The Bouncer

Sion, a man haunted by a tragic past. Within him lies strength and kindness, but also great sorrow. All this will change when he meets a girl named Dominique. These are the residents of DOG STREET.

Sion

The Bouncer was one of the most anticipated games for the PlayStation 2. It promised impressived character visuals and multiplayer fighting action at a level never before possible on console gaming. Does it deliver or disappoint? The depends on what you were expecting, but for me it was a bit of both.

Modus Operandi

There are 3 modes of play - Story, Survival and Versus. Story Mode allows you to chose one out of the three main characters (Sion, Volt and Kou) using an Active Character Select system, and progress through the adventure of saving a kidnapped Dominique from the Mikado Corporation. The story is told mainly through real-time cut scenes (with some FMV) with various branch points that allows you to play as one of the three leads.

Kou Volt

Survival Mode offers more choice of characters. In addition to the three main guys, you get to play as other characters and bosses which you can earn by clearing the game more than once. In this mode you have to fight various enemies from different stages for as long as you can without health bar recharge.

Versus Mode enables up to 4 players (computer or human) to duke it out simultaneously. You'll need a Multi-Tap Adapter in order to connect 4 controllers to the PS2. Unfortunately, I don't have one so I couldn't test this option.

The Low-down

To me, this game doesn't seem to know what it wants to be. In Story Mode, most of the game involves watching the story unfold. Make no mistakes, the real-time characters and visual effects are definitely some the best so far in any interactive game. The story is interesting enough, with some surprises and variations to reduce the monotony of the obviously linear scenario. There are even a few laughs in store thanks to some cheesy lines and funny situations. Once you seen them all, however, you'll most likely skip them, but I do suggest full viewings for at least the first three games (using a different character each time). The endings may be a little different depending on how you choose your paths.

As far as fighting is concerned, don't expect any deep battle system. The game features touch-sensitive buttons that modify moves depending on how hard you press the buttons. The role-playing element takes the form of Bouncer Points which you can trade for improved attributes and special moves. Trinity Rush is a cool looking attack involving all three bouncers, but isn't really that damaging to the opponent. Chain Bonus gives you extra BPs when you knock out enemies in quick succession. However, the BPs aren't useful after you have bought all the power-ups and skills.

The sound effects and music are OK, but not really worth mentioning. Of merit, however, is the fact that all dialogue has been recorded in both English and Japanese. There are even two versions of the ending song ("Love is the Gift"/"Owaranai mono - Forevermore"). Indeed, importers will be pleased to know that even the menus and subtitles can be switched between English and Japanese.

The Verdict

It's a nice game, but apart from the visuals nothing much else is "next-generation". The cameras can be a hinderance sometimes, and the AI (both friendlies and enemies) could use a lot of work. In my opinion, it lacks in too many areas that prevent it from being elevated to greatness, but it is nonetheless notable for advancing this genre of interactive action.