No offence, but this is Streets of Rage 4 for ugly people who only watch anime and eat stuffed-crust pizzas.
Yeah maybe the combat could be a bit better but the vibes and soundtrack make up for it by a large margin for me. Fun time
(played as Kyoko)
I really, really wish this was better. The art and overall presentation is up there as some of my favorite, and it carries this game very, very far, but that's about all it has going for it. The plot, dialogue and humor are all not very good, and it doesn't even really do a successful job making both playable characters likable. I do like Kyoko for the most part, but Misako is fucking annoying. Maybe it's just me? I don't know.
Enemies of all sorts also take too many hits. Even in the first rooms of the game, they're not particularly fun to deal with at all. There is a leveling up system, but it's pretty much solely for show seeing as the enemies scale up alongside you. Never will you find the satisfaction of plowing through enemies effortlessly, not even a vehicle section like in Cadillacs and Dinosaurs or fucking NARC or something.
Perhaps my least favorite aspect of the game is how it handles bosses. Beatemup bosses are rarely particularly enjoyable, but in River City Girls' attempt to break that mold it quickly brings the realization that platformer bosses do not belong in this type of game, notably Hibari and Noize for example. Aside from maybe the first, every boss you encounter is overly gimmicky, awful, and takes forever. I decided to shelf the game for the time being at Noize, the fifth boss, upon coming to the conclusion that I was having zero fun by this point.
And even so, I can't bring myself to deride this. I can't exactly call it a bad game or anything. Underneath its trappings is potential for something truly great, but also it's just too damn cute and I don't want to hate it. The original Shantae is like this too, even though I can't even make a dent in it after multiple attempts. Fucking WayForward. I hope they burn.
Addendum : i was coping lol i lowered it to a four
I really, really wish this was better. The art and overall presentation is up there as some of my favorite, and it carries this game very, very far, but that's about all it has going for it. The plot, dialogue and humor are all not very good, and it doesn't even really do a successful job making both playable characters likable. I do like Kyoko for the most part, but Misako is fucking annoying. Maybe it's just me? I don't know.
Enemies of all sorts also take too many hits. Even in the first rooms of the game, they're not particularly fun to deal with at all. There is a leveling up system, but it's pretty much solely for show seeing as the enemies scale up alongside you. Never will you find the satisfaction of plowing through enemies effortlessly, not even a vehicle section like in Cadillacs and Dinosaurs or fucking NARC or something.
Perhaps my least favorite aspect of the game is how it handles bosses. Beatemup bosses are rarely particularly enjoyable, but in River City Girls' attempt to break that mold it quickly brings the realization that platformer bosses do not belong in this type of game, notably Hibari and Noize for example. Aside from maybe the first, every boss you encounter is overly gimmicky, awful, and takes forever. I decided to shelf the game for the time being at Noize, the fifth boss, upon coming to the conclusion that I was having zero fun by this point.
And even so, I can't bring myself to deride this. I can't exactly call it a bad game or anything. Underneath its trappings is potential for something truly great, but also it's just too damn cute and I don't want to hate it. The original Shantae is like this too, even though I can't even make a dent in it after multiple attempts. Fucking WayForward. I hope they burn.
Addendum : i was coping lol i lowered it to a four
Uninstalled the moment I heard Jacksepticeye's voice.
thinking about the types of people who worked on this game and the types of people who okayed every decision made on this game and the types of people who this game was made for and i feel nothing for any of these people but pure contempt. fuck this game and fuck everything it stands for. it is a repulsive pile of soulless pink glittery filth. it is nothing short of nauseating to look at, to listen to, or to play. the game grumps are in this and it's not even the most upsetting/annoying part of it. i've literally never hit the "skip cutscene" button on a first playthrough before i played this game. but in the end i'm not really sure why i did, because the actual game sandwiched between these F-tier 2012 tumblr comic voiceovers sucks, too! as if it couldn't get any worse it's a fucking terrible beat-em-up! i don't even understand how they got it so wrong! the people at wayforward have obviously played a lot of old games, they should know how this stuff works, but they seem to have fucking forgotten, so you're left to trudge through a broken mess of non-functional juggles, pointless backtracking and some of the worst bosses i've ever has the displeasure of fighting in a video game. i think i'd rather play any beat em up than this. hell, give me Bad Dudes and i'd probably have a better time. anyway did you know this game's sequel which released a week ago has chris niosi in it? thought that was cool and interesting
It's alright. It more or less has the same structure as River City Ransom. Combat controls are pretty nice overall.
What isn't so nice is the way the RPG elements are handled.
My biggest gripe with the game is how enemy health (apparently) is scaled as you progress with the story. Including basic enemies from all the way to the first area who turn into damage sponges later on. I feel this defeats the purpose of the stats where I feel the only character stat that's noticeable is Stamina.
