Originally Posted by
some reviewer, I edited it to make it sound less stupid
When the game was first announced over a year ago now the developers were promising full interactivity with the environments and plenty of excitement. While the latter may be true, the former is sadly missing, and it's a big loss.
The Bouncer follows the fortunes of three bouncers; Sion Barzahd, Volt Krueger, and Kou Leifoh who all work together at the same neighborhood bar. One day, a secret attacker ambushes the three bouncers and kidnaps Sion's girlfriend, Dominique. Naturally, the game centers on finding and rescuing Dominique who holds a terrible secret involving the Mikado Corporation and her own importance. The game takes you deep into the Mikado headquarters where you are required to use great fighting skills to defeat all the enemies and uncover the terrible plot.
The Bouncer is split up into three main sections. The majority of the game will see you progress through the story mode, which will only take an hour or so to complete, but has slight variations depending on the character used. The Bouncer also includes a survival mode, which is pretty standard fare while the multi-player mode adds some longevity to the game overall but is no where near as enthralling as a dedicated 1-on-1 beat-'em-up. One neat feature with The Bouncer is that the game unlocks almost 20 characters, including the enemies and bosses, for use after completing the story mode.
The fighting in The Bouncer is very reminiscent of the Japanese PlayStation hit Erhgeiz which is not a bad thing. The fighting is a lot of fun with a huge variety in the moves. As you defeat the enemies you earn points that allow you to "purchase" upgrades such as new moves or increased health etc. This becomes vital as you progress through the game and encounter increasingly difficult enemies.
While it all sounds like a great game something has gone horribly wrong between the games announcement and its release. The game has turned into more of an interactive movie then a beat-'em-up. You'll be watching 2 or 3 minutes of superbly rendered movies before fighting a handful of opponents, saving the game and then being dished out several more minutes of, once again, superbly rendered movies. The only benefit to this is the ability to change characters before entering the next fighting sequence. However, as much as I love computer generated movies, and go to almost anything with CG on the big screen, it all gets too much in this game.
Sadly the game is also missing a lot of the branching storylines promised. There is one point in the Mikado Headquarters when each character has his own path, and Kou's password battles are fun, but it's only a small portion of the game. Also gone is the promised interaction with the surroundings. You may be standing right next to chair but try as you might you can't pick it up and smash it over the opponents head. Want to kick a guy into the air and onto a table nearby? It can’t be done. It could have added a whole new dimension to the game.
Although the surrounding screenshots give you some idea as to the quality of the graphics it's not until you see it moving that you truly appreciate how much effort has gone in to this title. From the opening sequence in the bar to the final battle your jaw will be on the ground, it's that good. The character animation is superb although some of the enemies, especially the early ones, seem too robotic for my liking. Although the game looks stunning, there is one horrific flaw that distracts from the game play. That flaw is the camera angles. At times the camera with put you behind a box or wall fighting an enemy completely blind. There isn't even an option to rotate the camera, or put it directly behind your characters. It's horrific and probably the worst I've seen in years.
Sound-wise The Bouncer is as impressive as the graphics. This is the first game to use Dolby Digital 5.1 sound which truly immerses the player. The developers obviously know their stuff with some atmospheric music behind the action while the effects are hard hitting action and crunches as you land the punches. The speech is also very well done with the baddies sounding bad-assed while the good guys come up with some typically lame comments.
The Bouncer has been a nightmare to review. On the one hand, the graphics and sound are simply stunning; on the other hand, the game is so short-lived and is lacking in some aspects of game play. Hopefully, when or if the developers ever decide to do a sequel, they will put a lot more effort into the game play and include the features that were expected with this game. It really is hard to recommend you buy The Bouncer, unless you are a complete CGI and beat-'em-up fan. The safest bet is to go to your local video games store and rent it for a few hours, because that's about as long as you will play it for.
Square Enix (my darling Squee), Please [the Bouncer]
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streme Wheelie
