Pure PS2 Crap (The Bouncer (PS2))

Member Name: Guile176

Product:	The Bouncer (PS2)
Date:	16/04/03 (158 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Pretty graphics standing still

Disadvantages: Everything else

The Bouncer was easily one of the most talked about and hyped PS2
titles before it's release. Early video and pictures of it, looked
graphically insane. The real time cinemas and in game graphics, were
so good that it resembled high quality CGI video more then the
typical polygons we were used to. All this and a strong company like
Squaresoft behind it. Sure Square has had some pretty big misses
when it came to non RPGs, but hey! Square also made Einhander on the
PS which was perhaps one of the finest shooters ever created.
Besides The Bouncer had a big budget backing it up so what could
possibly go wrong? Everything that's what.

Ok before I get into that everything i'll tell you what The Bouncer
is all about. You get your choice out of 3 different characters each
of which are bouncers at a bar room. First up is the main character
Sion. Sion seems to be the quickest yet weakest of the 3. He's also
the coolest looking of the bunch. Next up is Volt. Volts the big
strong and slow guy of the group. Finally there's Kou who seems to
be the average guy of the 3.

The story has Sion's girlfriend Dominique (she's only 15 and Sion is
19, can we say jail bait?) kidnaped from the bar in the beginning of
the game. The group then persues her trying to rescue her. That's
all i'll give away on the storyline. The actual story itself goes
far deeper and is much more involved then that of course. I however
chose not to give away anymore since the storyline is the only thing
this game has going for it.

Now for the gameplay it
self. When I first heard The Bouncer was
going to be a side scrolling beat em up like Final Fight and Streets
of Rage, I became pretty interested. Despite some of the negative
press I heard on The Bouncer about it being simplistic I didn't
care. I mean how tough can it be to make a quality game of this
type? The gameplay formula was pretty much perfected way back in the
16-bit days. Come now surely a high profile company like Squaresoft
could get this right. Unfortunately they didn't.

Gameplay consist of watching a lengthy intermission, then choosing a
character. Once you choose your character, you'll watch another
intermission, then the action starts. The action is as simple as it
gets. You and 2 other CPU controlled characters take on a screen or
2 of between 5 - 10 bad guys. For each bad guy you beat, you earn
Bouncer Points. After completing one of the games many ultra short
levels, you'll earn a few more Bouncer Points. These points can be
used to buy powerups such as increased life, defense, or strength.
They can also be used to buy new moves as well. Yeah, this all sounds
cool, but trust me its not. Your standard attacks you begin the game
with are far more then enough to get you though. After your done
making your purchases you then watch another intermission and the
whole cycle repeats itself.

The actual action itself, is really simplistic. Simply mash away at
the buttons, and occasionally block. You can also sit back, and let
your CPU partners take care of most of the bad guys, if you wish. You
can also do a 3 team move called a t
rinity rush. This is pretty
boring though and adds next to nothing to the rest of the action.
There are no weapons to pick up either. Heck even the backgrounds
feature next to no interaction.

There are however, a few instances where the gameplay is altered
slightly. Some parts will have you going solo without your buddies,
while others have you running though levels trying to get out before
the doors close. Those levels in particular suck, due to some horrid
camera work.


As for gameplay modes, there's not really much here. You get your
story mode, which I just talked about. The story mode is pretty short
and shouldn't take you more then maybe an hour and a half to beat.
That's if you choose to watch the games countless intermissions.
Then you may have about 25 - 40 minutes of gameplay depending on
your skill level. You'll need to go through the game a few times if
you want to max out all your skills. I however don't think many
people will want to bother to play through more then once as the
gameplay itself sucks so bad.

You also get a few other modes included, such as a 4 player versus
mode, a battle royal where the last one standing wins and a team
battle. There's also a single player survival mode for those of you
who get off on wasting hordes of mindless drones. One cool thing
about these modes is that you can unlock all the different
characters in the game to use in it. Still though that doesn't
change the fact this game sucks worse then any other PS2 game out
there.





Graphics 8: Wow, these graphics are pretty. Characters all move
incredibly fluid and life like. The levels, despite be so friggen
small have tons of eye candy to them. The textures are nice and
detailed. In all, the entire thing look like a high quality CGI
intermission.

So why did I give it only an 8 and not a 9 or a 10? There's 3
reasons. First up is that there is a near total lack of any type of
interaction in the background. Everything is just simply there. No
smashing holes in the walls or throwing bad guys through tables.
It's amazing really. We have a 128 bit system and a genre who's play
was perfected years ago on 16-bit. Why is it this game has less
background interaction then most 8 bit titles?

The second reason for the 8 was the graphics looked washed out. Yep
it looks as if someone smeared a thin layer of Vaseline over the
screen. Its not really that bad but it was more then enough to annoy
me.

Finally, there's the horrid camera angles. The camera never seems to
be where you want it half of the time. This is especially bad in the
level where your trying to beat the closing doors. Some of the rooms
in that area will put the camera in front of your character so you
cant see what's up ahead. Pathetic really.



Sound 7: Another thing that The Bouncer was hyped up about was it's
sound, which is recorded in Dolby 5.1. Sure it all sounds impressive
though a good stereo system but what's the good of it if what's here
sucks? Ok, the sound effects are all great as is the voice acting. r> The music however, is the usual techno/rock mix you've heard 10,000
times before. Sound would have gotten at least a 9 if it wasn't for
the music.


Control 6: Mash those buttons away, and don't forget to occasionally
block. That's about how complex as it gets, as most the special moves
are nothing great. Controls are ok, and nothing more. Tracking
enemies is more of a hassle then it should be. Add that to the sucky
camera angles and you've got a winning combination. Way to go
Square.


Overall, I would not recommend The Bouncer to anyone. The whole game
is about 99% story, and 1% gameplay. Square should be ashamed of
themselves releasing crap like this. The Bouncer is by far the worst
game i've played yet on the PS2. Heck, its so bad and has so little
gameplay, it makes the likes of Driving Emotion and Cart Fury look
like masterpieces. If your looking for beat em up action on the PS2
then keep looking. My best advice would be to get either Dynamite
Cop or Zombie Revenge on the Dreamcast. Both of those titles totally
wipe this clean like toilet paper to your backside. Avoid this title
at all cost. It's not even worth $5.