I know. It is ALREADY out and available for purchase so a review based on the demo is a bit stale at this point. However, you can consider this a basic review of the gameplay and mechanics involved in this new 3rd person shooter.

I am going to stay true to my word and let "Sammy D" do his reviews of Xbox 360 titles/demos as that is what he has expressed interest in. So the demo version I will be droning on about is the PS3 version - played on a 42" LCD HDTV.

Lets get graphics out of the way so I can focus on the MEAT of the game which is the actual GAMEPLAY as I stated before.I mean, lets be honest... at this generation of console gaming graphics have to be at LEAST to par with other titles and it would be ALL OVER the forums had it not been. So I will say that the graphics were "on par" and serve the title well. You even have the option of changing the color of your tracer rounds and your cross-hair!!!! WOWWWWW!.. well not so much I suppose.

Before I relay MY experience with the demo, here is the gist of what the game is about/how it works:

Characters

The Club features a roster of eight playable characters, each of them purportedly play differently as a result of their individual speed, strength, and stamina attributes, the most well-balanced being Killen and Renwick. Current previews have shown Dragov, an escaped prisoner from Russia; Renwick, a former New York police officer; Finn, an American gambler with life-threatening debts; Seager, an extreme sports junkie from Canada; Kuro, a Japanese double-agent posing as a Triad Society assassin; Killen, an Australian legend in The Club whose daughter's life is at stake; Adjo, a Nigerian man with a mysterious and violent past forced to play to keep the village he protects safe; and Nemo, a man from England who wears a mask and keeps his face mostly hidden under his hood.

Multiplayer

The game includes over nine multiplayer modes, with online leaderboards to compare scores. Online games can feature up to 7 real-time opponents on-line or battle off-line in 4-player split-screen mode. The following modes were released by Sega of America on January 17, 2008.

* Kill Match: This is a tried and tested death-match mode. The player with the most kills at the end of the game is the winner.
* Score Match: This is a points based death match where players rack up points for kills using the same scoring mechanism which is used in the single player game. As with the single player game, the key to big scores to combo.
* Hunted Killer: When the game begins the first player to make a kill becomes the Hunted. While hunted, a player’s score ticks up constantly. Only one player can be the hunted, and if a Hunter player manages to kill the hunted, the hunted status will pass over to the killer. Becoming the hunted and surviving for as long as possible is the only way to score. The hunters are equipped with radar which shows where the hunted player is all the time. The hunted player does not have a scanner so he must keep on his toes to avoid his pursuers.
* Team Kill Match: This is a regular team kill match. The team who scores the highest by killing their opponents will win.
* Team Capture: in this game mode, both teams have a base objective. The aim of the game mode is to capture the enemies’ base objective while defending your own. Bases are captured by standing on them and holding for 30 seconds. The team who manages to fully capture the enemy team’s objective or the team with the most capture time when the game timer runs out is the winner.
* Team Siege: This game mode is inspired by the single player “Siege” game mode. In Team Siege teams are assigned the role of either attack or defense. Defending players have only one life whereas attacking players re-spawn when killed. The game plays out and the attackers must kill all of the defending players as quickly as possible. The teams then swap roles so the attackers become defenders and the defenders attackers. To win this round teams must survive for longer in defense than the attackers did.
* Team Skull Shot: The aim of this game mode is to destroy all five of the enemy team’s skull shot targets while defending your own.

.... okay. So what did I think personally of the demo?

Well, you are limited to one character (Dragov) and one map (the prison). The mechanics on the PS3 controller took me about 2 minutes to get used too... almost a mix between warhawk and kain&lynch with a heavy focus on the shoulder buttons. It takes bout 3 shots to the torso or one well placed round to the head to take the multitude of enemies you come across out. Hitting an enemy from far away or directly in the head gives you a better score for the kill and lets you know what type of kill you have accomplished (i.e. HEADSHOT!!).

I don't know why I do this, but I constantly compare 3rd person shooters to Gears of War. That game was revolutionary in a bunch of ways and has become the game I think I secretly want all other 3rd person shooters to be. This game while fun and mildly addictive (5/10 on addictive) didn't really bring anything new to the genre and kind of looked like someone took a bunch of other peoples ideas and put them in a digital blender... much like the Matrix.... only not NEARLY as cool. Without a story line to play through, single player feels like practice for an online multiplayer which is where I'm sure the game really shines. This makes it ironic that they don't offer this with the demo... even Lost Planet tried to do this (despite the utter failure). INSTEAD, you get a multi-player split/screen option that I have yet to try.. mostly because my wife refuses to play anything that isn't Sonic the Hedgehog... I even tried to reel her in by saying the game was developed by SEGA.

So before this becomes a novel, I'll give my score:

7/10

*Please note this rating is based on the single player demo gameplay and is not necessarily the opinion of the game itself or its online multiplayer option... nor is this the opinion of VideoGameChat.net or any of its affiliates... nope just mine.

For those of you that read this far.. here are some screens:

Tags : Demo : PlayStation 3 : sega : The Club : Xbox 360

Comments

By: Samuel On: 06:21 Feb 12th, 2008 Offline	I didn't like the club at all. The thing is, it's supposed to be all about style, so I was expecting some kind of matrix/max payne style shooter in which you flip up off walls while pumping endless rounds into countless enemies after just crashing a large vehicle through a helicopter, jumping out just in time to fall in through a window. But you run through aesthetically boring levels (e.g. a modern prison), taking the only available route and doing it all with both feet planted firmly on the ground. A competent shooter t'be sure, but won't earn a place up there with Gears of War.

By: Dragonfly On: 08:48 Feb 12th, 2008 Offline	Directly come off Sam's post, I think what The Club lacks in dramatic action it makes up for in finesse. The Club is a weird hybrid, to be sure. It takes modern gameplay styles, and throw an old school score challenge system on top of it. If you sit thinking about that too much though, you realise just how sadistic and morally wrong the whole concept is though. laughs It's a decent title, but it definately depends on what kind of experience you want out of your games.