Funnily enough, that isn't the case for the bosses. Overall, I enjoyed almost all of them.
I saw some people have trouble with them, which I don't get. Their patterns seem pretty clear cut to figure out. If you're slightly patient, you'll find out much all their patterns with a death or two at most. Sometimes, you can even bum rush. Simple case of boss doing an attack -> you dodge -> boss is open (provided they don't have their temporary invincible mode on at the moment) -> attack.
The writing.... let's just say it's not my cup of tea (meaning cringe.) But at least the tone is consistent throughout.
More importantly, I can skip all cutscenes by holding one of the face buttons.
Though, I do like both the normal ending and the secret ending. Especially as someone who has played the japanese only Shin Nekketsu Kōha: Kunio-tachi no Banka.
Speaking of which: https://youtu.be/2cnG4_2VS5I
What isn't so nice is the way the RPG elements are handled.
My biggest gripe with the game is how enemy health (apparently) is scaled as you progress with the story. Including basic enemies from all the way to the first area who turn into damage sponges later on. I feel this defeats the purpose of the stats where I feel the only character stat that's noticeable is Stamina.
Funnily enough, that isn't the case for the bosses. Overall, I enjoyed almost all of them.
I saw some people have trouble with them, which I don't get. Their patterns seem pretty clear cut to figure out. If you're slightly patient, you'll find out much all their patterns with a death or two at most. Sometimes, you can even bum rush. Simple case of boss doing an attack -> you dodge -> boss is open (provided they don't have their temporary invincible mode on at the moment) -> attack.
The writing.... let's just say it's not my cup of tea (meaning cringe.) But at least the tone is consistent throughout.
More importantly, I can skip all cutscenes by holding one of the face buttons.
Though, I do like both the normal ending and the secret ending. Especially as someone who has played the japanese only Shin Nekketsu Kōha: Kunio-tachi no Banka.
Speaking of which: https://youtu.be/2cnG4_2VS5I
Wayforward has always excelled at presentation and River City Girls is probably their best looking game yet. You can tell Wayfoward was very motivated in making some truly special with how many short animated scenes and neat manga-like cutscenes are interspersed throughout the game. Sadly, despite that, River City Girls is easily Wayforward's most irritating title I've played so far.
Most of the boss fights have to waiting for the boss to cycle through their attack patterns before you're allowed to actually deal damage against them. Theres two fights in particular that have you waiting for what seems like minutes before you're graciously allowed to attack. Its some of the worst boss design I've seen in a long time and really shouldn't exist in a Beat 'em up at all.
Obviously, since this is a beat 'em up the story probably isn't something that I should gripe about too much. I don't have an issue with River City Girls' story as much as I have a problem with almost every line of voiced dialogue in the game. Its very off-putting and, as the kids say, "cringey." Theres a bunch of weird jokes and weak quips that aren't funny at all and it never stops. Maybe its unfair of me to rate the game so low because of a few bad boss fights and skin crawlingly bad dialogue but it honestly does taint how I look at this game. If you have a higher threshold for this kind of stuff then it's probably a solid 3 stars.
Most of the boss fights have to waiting for the boss to cycle through their attack patterns before you're allowed to actually deal damage against them. Theres two fights in particular that have you waiting for what seems like minutes before you're graciously allowed to attack. Its some of the worst boss design I've seen in a long time and really shouldn't exist in a Beat 'em up at all.
Obviously, since this is a beat 'em up the story probably isn't something that I should gripe about too much. I don't have an issue with River City Girls' story as much as I have a problem with almost every line of voiced dialogue in the game. Its very off-putting and, as the kids say, "cringey." Theres a bunch of weird jokes and weak quips that aren't funny at all and it never stops. Maybe its unfair of me to rate the game so low because of a few bad boss fights and skin crawlingly bad dialogue but it honestly does taint how I look at this game. If you have a higher threshold for this kind of stuff then it's probably a solid 3 stars.
After playing the Streets of Rage series, I decided I needed to try more beat em ups. And whaddya know, Nintendo's crappy online subscription had this for free for a week! A buddy and I played through the game in two sittings, and despite some problems, I rather enjoyed it.
First off, this game is actually non-linear and has a lot of RPG-style elements, which I thought was pretty neat. While the moveset felt a little restrictive at first, it doesn't take long to unlock a wider moveset that keeps things fresh. At the same time, I also had an overabundance of moves near the end of the game. Early on you unlock moves by leveling, but eventually you just have to pay for them at a dojo. This is fine, but dang, there's a lot of them. At the very least, I'm glad that the game eases you into the movesets of the characters as you progress, but I'm still not really sure if half the moves I had are even that different. There's also the fact that due to long stagger times for enemies, the game is extremely easy unless you're swarmed by several opponents, which is most of the time after a certain point, but still. Regardless, comboing enemies was fun, and as I said, I played the game with a friend, which always makes a game a little more fun.
