The game begins with a great CG-animated movie portraying a number of troops from an elite unit moving in on what looks like a nightclub. Once inside the club we get to meet the four main characters, Sion, Volt, Kou and Dominique. Sion, Volt and Kou are bouncers employed by the club, and as a result are trained in various forms of unarmed combat. We got the impression Dominique is just there to look cute and squeal a lot when the troops break in and kidnap her (after a big fight of course). All this action is certainly impressive to watch, and the graphics carry over nicely to in the in-game scenes too, making this the best-looking Streets of Rage clone in many years. The characters even have their own ways of walking and ever-changing facial expressions that shows the huge amount of work that the graphic designers put in to attract gamers with eye candy.

While Square claim that The Bouncer mixes genres it is definitely a plain and simple fighting game through and through. The RPG and adventure elements are few and far between, and the storyline runs along on rails (only changing when the player opts to change which character they are currently controlling). The whole meld feels more like a small anime film than anything else, except there are no big guns to use here, only your fists and feet. The levels are quite expansive and the player can run around to their heart's content, but in the long run you don't get to see much of the level as the fighting all revolves around one small area. Also disappointing is the lack of weapons and interactivity available to the player.