The Club

This game looks awful. What's fun about killing dudes just for the sake of killing dudes? And the characters are all pretty much cliches.

I think you may be missing the point-- not to say I have an opinion about the game itself, but it's supposed to be like a super-fast points-based combo shooter. What do you need story and characters for? To use Tony Hawk as an example, the story and characters have consistently been the worst part of those games.

Yeah, but if I'm going to be slaughtering guys by the dozen, I want to make sure it's even remotely justifiable. Which might sound stupid, I guess, but when a game boils down to simply killing dudes to get a high score, well, that's just kind of unseemly.

Garrett clearly hasn't discovered the joys of Truck Dismount. I think Tycho at Penny Arcade summed it up well: "This seems to me a fine way to invest one's Friday, hurting people, and then hurting them again."

What's fun about killing dudes just for the sake of killing dudes?

BAN

I think my housemate's raving about this. Either that or he's just talking about it. I don't think he's really shared his opinion except for telling me what it's all about. Several times.

I just tried out the demo a little and I wasn't impressed. It seems like it's basically a light gun game without the light gun? I thought it controlled kind of awkward - though you would probably get used to it if you put the time into it. The graphics seemed really average too - not bad, but not exciting. There's no online multiplayer in the demo, but with so many good online shooters to choose from, I'm not sure what this could offer that would compete - especially considering at least in my brief impressions the shooting and movement just didn't feel good, or refined enough (sub Gears of War a year plus later).

i kinda liked the demo... and there is a MINOR justification, is there not? something to do with winning money, and some of the characters need the money for good reasons, and you're shooting criminals in a futuristic t--omany-criminals world or something?

I think I'm not good enough at the joystick to zoom around headshotting people fast enough to make this game as fun as it's supposed to be.

Garrett, what are your thoughts on Burgertime? How does one justify walking over constituent ingredients to create hamburgers -- i.e. making burgers for the sake of making burgers?

Whatever. Shooting guys in the face just to get a high score is not just really boring but also kind of discomforting. I'll stick to Robotron and its ilk for repetitive points-based shoot'em-ups.

Trampling over food with one's feet to get a high score isn't discomforting?

I mean, implicitly, those burgers are going to be served to someone!

Trampling over food with one's feet to get a high score isn't discomforting?

I mean, implicitly, those burgers are going to be served to someone!

You gotta tenderize that beef. Plus my conscience made me believe that he coated his feet with A-1, creating a fun and efficient way to make steakburgers while still running around like a jackass in prime arcade fashion. I'm more concerned about all that wasted beer in Tapper.

But back to The Club. Maybe if the demo was even remotely fun I wouldn't think to consider any moral implications. And am I really the only one here who was turned off by the lame character designs and (especially) by the "kill bar" and the extra points for headshots, etc?

Give a game a good story, good art design, novel gameplay, and I won't be bothered by violence. The Club just seems like an uninspired piece of 13-year-old bait.

I guess I can see what you're saying, but to me it's kind of like Devil May Cry with guns. Which isn't reeeeeaaallly my kind of game either, but I can see the appeal.

Aren't there guns in Devil May Cry, too?

I see I still haven't quite articulated what i understand as being different about this game is that it's applying a very non-shooter-like notion of twiddliness to a shooter. Most shooters are about staying alive and getting kills, but in this game it's about running up timing and score meters, probably playing the same levels over and over again trying to get your speed run exactly perfect, running up crazy points and multipliers, and doing "tricks", i.e. cool location moves or headshots or whatever. Seems like the viceral thrill of mowing down baddies would diminish to pretty much nothing if you're replaying levels over and over. It's just a different perspective on this kind of game that's interesting to me, though I don't know if I find it appealing.

Yeah, alot of contemporary shooters encourage you to be somewhat cautious / methodical, due to having to manage limited resources (in terms of health / ammo) or vulnerability re: bullets / a cover-hugging approach to gameplay (see stuff like R6 Vegas, Gears of War, etc). Whereas the Club wants you to barrel through as quickly and accurately as possible, turning the whole thing on its head. I don't think it's my bag either, but I have a couple friends who are really pumped about it. These are the same people who liked to grind out high scores, 5-star every track in GH, unlock everything, so maybe it appeals to that mentality on account of the score factor and less because it's a different take on shooters?

Just wanted to say that the latest Call of Duty and Halo 3 both have point modes that unlock - so you can play through the game again and again for scores, if that strikes your fancy. It's kind of the same thing, although I don't think either rewards you for "style." But Halo 3 even has a bunch of achievements for playing through the game that way and collecting a high score.

did anyone ever pick this up in the end?

Apparently the point system (more specifically: the way the kill combos work) in this game was considered something of a breakthrough in the industry, so look forward to seeing more games that use something like it.

this game is aces

jeff had it right in that it's a light gun game without the lightgun; the controls are good imo just take a bit of getting used to and at least you have full control over your dude and the hitboxes aren't wack (like kane&lynch, say) and the movement is hefty (unlike the slidiness of gears). and it's fun; I'm not a big high-score kinda guy but the presentation and concept is solid (smashTV/running man-esque high score gun club peopled by renegades and run by a shady guy in specs)

might get boring after a while but might get better too, given tht you'll learn the routes and baddy spawn points

I wish you could download replays of the high scores tho, love doing that on ikaruga

^^^^^^this

next gen smash tv crossed with tony hawks and pgr

10/10