The story is pretty hit and miss, as well as the humour. Either way, the story is a bit repetitive. It's just...
Main characters: 'Uh-oh, our boyfriends have been kidnapped! This boss must know where they are!' beat the boss up
Boss: 'Dang, you're strong. I don't know where your boyfriends are, but maybe the next boss does!'
Main Characters: 'Cool, let's go find said next boss!' leaves
It's fine. I don't expect much out of these games storywise, and this game did the job I guess. Humourwise... I dunno, I didn't hate it as much as many seemed to. Anime-isms annoy me just as much as the next guy, but some of the dialogue is still mildly entertaining. Also, every cutscene can be skipped, which is appreciated in general.
The biggest story complaint I, and seemingly everyone else has is the ending. I used to be fairly tolerant of the whole 'true ending' trend that's been popping up recently, but it's been grating me more and more, and River City Girls is no exception. I shouldn't have to do a whole side quest to get an ending that doesn't suck. Honestly, I would've even been fine with the bad ending if it was developed throughout the story. In this sense, we kind of got the worst of both worlds.
Audiovisually, the game is quite good. My main complaint is that the visual presentation can feel weirdly inconsistent. Some cutscenes are animated while others are manga-styled. Considering this is a gender-bender retro revival, I probably would've preferred to just have the manga cutscenes with either a 90s shounen or shoujo artstyle. Still, the game looks and sounds great either way.
The point is, despite some issues, I did rather enjoy this game. I'll give it a 6/10, but I may make it a 7. If there are other games with a similar structure to this, please tell me. In the meantime, I'm definitely gonna check out the other River City games.
First off, this game is actually non-linear and has a lot of RPG-style elements, which I thought was pretty neat. While the moveset felt a little restrictive at first, it doesn't take long to unlock a wider moveset that keeps things fresh. At the same time, I also had an overabundance of moves near the end of the game. Early on you unlock moves by leveling, but eventually you just have to pay for them at a dojo. This is fine, but dang, there's a lot of them. At the very least, I'm glad that the game eases you into the movesets of the characters as you progress, but I'm still not really sure if half the moves I had are even that different. There's also the fact that due to long stagger times for enemies, the game is extremely easy unless you're swarmed by several opponents, which is most of the time after a certain point, but still. Regardless, comboing enemies was fun, and as I said, I played the game with a friend, which always makes a game a little more fun.
The story is pretty hit and miss, as well as the humour. Either way, the story is a bit repetitive. It's just...
Main characters: 'Uh-oh, our boyfriends have been kidnapped! This boss must know where they are!' beat the boss up
Boss: 'Dang, you're strong. I don't know where your boyfriends are, but maybe the next boss does!'
Main Characters: 'Cool, let's go find said next boss!' leaves
It's fine. I don't expect much out of these games storywise, and this game did the job I guess. Humourwise... I dunno, I didn't hate it as much as many seemed to. Anime-isms annoy me just as much as the next guy, but some of the dialogue is still mildly entertaining. Also, every cutscene can be skipped, which is appreciated in general.
The biggest story complaint I, and seemingly everyone else has is the ending. I used to be fairly tolerant of the whole 'true ending' trend that's been popping up recently, but it's been grating me more and more, and River City Girls is no exception. I shouldn't have to do a whole side quest to get an ending that doesn't suck. Honestly, I would've even been fine with the bad ending if it was developed throughout the story. In this sense, we kind of got the worst of both worlds.
Audiovisually, the game is quite good. My main complaint is that the visual presentation can feel weirdly inconsistent. Some cutscenes are animated while others are manga-styled. Considering this is a gender-bender retro revival, I probably would've preferred to just have the manga cutscenes with either a 90s shounen or shoujo artstyle. Still, the game looks and sounds great either way.
The point is, despite some issues, I did rather enjoy this game. I'll give it a 6/10, but I may make it a 7. If there are other games with a similar structure to this, please tell me. In the meantime, I'm definitely gonna check out the other River City games.
Divertido e de certa forma ate relaxante. É dinâmico e bem solido, o combate é legal e as musicas dão uma boa apetecida na gameplay, deixando ela bem gostosinha
So fico puto QUE O BOTÃO DE SOCAR É O MESMO QUE TROCA DE SALA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
So fico puto QUE O BOTÃO DE SOCAR É O MESMO QUE TROCA DE SALA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
After being held at gun point by my so called friend (fuck you Dante) and after 6 months of dodging his repeated attempts at making me finish this game it's finally done so how is it?
Well it's not the worst thing in the world however as the game progresses you just do next to no damage to basic bitch enemies because they all scale and that's what I want out of a beat em up to keep saying ( can we just go and not fight?)
