Bizarre says The Club is misunderstood
"Some just didn't 'get' the concept."
Bizarre Creations believes the divided reaction to The Club has been because some have misunderstood its concept.
Speaking to Videogaming247, community chief Ben Ward said its brand new ideal will "take time to resonate with certain people".
"For every person who played it and was expecting a story-driven game we found two or three people who really understood the pursuit of high-scores," said Ward. "Already we've got a hardcore fan base building up, which is very encouraging!
"The game is all about competing with friends for the highest score possible, and showing off your skills whilst doing it. It's something that's fairly unique in the shooter genre at the moment, and something we really believe in."
Interestingly Ben Ward went on to reveal that the developer had also made a concious effort to keep blood and guts to a minimum, in order not to overshadow the skill-based heart of the game.
But his comments also suggest it was done to pre-emptively fend off the accusatory gaze of the anti-videogame groups.
"Fundamentally the game is still about shooting lots of people. We've handled this in a similar way to Hollywood action movies - it's not gratuitous or sadistic in the way it does things. Primarily the game is a gameplay-driven skill-based title, and we are hoping that anti-videogame groups will see this shine through."
The Club is being released tomorrow on Xbox 360 and PS3, and will follow on PC on 22nd February.
We've already had a chance to get our hands on it and heaped considerable praise on its combo-shoulders for getting back to the 2D shoot-'em-up days of old.
Pop over to our The Club review to find out more.