems to be enormous in comparison to the majority of its ‘competition’. An unlikely success formula with a lot of potential.
 
The similarities with other games don’t end here, because the lead designer of the development team was somewhat inspired by the original DOOM. This man finished the game numerous times on Hell and after a while, he knew exactly where there were monsters waiting for him. He didn’t even have to see them yet managed to hit them almost every time, while he was maneuvering towards the next hellish freak. This aspect, memorizing the most optimal route, is clearly present in The Club and it encourages players to achieve perfection. Again, the representative compared Bizarre’s game with Project Gotham Racing, because you have to follow a (albeit imaginary) track and attain the fastest time in one go. Oddly enough: there is some logic behind this comparison! We have no idea how they will increase the challenge on higher difficulties, but they let us know the amount of enemies won’t be increased in any case.
 
This doesn’t mean that The Club is entirely based around the purest form of arcade gaming, namely chasing after the best high score that’s within your limits. On the contrary: the developers want more than that. They want to successfully combined addictive gameplay with a sinister theme, and that’s why they spent much attention to the game’s presentation and its storyline. A fun little fact: Bizarre Creations kept the core gameplay in the fridge for a couple of years, until SEGA approached them with the concept for The Club. Before this occured, The Club basically was a game where you shoot boxes and bull’s eyes, no more. Naturally, a game like this wouldn’t have sold well at all. The team behind this game (consisting out of 49 members) spent 18 months working on this project up until now and the group partially exists out of members from Fur Fighters, and partially out of people from Project Gotham Racing. They wanted to work on something fresh and allowing them to do so, didn’t turn out to be a bad decision after all!
 
The umpteenth unorthodox inspiration source for this third-person shooter, is (believe it or not) Street Fighter II. The Club doesn’t involve only one single character, and Bizarre rather opted to design a charismatic bunch of characters that would appeal to different kind of people. The characters we saw for instance, were a Russian war veteran (with ferrets dangling out of his pockets), a cop from New York City that knew too much and an adrenaline junkie. Take the last one for instance: according to Mark Fisher (the representative), people that skateboard or ride BMX bikes would likely pick this particular character. It’s also one of Bizarre’s main goals to create a lot of diversity between each member of the cast. Just like in Street Fighter II, your choice all depends how you want to fight or which character you like the most based on appearance and behavior. I’d like the psychopath please!
 
Statistically, characters will differ (with the necessary balance, thankfully) and Bizarre wants to express the different attitudes of each character through detailed animations. The Russian for instance headbutts everything in sight, be it weak obstacles or an enemy that got in his way. The cop on the other hand, would rather use the butt of his rifle or kick through a wooden barrier. Every single one of them also has their own reason to survive: one craves for freedom, while the other is just in it for the fun. They’re modern gladiators in other words, because they put their lives on the line for the pleasure of rich people. There’s basically some competition amongst these wealthy men and they’re constantly looking out for competent combatants so they can bet, and earn a fortune. By the way: the final cast was decided upon internally. Bizarre originally designed 20 different characters and they kept the ones employees from SEGA of Europe seemed to love.
 
Next up: some impressions about how The Club looks in motion. If you couldn’t go back to any other third-person shooter after the release of Gears of War, then maybe it’ll comfort you to know that the best mechanics from Epic’s killer-app are also present in this game. Both games apply a shaky cam when you start running at the push of a button (and unable to shoot at the same time), but Mark guaranteed us that they thought of this technique first. They didn’t accuse Epic of theft, but instead he added that it was purely a coincidence that both games have this in common. Anywho… The game uses a behind-the-shoulder camera and (again) with the push of a single button, the screen zooms in for more accurate shots. You have to stay still for a split-second or so, otherwise you won’t fire that accurately (which is visible on the cursor). However, The Club doesn’t use any kind of cover mechanics: hiding will get you killed, which is the intention all along. The pace is supposed to be relentless from the get-go and the pace won’t be interrupted by bosses either.
 
