Bizarre Creations third-person 2008 shooter from Sega was no blockbuster, so why does it keep coming up in conversation?
For stat junkies, a new site is launching that will track your every move during online gaming sessions. Called GameStrata, the free site will follow your progress in console and PC games by the currently partnered companies Capcom, EA and Sega. What seems so promising is that the service doesn’t just track simple kills or wins and losses. Instead, the site aggregates tons of detailed information, like shots fired per match, total amount of damage dealt or frags per minute.
The downside is that GameStrata registration is currently using a token system, requiring you to sign up in hopes of receiving an invite (similar to the moderate pain it was to first join Gmail). But we tested the service and received an invite with no problem after our registration. Here’s the full list of games that GameStrata will be supporting at launch:
That Club demo that was released a few weeks back in Europe and Australia? It’s now up on Xbox Live for North America. It’s well worth a try, if only because you’ve probably never played any other shooters that feel like a Tony Hawks’ combo.
Curious about Sega’s upcoming shooter The Club? Own an Xbox 360? Then you are in luck, as Sega has announced that a demo for Bizarre Creations’ unusual foray outside of the racing genre will be hitting the Xbox Live Marketplace in Europe and Australia at 9 a.m. GMT tomorrow morning. Players will be able to step into the shoes of Renwick, the tough-as-nails NYPD detective who gets in too deep while investigating the titular organization. Run your man through the prison environment alone or with a friend via split-screen multiplayer. Now as of this writing (early in the morning) the demo has only been announced for Europe and Australia, I’ve a feeling that as the day rolls on we’ll hear this is hitting North American 360s tomorrow as well. Or we’ll cry. Just a little.
I love the concept of a thinking shooter, a game that rewards for both thoughtful murderous mayhem and artful kills. I hope The Club lives up to my expecations.
I’m having a hard time getting my head around The Club. Not because I haven’t enjoyed the demo, far from it: I’ve had a blast. No, I’ve had a hard time getting my head around it because The Club takes everything you think you know about shooter games, puts them in a box and seals it shut. Then shoots it up. Then sets it on fire.
No, really. Forget everything you’ve learned about shooters. Forget even their most basic premise: shoot everything that moves as soon as you see it move and before it can shoot you. Forget about pausing behind cover. Forget about exploring a map. Forget fretting over health packs, forget quicksaves, forget cross-level sniping.
Because none of that matters.
Even after reading a bit more about Bizarre Creations’ The Club, I couldn’t quite wrap my mind around the concept. Maybe it’s the purposefully vague-therefore-hip name that’s thrown my lame-therefore-specific head into a pile of misunderstanding. This clip, featuring the “rules” of The Club, does a lot to smooth out my melon. And I’m really interested in this kill combo system that looks absolutely as addictive as hell. We really need combo meters in our life HUD—but not for killing. Really.
A mysterious man known only as The Secretary has gathered together an elite team of murderous psychopaths, united by one goal: to protect your car from being stolen. That, or make you a delicious sandwich. With bacon. Mmmmm. This ethnically diverse squad of no-nonsense killers will be starring in Bizarre Creations’ foray into the non-racing, non-Geometry Wars genre, The Club, which features an innovative combo-kill system that means the bigger your killing spree, the bigger your score. Also the sandwich comes with chips and a drink. Please drive round.
For whatever reason I never believed The Club would ship in 2007, so it’s hard to see this as “news” proper. But The Club has been delayed on all platforms to a February 2008 release. For those who don’t remember, McWhertor really liked the game during his impressions at E3, though the title alone is a bit too trendy for my tastes.
On a somewhat related note, does anyone believe ship dates when they’re more than 2 months out? Because I sure don’t. My heart’s been broken too many times as I’ve sat alone at my TV with an empty bottle of wine and a plate of cold quail, settling for XBLA ports in the dark.
Sega Announces Ship Date for “The Club” [gamingtoday]
