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In motion the game looks really good
In motion the game looks really goodIn motion the game looks really good

Just as Geometry Wars excelled at making you have one more go in the hope that you'd get a new high score or beat the top score on your friends list, The Club offers leaderboards for everything you'd want. Playing through the game's eight settings on the hardest difficulty is challenging enough, but competing against the world for a place at the top of a leaderboard makes The Club as addictive as games can get.

For a game so focussed on high scores and gameplay best suited to a solo experience, the multiplayer offerings in The Club are surprisingly plentiful and good to boot - assuming you have enough players in the game. Playable with up to eight players online or using System Link, and for up to four players split-screen on a single console, the game has three free-for-all game types and four made for team play. While split-screen is nice, we found that four players just isn't enough for the size of maps and game types on offer. Hunter/Hunted provided the most thrills during our multiplayer escapades, but the team game types should provide plenty of action once the game is released.

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In addition to the main Tournament mode, tackling single events and playing with friends, The Club also offers GunPlay. Essentially it lets you create playlists out of levels, so you can play as you want. Fancy taking on a series of Siege events from four different locations, with your main weapon as the Punisher shotgun and the difficulty increasing as you move from level to level? No problem. The game obviously keeps track of high scores for these GunPlay events but also lets you pass the controller around so you can play with friends, taking turns to set the high score.

More surprising than the depth to the gameplay is the impeccable presentation. Quite why I wasn't expecting this from the studio behind the stunning Project Gotham Racing series, I'm not sure, but it's got something to do with how the game looks in motion compared to screen shots. When the game's moving it brings back memories of arcade games of old. Your main character is big and insanely detailed, the movement is smooth and fast, and there are enough next-gen graphical effects to please the pickiest of gamers. The whole game is bathed in the kind of polish you just don't see across the majority of games and to our eyes the Xbox 360 and PS3 games are nigh-on identical - save for the odd bit of slowdown in the PS3 version.

The locations are diverse and never become oldThe locations are diverse and never become old

In most games I'd argue that the use of swearing isn't necessary, but it works in The Club. The fact that the guys you're trying to gun down have a few bad things to say to you seems perfectly normal. The music fits perfectly, keeping you pumped as you race from kill to kill and the level design is brilliant - although it can seem a little awkward at first. You could argue that eight different locations isn't enough, but they are greatly varied and large enough to make each challenge feel unique, despite the re-use of locations.

Given how polished the whole game is, the lack of replays seems hard to believe. In the PGR series the ability to download a replay of the best drivers made for great viewing and they acted as the best way to learn how to play the game properly. GunPlay events can't be shared either, which seemed like an obvious tool to include in a game built around the concept of competing against other gamers. While both omissions are us being picky, they would have rounded off the package brilliantly.

SEGA has a bit of a dilemma on its hands. The Club is the last game developed by Bizarre Creations that won't be published by Activision. Given how brilliant The Club is it's going to be hard for anyone else to pick up where Bizarre left off. That's all in the future though. As it stands The Club is one of the finest examples of bringing the essence of arcade gaming to modern consoles and a game no adrenaline junkie should pass up.

Don't forget to check out our The Club video review, where we show the game in action for over four minutes.

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