This all sounds fine ’n dandy, but what about the single player? Here, the game follows a very similar structure of Project Gotham Racing, where you continuously play in the same environments, but with different objectives per level. One level asks you to shoot a number of people in the head, while the other explicitly demands you to take x people out through explosive barrels. The eight different environments thankfully contain multiple different routes, so that the action doesn’t repeat itself all the time. Each of the 50 to 60 levels will last about 3 to 5 minutes, despite the scale of the locations (we saw a town in the desert, a gigantic boat, a castle and a steel mill): again, this is one of the ways Bizarre hopes to attain a high level of replayability. If, by now, it isn’t clear that Bizarre strives for a relentless pace like a racing game, then I don’t know what will…
 
[b]Bizarre Creations is known for their rather thorough multiplayer options and The Club won’t be an exception, apparently. Multiplayer is very important to The Club, but Fisher didn’t hand out too many details in how far Bizarre wants to go, sadly. Players will be able to download replays from the highest of scores however and the inclusion of a Club.tv hasn’t been denied. Very interesting for the offline gamers among is, is split-screen support for up to four players. The developers want to do this because it’s a very rare occurance nowadays, and they remember the good times they had with Goldeneye when it was released on the N64.
 
There’s also no lack of famous talent. John Wallin, the man responsible for the concept behind Gears of War, was hired to realise the world of the Club and another John (Hull this time around) designed the weapons for this game. In case his identity doesn’t ring a bell: he took care of the arsenal found in The Matrix and the more recent V for Vendetta, among other projects. The overall plot was written down by Gordon Rennie, the same man responsible for the storyline of Warhammer (the fantasy mind you) and Judge Dredd.
 
Lastly, you don’t have to worry about the technical side of The Club. The game was shown in a small movie theatre and even on the big screen, it looked fine. This possibly has to do something about the fact that the teams in Bizarre Creations share their knowledge: The Club ‘borrows’ some parts from the PGR 4 engine (and vice versa), but the game also partially incorporates a new engine. This doesn’t mean that the current build is running stable however, but it could use some optimizing. The framerate was pretty irregular, but Bizarre is ensuring a solid framerate for the final code. Other than that: the A.I. wasn’t particulary clever, the melee attacks looked clumsy, the explosions didn’t exactly look convincing and the physics weren’t eye-catching in any way. But, and I must stress this: all of the above are a Work-in-Progress! Bizarre has more than half a year left, at least, and the build we got to see, was apparently a lot better than the one they’ve shown at E3 (behind closed doors).
 
In the end, The Club left a very good impression and we can’t wait to see and hear more about it. The so-called fusion of Gears of War, Project Gotham Racing, Doom, Tony Hawk, Geometry Wars and Street Fighter II (quite the list) may be bizarre, but because of this the game has a high chance of delivering a unique next-gen experience. In any case, The Club became one of my most wanted games right now and if Bizarre Creations can take care of most, if not all the issues seen in the build, with an interesting online multiplayer, then there will be very little reasons to ignore this game as a fan of sensational shooters. The only bad thing about the presentation: the wait has become even longer…

As for other whiz-bang technology goodness, Factor 5 confirms that the game will run at a rock-solid 30fps at both 720p and 1080p . The game indeed ran quite well when we played it, with nary a hitch in framerate to be found. This is rather impressive as levels can be as large as 32x32km in size, which is allowed by Factor 5's use of streaming mesh technology, an offshoot of level of detail models.
 
Lair also makes use of a fluid dynamics system for its impressive water technology, which looks fantastic even up close. This means that boats and objects are actually buoyant and float as they naturally would. Explosions cause waves in the water, which in turn rocks anything that the waves come across. The fluid dynamics do look to be surface based, meaning that water can't spill over the sides of boats and cause them to sink, but it is rather impressive nonetheless.
 
The use of this water technology is evident in the game's first level, "Day of Terror." Enemy ships approach your shores by sea, so you take to your dragon and are charged with taking them out. After destroying a good dozen ships or so, a fleet of dragons heads your way. This is where you'll get your first real taste of air combat and it's clearly the game's bread and butter.

later level, "Blood River," enemy armies and catapults are attempting to destroy a cargo vessel carrying goods to your city. Taking out the catapults is easy work, but a fleet of dragons are close behind, as are large mantas carrying thousands of troops. Once these soldiers hit the ground, the battle becomes hectic and you need to manage your attacks well. One of the goals here requires that you take out 2,000 soldiers before your city is destroyed, which seemed to be a rather slow-going task as they're spread out a bit. Heading to the ground and running them over works better than being in the air, but 2,000 men are not quickly trampled