The arcade style may give you a misleading first impression of the quality of this game. Although its not for everyone.
While this would be a backward step for any third person shooter trying to push the genre forward, this is actually a strength for The Club.
The games premise is simple. You choose one of eight modern day, gun-toting gladiators and blast your way through 8 tournaments. Each tournament is made up of 6 different rounds that vary in type from simple start to finish gauntlet runs, survival rounds based in a set area to a strange time attack mode that has you running laps round a level while blastin foes outta the way. While the differing game types do make for a bit of variety, the core gameplay always seems to be the same. String as many quick kills together in a combo to reach the highest scores before either the time runs out or you reach the exit point. Extra points are also awarded for action kills such as killing someone while coming out of an defensive roll and blastin some fool as you smash through set pieces of scenery.
While this may seem a little too simple, its strange just how addictive this becomes in absolutely no time at all! It will have you trying to top your score again and again.
The downside is that some players will just not be interested in the retro style of top score gameplay. And if you look at the game in comparison to other shooters such as Advanced Warfighter 2 and Gears of War, there is minimal AI for the opponents in single player that function as little more than moving targets that fire back with some basic cover mechanics but always spawn in the same locations. The players are also restricted to set routes through the levels that might seem a little constricting to standard multiple routes that are in most games. These things actually make the game work well, but you'll only appreciate that if you appreciate the gameplay in the first place.
There are also online multiplayer modes that while solid are also pretty standard and not exactly deal breakers. Frame rates where nice and steady while the action had a good pace.
So there it is. If you are competitive and enjoy fast-paced, high score topping action and don't mind a little shallowness then there is plenty of time to be wasted enjoying what The Club has to offer. However, if you tend to stick to your RPGs and need depth in your characters and gameplay then you might be better of going elsewhere for your kicks.