The Bouncer Mini-Review

Rented The Bouncer for fun...figure I'd need an occasional diversion from studying.

GRAPHICS - 4/5

Good. Technically superior to many games out there. However, to be honest, the graphics of the Bouncer didn't really strike me the way Skies of Arcadia did, for example. I think a large part of it is the overly blurry effect, but I'm guessing a big it is the lack of interactivity that really kills this game. So although the Bouncer is a pretty game, it's not really aesthetically impressive. There's simply no wow factor.

SOUND - 3/5

Nothing notable...not great, not bad. The punching/kicking sounds are pathetic, the explosions are ho-hum.

GAMEPLAY - 2/5

God, I remember when Squaresoft was showing videos of the Bouncer there were a lot of people ready to jack off right then and there. Some were already calling it the greatest fighting game ever. I saw the videos; the sequences looked good; but I knew that the gameplay was far from guaranteed and that it would probably end up as a Final Fight clone.

Boy was I wrong, this game plays worse than Final Fight. The story is stupid, the cinemas boring and the gameplay is dull. Best fighting game my ass.

OVERALL - 3/5

Stricly average game, meaning it's rent only at best. The fact that you can easily complete the game under two hours doesn't support its case any. Another instance where the final product doesn't do the hype justice.

 

Bud...I'm a fair reviewer to games~

And trust me..the bouncer is..ummm

like Jeff said..WORSE THAN FINAL FIGHT~~~~~~
It's just not worth ur cash..I'll much rather buy TTT than Bouncer~
And U KNOW how I feel abt Tekken~

~~~~~~/versus/images/icons/smile.gif~~~~~~~~~

<font color=red>~~~SummErs' 'enemy SPODED, enemy DOWN~~~'

 

I disagree with All of you, The Bouncer is da Bestess gamez EVAR!!!!

Ok now that the drugs have worn off finally, I rented The Bouncer not too long ago and I share some of ice-9's feelings about the game.

I. Out of all the Music tracks in the Game, I only liked 1 theme and that was the fighting theme of what's his face- the young kid with the colorful attire.. Call me crazy but I liked that 1 theme enough to buy the Soundtrack CD a short while back.

II. As far as playable characters go, I only liked Kou. His attacks and moves were the only ones that seemed to work out effectively to me. The other two characters sucked too much. The big guy was way too slow and his moves way to lame. The young kid's moves were too friggin week and unfocused. Kou's moves seemed to be right on!

III. The graphics are pretty darn nice in some areas, the softness of the images make them good at time and annoying at other times.


IV. With the power of the PS2, there's NO reason why this game wasn't a 2-Player co-op experience..


V. The game isn't really a total lost, there are a few good gameplay points but the lack of interactivity, 2-Player co-op, and other little touches that are in other good Beat em ups just isn't there.. I did manage to play the game quite a bit though , I kinda liked the Point System of increasing your power, stamina, etc..


VI. This is more like an interactive Movie.. The game seems to consist mostly of FMV cut-scenes followed by 2 minutes of fighting followed again by another series of cut-scenes.

 

I guess I should add the disclaimer that I've only played the game two times through...if it wasn't for exam week I would definitely have spent more time (playing and this review).

However, to quickly address the gameplay stuff, I have played Ehrgeiz and Tobal and you will not see the comments I've made about the Bouncer apply to them. in terms of a fighting engine perspective the Bouncer seems very simplistic. Maybe I haven't played it enough but certainly on my first go at Ehrgeiz, Tobal, SC, DOA2, Guilty Gear, and the rest of the better fighting games I have been able to tell right away if there's depth.

Let me put it this way: based on initial impressions I'd put the Bouncer at around Dynamite Cop level (but a lot less fun and a lot more stiff).

And argh, if you have any doubts about Squaresoft, check out some of their other PS2 efforts...disastrous. Maybe it rubbed off to Dream Factory somehow...

 

Only thing I liked abt Bouncer is the character designs...pretty cool...n what's her name looks cute as well....Gah~ can't remember her name~

The intro showing how those assasins(robots?) landed were whacked~!

Plus..I agree with Ice.
So far...Square's PS2 efforts are pretty bad....
Driving emotion type -SHIT (yes...S stands for shit!~)

The only two companies I like on the PS2 so far are Capcom n Konami...

