Comments on: The RPS Verdict: The Club

By: Joshua

Joshua — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 05:27:05 +0000

Totally disagree with this. The Club is some hot shit. Shooting action is great, the timing and rhythm that Kieron alludes to is what makes it so tight and exciting. Getting a nice strong run is totally awesome, and every misstep here or there is one’s own fault. There are also plenty of levels, no shortage of stuff to learn.

The logic used to say Guitar Hero is superior is outright bizarre, by the way. Sure… your reward for playing well is ROCK MUSIC. But I could also listen to that ROCK MUSIC on my iPod with no problem whatsoever. You had nothing to do with the music’s creation as you play. You’re just fiddling around on a plastic guitar.

I mean, don’t get me wrong, GH is a fun game, but so is The Club. If you don’t like the aesthetic, that’s fine, I don’t necessarily blame anyone for that but aesthetic isn’t really the point now is it?

By: Alex

Alex — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 00:29:01 +0000

I quite like the One-Sentence Review of The Club over at Something Awful (eventhough it’s about the 360 version):

Play through the same levels again and again to top your high score, or play through a better shooter and give yourself a billion points and a pat on the back at the end.

By: Jack

Jack — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 22:38:10 +0000

Love this review style, all I really want to know from a review is ‘buy’ or ‘don’t buy’ :)

By: Kieron Gillen

Kieron Gillen — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 10:45:51 +0000

I suspect it may be down to commercial realities: Quasi-realism is believed to interest more people than abstractation or cartooning.

By: Matthew

Matthew — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 09:38:59 +0000

(didnt check if someone else posted this so sorry if they have…)

Geometry Wars has a really nice punchy feel to it; when things get hot they get shit hot, and this is all down to the visual and aural output.

So we know Bizarre have an understanding of this kind of thing, have they deliberately chosen to leave it out of The Club?

By: Alec Meer

Alec Meer — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 23:18:39 +0000

Y’all really are better off with our STRONG WORDS than our snivelling voices, trust me.

By: nabeel

nabeel — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 23:07:22 +0000

Great idea, looking forward to more “reviews”. Podcast would be awesome; it’s really too bad that PC Gamer UK does their podcast MONTHLY (wtf??), and some of you guys only appear on it occasionally. An RPS podcast would be awesome.
nabeel

By: Crispy

Crispy — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 21:08:52 +0000

I’ve seen The Club in GAME for £20 already and I think the same is true of the obvious online retailers. It’s not my bag but I’m sure a quick price check at the time of publication would have slightly undermined one of your main points that it’s ‘entertainment of a sort but not worth the asking price’.

By: terry

terry — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 17:21:25 +0000

I enjoy this review style a lot – it really forces getting to the pros and cons far more quickly and its always fun to see the intellectual cut and thrust of instant messaging (er). The scores remind me of the old “HIT/MISS” system in Your Spectrum which can only be a good thing.

As for The Club, I don’t think I am in the target market, being of the opinion that the rail shooter lost its way since the mighty Cabal.

By: Jason O

Jason O — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 16:26:00 +0000

When The Club launched it was receiving pretty high reviews. I liked the demo but I was frustrated by the score combo mechanic style of gameplay. I liked the way it controlled, I liked the weapons, and I liked the environments but I hated being rushed through the level.

I wouldn’t say memorization is key, but it’s more of an old school “pattern recognition” style game like what we’re used to from the 8 and 16 bit days. It’s an incredible throwback to an older style of gaming but using modern visuals. That in of itself is weird.

I understand the high review scores but I’m also disappointed because a lot of the reviewers did not cover the downsides of this gameplay style like RPS did. I suspect someone is going to read a review of The Club and then find themselves disappointed.

I can see the appeal to a certain type of player, but it does not strike me as a game with broad appeal. I suppose we’ll wait and see what the sales numbers say.

By: skillian

skillian — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 13:02:16 +0000

As mentioned regarding Resident Evil and Sin Episodes, this sort of thing would work better as a bonus to an existing game than as a standalone. Call of Duty 4 has a similar thing too with the unlockable Arcade mode.

When I got the hacked Crysis demo, me and a friend spent ages competing for most kills with 40 sniper bullets. These sorts of challenges should be included in games more – even in Perfect Dark, I spent more time downstairs hitting targets in record times than I did in the actual game.

By: Alex Hopkinson

Alex Hopkinson — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 12:17:13 +0000

PleasingFungus: I was referring to the PC port of Geometry Wars that Bizzare sell over Steam, not Grid Wars. Both Geometry Wars and Grid Wars are great games but the PC port of Geometry Wars is pretty bad.