This one-on-one cat-and-mouse game puts one player on a motorcycle, while the other gets to tool around in an invincible helicopter gunship. The biker’s job is to stay alive for as long as possible while racing through checkpoints for money, while the chopper pilot has to track him down and destroy him with auto-aiming explosive rounds. Once the biker is inevitably murdered, the two switch roles, and whoever’s collected the most cash by the end of the match is declared the winner.

Mikel: I get the feeling they came up with the name for this mode first and then created the game type around it.

Chris: I'm inclined to agree with you, since it's a 2 player affair, but I know players are out there who are really good with the helicopters.

Mikel: Yes. As opposed to me, who somehow managed to get the chopper stuck in some trees and then crashed into the river.

Chris: Well, you did run me over with the helicopter, which all things considered was quite sportsmanlike of you.

Mikel: I did like that the chopper is indestructible. It makes it a lot easier to chase a tiny ground target when you don't have to worry about a building clipping off your rotor. I was also happy that targeting you didn't take any grand effort; all I had to do was point myself in your general direction and the explosive rounds did the rest.

Chris: You could've shot me from the air, but no, you decided to aim low and take me off my bike with your f**king propellor blades!

Mikel: Yeah, I got you Planet Terror style.

Chris: 28 Days Later style!

Mikel: And then crashing into the water style. I think the way you killed me had slightly more panache.

Chris: We should reiterate this probably requires two people good with a helicopter, as taking out the guy on the bike will cause you to switch positions.

Mikel: You set my bike on fire and I COULDN'T GET OFF. So I just had to watch while I burned to death and my bike exploded.

Chris: There is still an elegance to killing a cyclist with a million-dollar piece of aeronautical engineering.



Mikel: So yeah, probably the one major drawback is that you can't leave your bike and grab another ride, which might have made for a more interesting cat-and-mouse game but would have diluted the importance of the title.

Chris: That can be difficult, since bikes are far less forgiving than cars. Trying to escape heli-gun fire can be difficult. And by difficult, I mean I fell off an overpass, twice, yards away from my checkpoint.

Mikel: Like, in trying to avoid it? Or it blew you off the overpass?

Chris: I took a sharp turn at, say, helicopter-munitions avoidance speed, and careened off a bridge, onto another freeway, and had to backtrack to find my exit as if there wasn't some asshole shooting at me from the goddamned sky.

Mikel: I can't imagine the auto-aiming from the chopper's guns makes life terribly easy for the cyclist.

Chris: It certainly was more forgiving than the bike’s handling. But hey, people love a challenge!

Mikel: But really, the challenge is in just finding you. And then keeping pointed in the right direction, which if you haven't gotten the hang of the chopper controls is no mean feat.

Chris: Are we almost done?


With a structure that’s similar to GTA IV’s Mafiya Work mode, Club Business casts all players as members of the Lost, who are then called by club member Angus and given tasks to complete. Whoever completes the most tasks becomes club leader, and when playing as a team you can earn extra cash by riding in formation.

Mikel: So it looks like there's a mode that they didn't show us or tell us about during the demo, Club Business. It sounds a lot like the existing Mafiya Work mode, only with an ultimate goal of being club leader. Thoughts?

Chris: We didn't play it, but it looks far similar to GTA's story missions, so I'm interested.


Feb 12, 2009