Of course...I'm getting my GT3 soon...so add another one game I look forward to playing~



<font color=red>~~~SummErs' 'enemy SPODED, enemy DOWN~~~'

 

On a side (but related note), I remember an interview quite awhile ago with one of the guys behind The Bouncer. During a part of the interview, he emphasized that the game would be geared towards the very casual gamer and thus the interface and gameplay would be very simple (I think he was mentioning that it would be simpler than what fans would be expecting or something like that). I think he might have added that the game was more focused towards a cinematic appeal.

-Chanchai

 

cinematic.....
alright..I'll give them that

but seriously.....
Why create a game where all u do is watch n press the buttons...then REPEAT.....just to unlock characters?

Of course...the game did prove one thing. People DO CHOOSE graphics over gameplay.

watching it climb all the way to the higher end of the sales charts and seeing better games crash n burn...

scary.

<font color=red>~~~SummErs' 'enemy SPODED, enemy DOWN~~~'

 

Myke,

I also have to agree with Ice on this one. When the reality of the Bouncer started to come out in reviews (and it really is the truth), I wasn't really interested in the game at all. But I bought it with the fact that my game shop has an 80% back return policy in mind.

As you've probably heard, it can be beaten really quickly, lacks depth, etc. etc. But a few more points about the game you might not know:

Unlike the Tobal and Erghiez games, the bouncer has NO grappling system. There are throws, but they basically work like a short range attack that often misses. The awesome grappling of dream factory games past is nowhere to be seen.

The "different story lines/cut scenes for different characters" element (which I was looking forward to) is this: during loading between levels, the game displays what looks like a script from a movie scene, that usually contains about 8 sentances, like:

Boy: fight me!

Man: you're crazy, boy!

Girl: don't do it!

and to top it off, sometimes these come and go so quickly, you can't even read them! While some of the actual dialogue between certain characters does change with a diff. player char., it's really minor.

While I love Tobal, I was a little disappointed when many of the moves from Tobal were rehashed for erghiez. It just seemed cheap. Well the bouncer is worse. Want to know what it's like to play Sion? Imagine playing Chuji with about 1/3rd the moves and 1 throw, against the same 10 characters, for 2 hours.

There is no difference between high and low guard.

Regarding instant mass market appeal, my local game shop says the game sells very well, so I guess it does have that, but even the most powder-puff magazine reviewer can't ignore what a stinker this game is in the important departments. There is almost no learning curve, because there's nothing really to learn. Like the "trinity rush", sounds cool at first, right? then you realize that it's a 1 button tap "super move" that does little damage, is pretty dorky, and is the same (camera, motion) every time! It should be called "three way cinema attack".

How about the "jump attack button"? Or the fact that to get different moves out of the 4 buttons, rather than using the stick and buttons, it depends on how hard you push the button? soft, hard, hard or hard, hard. and most of the buyable special moves merely involve pressing the "specal move button" with one of the other buttons.

You'll fight the same 3 or 4 bosses over and over (at least 3 times each).

I guess my point is that it isn't "anything like dream factory's past efforts". There's more gameplay in the practice dungeon of Tobal 2's quest mode than in the whole of the bouncer.

But IMO, square (which has worked hard to become a peddler of almost all polished dog turds in the last few years) could have made one simple change that would have made the whole thing a pleasant, fun experience: make the $49.99 price tag a $19.99 price tag.

Spotlite

 

this sort of game is dangerous its true its true. this could spell the end of game play as we know it if games carry on like this and will all end up as crappy interactive movies. My mate loves this game what a retard i got board playing it after 5 minutes

'Strong body but a weak mind' Sam Seed from Drunken Masters

 

Hmmm...
while talking to my friend..it just occured to me..instead of using final fight as a comparison....the 70 man battle at the end of Shenmue...

Now...if only the bouncer is somewhere even CLOSE to it...

<font color=red>~~~SummErs' 'enemy SPODED, enemy DOWN~~~'