Tech & U: The Club

Original:

As you warm up The Club you get a distinct feeling that it's not going to be smooth sailing from now on. The Club, a game where participants are 'invited' to play the greatest survivalist game ever, is a port from the Xbox 360.

That being said, when you start the game you get some wonder screen instructions like press 'Start' to Start, press 'A' to go back or 'B' to go next. Now, we know they can't be talking to us, since us PC users don't have any Start keys and pressing the A or B key seems to do nothing.

The Club has several different types all of gameplay which are exactly the same as the Xbox 360 version. These are: Tournament, Multiplayer, Gunplay and Single Event. Tournament is bascially campaign more where you have to finish several levels in a map to unlock the next map and move on.

You are given 5 retries for each level. Failing completely will result in the end of the Tournament and you will have to start back at square one. Each level has a game type too, some levels you have to complete with the highest score possible, others are 'ironman' levels where you have to hold out until the timer runs out and others are time based.

Completing a level unlocks weapons, Gunplay and other niffty stuff. Completing the level with the largest last combo, cool kills and hidden Skullshots to earn mucho points.

Graphic wise the game is fairly slick, there is a lot of motion blur so even with the pretty graphics you won't be able to admire the landscape as you blaze through map like a hare with its butt on fire.

Sound effects sound a bit weird, like you are firing toy guns but then again since Hollywood more or less embellish almost all the gun fire effects in their movies you tend to wonder if this is what it sounds like in real life. The voice acting is very decent, well for The Secretary at least.

Overall, it is a decent game. Just think of it as a third person Burnout shooter. You basically race through the level killing everything you see. The only time you don't do this is on Siege levels. The only thing that really spoils the game is that for online Multiplayer you have to activate your Windows Live account so you can play. Which I did but apparently I can't seem to join severs even when I have extremely low pings to them (three green bars) because they seem to offline! And as to add a cherry on top of that there are very few servers to begin with! The Club really makes a nice time waster for single player play and probably if you can wing it, a good time on LAN play too which you should not need a Windows Live account to use.

Title: The Club
Publisher: SEGA
Developer: Bizarre Creations
Availability: New Era Interactive Software Sdn Bhd
Suite 27-02B, 27th Floor Menara Keck Seng
203 Jalan Bukit Bintang
55100 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Tel: (603) 2143 1332 Fax: (603) 2143 1330
Email: junking.my@neweraint.com
Website: http://www.neweraonline.com
RM159.90

Package: 1 Manual, Game DVD, Bonus DVD (contains 2 demos and behind the scenes video).

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

CPU Speed: Intel Pentium 4 2.0Ghz / AMD
Athlon XP 2000+ processor
RAM: 512MB system RAM
Video Card: 100% DirectX 9.0c compatible
64MB video card with latest manufacturer
drivers (see supported chipsets below)
Hard Drive: 2.2GB of uncompressed free hard
drive space
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 2000 or
XP with latest service pack installed
DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (included on disc)


Our Verdict: 3 1/2
Documentation: 4
Graphics: 4
Sound: 4
Replay Value: 3