The Bouncer

Don't let me fool you by placing this title in the fighting genre; "The Bouncer" is not simply a fighting game.  In addition to fighting, it incorporates elements of traditional action, adventure, and RPG games.  This game will easily grab your attention with the impressive quality of the opening movie sequence.  The storyline is complex enough to make you want to keep playing, but not at all confusing.  Though much of it may be over exaggerated, it has a pretty unique premise and I have to give Squaresoft™ the necessary credit for this aspect.

The scene is first set at a bar named "Fate."  Here you are introduced to Sion, Kou, and Volt, who are all bouncers at the bar.  A young and cheerful city girl named Dominique comes to visit Sion, as she obviously has a crush on him.  At this point the mood is still very calm and cheerful.  All of a sudden a group of the Mikado Group's special forces fly in through the window and kidnap Dominique.  It is then that you engage in your first battle.  Every time you are about to fight, you are forced to choose which bouncer you'd like to control.  Each of them is very unique in every possible way.  They all have distinct appearances, which are as detailed as possible.  Their fighting styles differ greatly and this is nice because you can pick the bouncer you prefer to use to defeat the enemy with.  After you kill the opposing characters, you receive what are called "bouncer points."  These points are awarded based on a battle evaluation and additional bonus points.  The battle evaluation points are determined by your character's current rank and the power of the enemies (which is shown on the screen as you fight) who you just defeated.  The bonus points on the other hand are awarded for how you finish the battle based on the moves you use, etc.

You are able to use the points that you receive from fighting in a couple of different ways.  You can use them on "life up," "power up," or "defense up," which each increase the corresponding stats of your chosen character.  The other option is to buy new moves for your character, such as the "tornado uppercut" or "double knuckle," which happen to be a couple of Sion's special moves.  As you beef up your character's stats, his rank will also increase.  This increase allows for even more points to be earned in future combat scenes.

Okay, back to the storyline.  Your objective is now to rescue Dominique, even though you aren't sure why she was abducted in the first place, you immediately head for the train that leads to Mikado.  Along the way to your destination, you run into more of Mikado's soldiers and even some rent-a-cops who intend on stopping you from reaching Dominique.  By running into these characters you are provided with numerous fight scenes in which you must do whatever it takes to defeat these enemy characters and to not be killed.  If you fail to meet either of these requirements, sorry, game over.  There aren't any multiple lives in this one, but luckily you are allowed to save your game after every battle.  This is a great feature for a game with so many different instances of battle.

Keep in mind that you aren't actually controlling a character through all these scenes.  Much of what I describe are movies in which you just watch the plot unfold, aside from the fighting scenes and a few other miscellaneous sequences.  These movies are entertaining, but because there are so many of them, the time you are actually controlling a character is at a minimum.  Although this is a bit disappointing to me, it very well may not be to many others.  Events and dialog vary depending on which character you choose in each situation.  The character you choose will be the one who you enter the upcoming battle with and they are also the focus for other events that occur along your journey.  You can reveal new facts and see the whole story by playing through the game several times, choosing different characters along the way.

Story mode is what I have been describing so far in this review.  There are two other game play modes, namely: versus mode and survival mode.  There is a good reason why I'm not writing much about these modes of play.  This reason happens to be that they're not even worth playing. Minus the plot and impressive movie sequences, this game falls right off the charts.  Versus mode allows for up to four players to join in (using multitap) and participate in a couple different variations of no holds bared brawling, which I won't specifically go into.  Survival mode is a single player mode in which you go up against enemies and you are evaluated on your fighting tactics at the end of each stage (assuming you live).  The scenery in this mode just plain sucks unless hallways are really attractive to you for some strange reason.  It can be used as practice for story mode, but you're just as well off if you totally avoid survival mode (recommended).

The uniqueness of the characters and the settings is quite astounding to say the least. Much time was obviously spent developing the graphics contained in this eye pleaser.  All scenes are not far from being realistic and they also have a nice fantasy quality about them at the same time.  I have nothing to complain about in the graphics department.  If you are looking for a game that takes advantage of Playstation 2's graphical capabilities, "The Bouncer" is a good choice.

The sound was very well done and thought out, both the music and sound effects.  Throughout many of the movie sequences, orchestral mood music is played in the background, just as is done in films.  This is a great way to spark emotions and to fuel the plot.  During fight scenes and certain other situations, the music changes to a more rockin' style to go along with the action that's taking place.  Some of this music gets close to being cheesy, but the majority does well in following what's happening on screen.  The sound effects are lifelike and seem almost three dimensional, even with only stereo speakers.  On a home theater system, sound wise, this game would be a blast since it supports Dolby surround.  The dialog in this game follows the characters' lip movements very well and is available in your choice of either English or Japanese.

The controls in "The Bouncer" are definitely up to current standards.  The four pressure sensitive buttons allow you to perform high, mid, low, and jumping attacks, which are different for each character.  When pressed lightly the corresponding attack is weak and when pressed hard the attack is strong.  The directional pad is also pressure sensitive, allowing you to walk when pressing it lightly and running when you push it harder.  I think it's great that they actually utilize this feature of the Playstation 2; it serves a great purpose and allows for more variability.   For all you analog fans, don't worry, you still get a movement control that's just as good.  As you increase the degree of tilt of the analog stick, the speed accurately increases and this allows for precise character control.  Also available are buttons for guarding, activating your character's extra skills, and to signal a "Trinity Rush" (a group attack).  Keep in mind that this game only supports DualShock2tm controllers due to the pressure sensitive buttons.  So if you and a few buddies want to play some versus mode (you really shouldn't), make sure they bring their PS2 controllers!

I really had my hopes up for this one, but I have to admit it ended up being somewhat of a letdown.  The graphics and sound are outstanding.  It's unfortunate that the game play just can't back up these great features.

This game is rated "T" for animated violence.  It requires 70KB on a Playstation 2 memory card.

Gameplay: 4.0
The worst part about "The Bouncer" is when you are actually in control of the characters (instead of watching).  You are built up to expect outstanding playability, but the game play doesn't pack the necessary punch.

Graphics: 10.0
This game, if nothing else, is definitely PS2 eye candy.  The graphics will undoubtedly impress you.

Sound: 9.0
Great music and realistic sound effects.

Difficulty: 7.0
The difficulty increases as the game progresses, but overall it's a little on the easy side.

Concept: 8.5
A great combination of fighting, RPG, action, adventure, and cinematic elements with a pretty cool storyline to back it all up.

Multiplayer: 5.0
Story mode unfortunately doesn't support multiplayer action, even though it seems like it should.  Versus mode is definitely not a noteworthy component of this game.

Overall: 7.25