| The Bouncer One of the best looking games ever made is FINALLY on UK shores after all the waiting and all this hype, was it worth waiting for? Dominique Cross is a mysterious 15 year old girl who has eased her self in to a type of mascot for the local fate bar, this bar is also where 3 bouncers by the names of Sion Barzahd, Kou Leifou and Volt Kreuger work, but when Dominique is kidnapped by the mikado group the three bouncers go on a deep rescue mission, obviously there is much more to the plot but that is the basics, and all I need to tell you. The characters are what you expect as Squaresoft were involved in the development, Sion is the serious guy who has a tragic past and is falling for Dominique while Volt is big and tough talking and he knows more about Mikado then first thought and finally Kou is the wise talking humourous character, they all are completly different which is brilliant. The game sadly lacks gameplay as it will only take a few hours to complete, but this is kind os surported by the fact that there is also a vs mode which allows up to four people to play and also a survival mode. But of what is here of the game is absoloutly stunning, think along the lines of arcade classics such as Double Dragon, Streets Of Rage or Final Fight, The Bouncer is basically the same of all these games, but it contains more story and some RPG elements but more about that later. The fighting is incredibly fluid but slightly sluggish, each characters fighting style is completly unique to that character. The RPG elements come in to play after you have reached the end of each section every enemie you beat you gain bouncer points from, these points are exactly like experience points, the points can then be used at the end of the section to buy new moves or to gain more power or defence etc, the characters eventually level up in a ranking system in which S rank is the highest one, the system works well and doesn't try to make the game in to an RPG, the system also adds to the overall lifespan as the characters can be fully powered up with 2-3 plays. The story is pushed along at a good pace for a game of this type, with each FMV piece normally taking place at the end of each battle section, the facial expressions here are very realistic and it just goes to show how powerful the PS2 really is. The acting through the game is also mostly very impressive and each voice fits each character superbly. The Bouncer looks beautiful, plays good and tells a brilliant story but it also is far too short which is a real shame, a good rental but not worth full purchase!Chris Wigham 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 |