| Fight Club | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Genuine Games Superscape (cell phone) |
| Publisher(s) | VU Games |
| Platform(s) | PlayStation 2, Xbox, Mobile phone |
| Release date(s) | PlayStation 2 & Xbox[1][2]
|
| Genre(s) | Fighting |
| Mode(s) | Single player, multiplayer |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: Mature PEGI: 16+ OFLC: MA15+ BBFC: 18 |
Fight Club is a fighting video game based on the film Fight Club, which was based on the novel of the same name by Chuck Palahniuk. It was released in 2004 by Vivendi Universal.
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The game follows the standard formula of fighting genre games such as Street Fighter II and Tekken. In a side-view, players control one of two characters who perform various fighting moves until one is beaten. Fight Club structures the formula around the premise of the movie, where two men meet secretly to fight each other into submission. In the game, players adopt the personae of various original characters and ones from the novel and movie such as Tyler and Bob. All the rules of Fight Club apply to the game, such as wearing only pants with no shoes or shirt, and tapping out to end the fight.
The game tries to capture the gritty feel of the movie with injuries inflicted on players and blood splattering everywhere, including onto the screen. The game tries to introduce many new features into the fighting game genre. There is a Hardcore mode, where injuries are carried over from one fight to another, which could lead to the player being so injured that he is forced into retirement. The game also goes into a mode showing X-rays of the character to show bones being broken. The fighting moves are intended to be brutally violent, such as one where the opponent's arm is visibly broken at the elbow. The levels are also designed around scenes from the movie, such as Lou's bar and Paper Street.
There is a story mode, built around an original character–named only Hero–who joins Fight Club after breaking up with his girlfriend. By winning fights, the character moves up through the ranks of Fight Club and Project Mayhem to become Tyler Durden's right-hand man. Winning Story mode also unlocks Fred Durst, lead singer from Limp Bizkit, as a playable character.
Upon release, Fight Club received poor critical reviews. The game has mostly been dismissed by fans of the novel and film as an attempt to milk the success of the story for commercial gain, and was universally panned by critics on its own merits. Critics say the game copies too much from other fighting games without bringing much new to the genre, and has repetitive fighting moves and poor animation.[4] It failed to achieve commercial success. Nevertheless, Abraham Lincoln is ranked fourth in Electronic Gaming Monthly’s list of the top ten video game politicians for his appearance in Fight Club for the PlayStation 2.[5]
Game Informer placed Fight Club at number ten in a 2011 list of Top Ten Fighting Games We'd Like to Forget.[6]