The Video Game Critic

These are two very interesting fighters I missed the first time around.  Let me know what you think of these reviews.

The Bouncer sounds like fun, though I very much disagree that realistic modern games are "boring".

Good reviews, a nice refreshing set of reviews after the sports and such. I really like the Bouncer and remember being blown away with how great it looked when it came out (I think it was a launch title if I'm not mistaken). My friends and I used to play it all the time and I agree with your review. The nice part is how cheap the game is now. It really is a fun game. Cheesy but fun.

I wonder how Quentin Tarantino movies got the reputation for being extremely gory?  Apart from "Kill Bill," they're actually pretty restrained compared to modern action or horror movies.  

[QUOTE=Den]I wonder how Quentin Tarantino movies got the reputation for being extremely gory?  Apart from "Kill Bill," they're actually pretty restrained compared to modern action or horror movies.  [/QUOTE]

This is a good point.  His films are definitely violent, but there's rarely much gore shown on the screen.  Pulp Fiction and Jackie Brown are two of my all-time favorites.

Nice reviews; good to finally see these.  Critic, your post about The Bouncer in the "Now Playing" section prompted me to buy the game, and I actually just finished a full playthrough of the game about two weeks ago.  First, I feel obligated to say that I enjoy beat em ups, and I'm a huge SquareSoft fan, growing up on their RPG series.  So I was really looking forward to The Bouncer before its release.. only to be scared away by the awful reviews it received.

I passed on it until seeing your recommendation a couple months back on the forums.  After playing through it, I unfortunately didn't enjoy it as much as you.  Don't get me wrong -- it has its moments, and it's nice to have a modern 3D beat em up since the genre virtually died off after the 16-bit era.  But to me, The Bouncer just has too many problems.  Particularly, way too many load screens and way too many cut scenes.  No joke, The Bouncer is worse than the Metal Gear Solid series in terms of its "Cutscene-to-Gameplay" ratio (and unlike MGS, the story for The Bouncer isn't very entertaining to watch).  In terms of percentage, I would actually estimate that less than 50% of The Bouncer is spent in gameplay.  It's literally:  1. Cut-scene, 2. Load Screen, 3. Fight four enemies, 4. Cut scene, 5. Cash in experience points for new abilities. 5. Load Screen, 6. Repeat over and over.  In fact, in the end, the constant breaks make it feel more like a fighting game (like, say, Tekken), rather than a beat em up like Streets of Rage.  Just not enough action.  And, not to mention, when there is action the fighting is nowhere near as smooth as a good 3D fighter (again, like Tekken for example).  Personally, I think the game is closer to a C- or D+.  All that being said, I'm glad I bought it and finally played it, and appreciate the recommendation and finally seeing your review.

My opinion is almost exactly identical to PSX. The only difference is that I quit playing from boredom rather than completing it. I also agree that the game is beautiful, but it's not much fun. c- d+ for sure