Crucified: Big games murdered by the critics

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The self-proclaimed saviors that ended up nailed to the cross...

The Bouncer (PS2) | Square | 2001
With the dawning of every new console generation must come new, shinier games - games superior to anything previously seen on the fading machine being shuffled into retirement. And, in the early days of PS2, gamers believed that Square's much hyped beat-'em-up, The Bouncer, would be the spunky new jaw dropper that would really show off Sony's tower of power.

And admittedly it looked hot. Real hot. There were plenty of fancy blurring effects going on and gamers were genuinely wowed by the animations and visuals. But, as we all know, good looks do not maketh the game good and beneath all its cosmetic beauty, there was a dull and torturously average experience waiting.

Blighted by poor camera angles, meathead AI, flappy controls, waaaay too many cut scenes and simply not enough game, The Bouncer is a classic example of flashy and beautiful being hastily mistaken for fun and enjoyable. And while it might not have received a mauling in the Christian-versus-lion sense of the word, critics were left feeling gloomy that something so swollen with promise, could end up so depressingly vapid.

Matt Cundy
Matt Cundy
I don't have the energy to really hate anything properly. Most things I think are OK or inoffensively average. I do love quite a lot of stuff as well, though.