Previews// The Club

Bizarre's Davies continued: "Of course the other important thing is that we're now back in partnership with Sega, so The Club is also a return to that intense arcade-action, that pick-up-and-play game play, that five minutes of intense, shooting arcade fun we're trying to get... so this is also the reason why the game sits nicely between Bizarre and Sega as both companies have this unique take on the genre, plus of course there's that heritage of fun, gamer's games you get from Sega."

That's right. The Club is not a strategic or a stealth shooter by any means, it's a run-like-buggery, get through the levels as fast as you possibly can whilst taking as many Hunters out along the way, type game. It also seems like there will be a range of pistols, machine-guns, rocket launchers and more weapons to pick up along the way to assist you in this. Each level is going to be a quick-play five or six minute, adrenaline blast, as was the demo level which SPOnG saw. It's not mindless running and shooting though, as there are extra points (displayed as money you 'earn') and multiplier bonuses to be gained as you despatch Hunters with head shots and location-specific chain combos and more.

Back to Davies: "The game is heavily based around the scoring system, all of the game play is based on that... very much like PGR3 (with the Gotham TV feature) The Club has got that 'showing-off-ness' to it. You can post your best scores on-line and everybody can see who the best in the world is."

So the Bizarre guys wanted to stress three main driving design concepts behind the game, which are the fast pace, the competition (beating your own scores and those of others) and, crucially, the replayability. Just as you want to shave milliseconds off your lap time in PGR3, you are going to want to notch up a marginally better score in The Club, by returning to levels to get through them quicker, picking up more bonuses on the way and slaughtering more of your opponents.

While the demo level we saw was at a very early stage of development, we got a good idea of the aesthetic that the guys are aiming for with the environments in the game. The plan is for each level to be set in evocative, fairly unusual buildings - huge, abandoned empty spaces, outside of and far away from civilised society, in which The Club's Moneymen can indulge in their lethal modern-day gladiatorial sport. You can check out some of the concept art we have right here to get a feel of what the final game will look like.

From this brief glimpse of The Club, we were itching for a hands-on ourselves, and rest assured we will be pestering the guys at Sega UK to get one in the coming months. In the meantime, watch out for a more detailed interview with the team at Bizarre Creations very soon. SPOnG is particularly interested in knowing more about the on-line and multi-player aspects of the game, as well as just who the hell these Moneymen actually are!

To sum up, both The Club's (reasonably) original game concept and the fast-paced arcade-style play mechanics have really got us pumped about the potential for this "racing game with guns" and it's a joy to see that Bizarre, far from resting on their PGR3 laurels are really thinking of how to take this type of quick-fix, but long-lasting 'one more go' arcade type title into the next gen future. We could sign off by making some pithy comment about The Club being a bit like the bastard offspring of PGR3 having sex with Geometry Wars. But we won't.