Bizarre Creations' mastery of the racing genre has spanned over a decade, fuelling the console-selling Project Gotham Racing franchise and propelling the small studio to industry prestige. The Club is Bizarre's first major deviation from the racing genre in some time (discounting their XBLA ventures) and shows a return to the third-person action genre (although, in The Club's case, this genre appellation is somewhat misleading).

The Club should welcome its description as a hybrid genre; an adroit amalgamation of light-gun, racing and third-person action. Players familiar with Metropolis Street Racer's and PGR's 'Kudos' system will instantly see the inspiration behind The Club's core score-attack mechanic, indeed, even environment blueprints for the more prominent game-modes are reminiscent of race-tracks, with clear start and end points to each level and little or no deviation in-between.

The basic premise is to keep a constantly decreasing combo meter and point-multiplier alive by killing the cardboard cutout-style enemies, which appear in the same locations for each level; if a player utilises a special technique (activated with certain character movements or use of the environment) or kills with greater accuracy then they receive more points and increase their combo meter. The game forces the player to make simple yet effective strategic choices by utilising lengthy weapon re-load times, which usually boils down to whether the player re-loads mid-fight (meaning they lose their precious combo meter) or re-load as they're moving to the next area of enemies.

The extent of the game is returning to a level to achieve a higher score, which in itself is pleasingly retro, but the rewards of the game will only be reaped by the most die-hard players since memorising environment layouts and enemy locations is not a requirement, but a demand. In reality, the large amount of content (and little reward save self-satisfaction) in the game will be too much for the average player due to the constant need to play a level until it's rote, which really begs the question of why the title was privilaged to a full retail release and not toned down (in terms of content and graphics) for a Playstation Network or Xbox Live Arcade debut.

The Club's barren aesthetic and derivative backstory void the game of warmth and depth, but these two factors were never going to be The Club's selling point. Beyond The Club's visual style (which seems suspiciously tailored for a marketing campaign toward the 'GTA' demographic) there really isn't anything to dislike when due consideration is taken to what the game is trying to achieve. There are a few niggles, mainly with the enemy A.I making unexpected moves after a dozen playthroughs where they've previously stayed put, plus there appears to be some issues with the PS3 version leaderboards updating in a timely manner.

The Club's obsession with perfecting a level will certainly be passed on to any player that picks it up and almost certainly bestow upon them the bane of punctuality: 'just one more go'.

Discuss this article on our Forum.