Gaming Target - Xbox: Fight Club

Written by John Scalzo on March 02, 2004

Early Impressions: So many quotes to choose from! Just go to the IMDB and read them all.

Abraham Lincoln and Mohandes K. Gandhi. Two great men of their times and for all time. One led the United States through it's darkest hour. The other strived for independence for the Indian people and peace. When the question was "If you could fight anyone from history, who would it be?" these two great figures of history stood tall in the eyes of Tyler Durden and The Narrator. But when Fight Club becomes a game later this year there's no word yet on whether they will show up as secret characters.

We don't know a lot about Fight Club the game. What we do know is that Vivendi Universal Games has tapped first time developer Genuine Games to turn one of the most bizarre movies of 1999 into a video game. The movie followed the exploits of Tyler Durden, The Narrator, and the rest of Project Mayhem challenging the commercialism of the modern world with ever increasing public statements until finally they... well you'll just have to watch one of the greatest movies I've ever seen for that.

Vivendi has been very tight lipped about any Fight Club details since the game was announced in late December. We do know that the game is being created from the ground up to feature the most realistic street fighting action ever. Chris Miller of VU Games has since talked to HomeLan and expanded slightly on that initial assessment. He has said that Fight Club will include real time injuries including cuts, bruises, and broken bones.

That same interview also led to the confirmation that Fight Club will feature 14 playable characters but outside of Tyler and "Jack" The Narrator, Mr. Miller wouldn't name any of these characters. There is no shortage of great characters in the film that could eventually become one of the remaining twelve. Characters like Robert Paulson (played by Meatloaf "yes, that Meatloaf" Aday) and Angel Face (played by Jared Leto) were fan favorites and I fully expect them to show up in the game in some way. But I do have to stress that both of those characters are unconfirmed for the game and just speculation by me.

Mr. Miller also revealed that in addition to an obvious Versus Mode, Fight Club will include a deep Story Mode that parallels the movie and tells the back story of what you didn't see on film. He also cryptically referred to "several storylines" so might that mean Fight Club will feature branching paths or possibly taking multiple characters through the Story Mode? We'll just have to wait and see.

While no one has seen the game in action, Vivendi has released a dozen screens of the game in action and it is looking very well done for such an early stage. The characters of Tyler and Jack are well detailed and while they don't look very much like Brad Pitt or Edward Norton, that could be by design. The environments these two fight in though are unmistakable and it's almost certain that they will take place in the alley behind Lou's Bar, the basement of Lou's Bar, the lot on Paper Street and at an airfield. It's also a good bet that the completed game will feature many more environments.