Part of my 'unofficial Final Fantasy' canon. Like some kind of bastard love child between Tekken and FFX, The Bouncer is a techno-infused take on the beat 'em up genre through a distinctly Y2K era SquareSoft lens. Characters with spiky haircuts and nonsensical outfits fight their way through retro-futuristic locales, set to a backdrop of slick electric guitars and techno rock.
At first glance, you'd be forgiven for mistaking The Bouncer for a new entry in the Final Fantasy series, as they share so much aesthetic makeup with each other that they may as well be related, thanks in part due to Nomura's heavy involvement in both titles. It also feels similarly well produced with an attention to graphical fidelity and a gorgeous all round presentation.
In essence then, The Bouncer is basically a beautifully rendered, feature length Final Fantasy cutscene that's occasionally injected with short and sweet bursts of arcade beat 'em up action, which play out like a simple version of Streets of Rage in the Tekken engine. These sections are fun enough, thanks mostly to the hilarious ragdoll physics which lets you launch enemies into the air and send them hurtling in to one another, but all too brief and unfortunately don't offer much in the way of depth or variety. With a focus so clearly placed on its story and presentation above deep gameplay or mechanics, you often feel like you're spending more time watching than playing- but that's not necessarily a bad thing. On the contrary,The Bouncer takes some interesting creative risks to stand out from the crowd and in hindsight could be considered one of the first truly cinematic movie games.
Clocking in at around only 2 hours, the game is easily beatable in one sitting but offers some decent replay value, as it can be played from three different perspectives with unlockable characters and features branching paths, reframing certain events within the story.
Harshly judged at release for not living up to sky high expectations (being Squares first release on the new console), The Bouncer is more than the sum of its parts and well worth revisiting for those looking to indulge in some mindless fun and early PS2 aesthetic kino, if nothing else. And boy does it deliver on that.
At first glance, you'd be forgiven for mistaking The Bouncer for a new entry in the Final Fantasy series, as they share so much aesthetic makeup with each other that they may as well be related, thanks in part due to Nomura's heavy involvement in both titles. It also feels similarly well produced with an attention to graphical fidelity and a gorgeous all round presentation.
In essence then, The Bouncer is basically a beautifully rendered, feature length Final Fantasy cutscene that's occasionally injected with short and sweet bursts of arcade beat 'em up action, which play out like a simple version of Streets of Rage in the Tekken engine. These sections are fun enough, thanks mostly to the hilarious ragdoll physics which lets you launch enemies into the air and send them hurtling in to one another, but all too brief and unfortunately don't offer much in the way of depth or variety. With a focus so clearly placed on its story and presentation above deep gameplay or mechanics, you often feel like you're spending more time watching than playing- but that's not necessarily a bad thing. On the contrary,The Bouncer takes some interesting creative risks to stand out from the crowd and in hindsight could be considered one of the first truly cinematic movie games.
Clocking in at around only 2 hours, the game is easily beatable in one sitting but offers some decent replay value, as it can be played from three different perspectives with unlockable characters and features branching paths, reframing certain events within the story.
Harshly judged at release for not living up to sky high expectations (being Squares first release on the new console), The Bouncer is more than the sum of its parts and well worth revisiting for those looking to indulge in some mindless fun and early PS2 aesthetic kino, if nothing else. And boy does it deliver on that.
2 Comments
Same, it's definitely one I've come to appreciate more in retrospect.
FallenGrace
1 year ago