'The Club' is a classic -- and familiar -- shoot-'em-up

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"The Club"Platforms: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PCGenre: ShooterPublisher: SegaESRB Rating: M, for MatureGrade: 3 stars out of 5Sometimes you need a game that is stripped of all the unnecessary frills and distractions and just gives you well-paced action at a fast clip. "The Club" is a straight-forward shooter. Nothing too exciting -- just guns and violence in quick intervals.Anyone who remembers Arnold Schwarzenegger's "The Running Man" will learn this game pretty easily. There's a tournament in which you run around killing as many people as possible in a set amount of time. Sometimes you race from Point A to Point B; other times you just try to hold a location against invading enemies. The object is to score more points than the other competitors and win the round.You have six characters to choose from and, sadly, though their personal histories look cool, they all play the same. The other disappointment is that the guns feel very weak. Compared to other run-and-gun titles, even the heavy assault rifles here feel like peashooters. But the level design strong, and the various locations and environments do a great job of mixing up strategy.You're constantly pressed to replay missions and challenges because higher scores are the key to advancing. Some gamers will find the "kill or be killed" style a cheap cop-out, but the pleasure is the undemanding game experience that requires little effort other than finding the nearest weapon and pointing it in the right direction."Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney"Platform: DSGenre: AdventurePublisher: CapcomESRB Rating: T, for TeenGrade: 3 starsThe "Ace Attorney" games are being churned out so fast that gamers will soon notice that quantity is having a negative effect on quality. The franchise is not there yet, but "Apollo Justice" toes the line delicately.Apollo is a new lawyer/hero du jour, and with him -- and a healthy dose of new characters and familiar faces from previous games -- it's your job to investigate and defend four clients accused of murder.If for no other reason, this edition is worth checking out because of the DS-specific enhancements. Previous games were enjoyable, but lacked touch-screen interactivity. Now there are some new investigative tricks and other additions that really make this game feel more at home on the handheld device.You get the sense that this series is teetering on the edge of becoming too easy for its own good. The injection of new ideas could really help save the next game from being considered the beginning of the end."Lost Odyssey"Platform: Xbox 360Genre: Role-playingPublisher: MicrosoftESRB Rating: T, for TeenGrade: 3 starsIf "Lost Odyssey" were a person, it would probably be an only child. This game requires you to spend long hours with it in order to be rewarded. OK, really big generalization I just made, but you have to step back and laugh at how a game can make you feel like you're tending something that craves attention -- and gleefully rewards you for doing so.You'll play as Kaim and, along the way, pick up a host of other characters to fill your group and ward off evil. The plot is rather insignificant -- the drama and joy are derived from the characters. If it had a better plot, this game could have been a moneymaking feature film. But you'll love where the characters take you -- even if the in-between action is not the stuff of legends.That's mainly because the action and RPG elements play like recycled elements of other games, so while this is a noble effort, it's not groundbreaking. In addition to the characters, the visuals are another strength, featuring beautiful vistas and designs that definitely have that "Final Fantasy" depth and brilliance.(Contact Chris Campbell at game_on_games(at)mac.com.)(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, http://www.scrippsnews.com)