There are items that can help you out during your journey but besides the only two useful ones they all suck and are completely worthless.
Your defensive options are basically nonexistent besides eating hits with you face or pressing the guard button that blocks two hits out of 50.
We had trouble with one boss and the rest were piss easy but they aren't terrible or anything.
The dialogue. it makes me wanna put a gun in my mouth. very few games make me wanna do that with just dialogue so that's an achievement right there.
Good news is I'll never have to play this game ever again and that makes me happy. :)
Well it's not the worst thing in the world however as the game progresses you just do next to no damage to basic bitch enemies because they all scale and that's what I want out of a beat em up to keep saying ( can we just go and not fight?)
There are items that can help you out during your journey but besides the only two useful ones they all suck and are completely worthless.
Your defensive options are basically nonexistent besides eating hits with you face or pressing the guard button that blocks two hits out of 50.
We had trouble with one boss and the rest were piss easy but they aren't terrible or anything.
The dialogue. it makes me wanna put a gun in my mouth. very few games make me wanna do that with just dialogue so that's an achievement right there.
Good news is I'll never have to play this game ever again and that makes me happy. :)
Pretty okay!
There are no outright glitches that I encountered, but some pretty frustrating perspective, hitbox, and quality of life issues keep this game from being great. The shonen camp vibes are immaculate but the game itself is passable at best. If the reviews of RCG2 are any indication, there's no reason to play this test run at a River City homage. Just skip to the sequel.
There are no outright glitches that I encountered, but some pretty frustrating perspective, hitbox, and quality of life issues keep this game from being great. The shonen camp vibes are immaculate but the game itself is passable at best. If the reviews of RCG2 are any indication, there's no reason to play this test run at a River City homage. Just skip to the sequel.
This is the probably the most infuriating shit I've played this year (honestly, a contender for one of the worst games I've played period). The combat is extremely restrictive and offers no perceivable freedom of skill expression. The mobs are a fucking slog to get through since the game insists on you learning a parry, which just does not feel natural, responsive or particularly satisfying to pull off. The bosses have fun character designs but are some of the most one dimensional, and uninteractive fights I've had the displeasure to play through.
The voice acting is fine but is dragged down by some spectacularly unfunny writing.
The only saving grace here is the cute pixel art style and the charming ost by Megan McDuffee. I don't even want to finish this.
The voice acting is fine but is dragged down by some spectacularly unfunny writing.
The only saving grace here is the cute pixel art style and the charming ost by Megan McDuffee. I don't even want to finish this.
Tryhard parody attempt at catering to the ironic weeb crowd, the ones who don't get why anime is popular other than meme culture so it's chock full of bad voice acting, ORAORAORA XD, and writing that pretends to be self aware while unironically having a Dab attack. The only ones here making a genuine effort and sounding sincere are the singers, but that's why soundtracks are sold separately.
Cringe. River City Ramson wasn't even that good to warrant a revival.
Cringe. River City Ramson wasn't even that good to warrant a revival.
game fucking softlocked itself almost at the end 💀
this game made me go :^)))))))) at like 90% of the character interactions
This review contains spoilers
I don't like feeling cynical towards games when I could invest time in more positive things, but River City Girls is twitterbait. I don't mean that out of pessimism or a weird anti-SJW way. It is a game orchestrated to cater to the in-crowds and hype circles of social media. It has nutty combo strings for DMC and FGC meatheads to share; callouts to Double Dragon, RCR and lolrandom gamer humor to get retro crowds in; pastel-neon 80's cityscapes filled with quirky shopkeeps and boba tea-adjacent wares for fashionistas and 'wow-so-aesthetic'-heads; celebrity Youtuber and VA cameos; smooth-chibi pixel art for artists and sakuga addicts to squeal over; really questionable ephebophilic touches that are synonymous with WayForward's transparently sexploitative side.
It's a game meant to appeal to several terminally online crowds - some good, some bad. With exception to a few scenarios, I can't find fault in developers and creative leads building a project that min/maxes appeal while staying true to a consistent vibe and vision. Devs gotta eat: You can't let your comrades starve because making a desirable project is 'cringe' or 'weak' in the eyes of a nebulous, journalistic ego.
But it's bad and I don't like the ways it's bad so I get total dibs on being mean to it, tee hee!
RCG is a Scott Pilgrim clone. Scott Pilgrim - by way of beat-em-ups, - is reeeeally bad (mandatory reading). RCG is thankfully a better-feeling game than SP, and its RPG structure carried over from the main Kunio-kun games makes more sense for this style of combat and player growth. Except that RCG is still bad on a scenario and encounter design standpoint - and oddly, it blows as an RPG, too. Stats gained from leveling up are mostly worthless because enemies scale with your level, too. You have to invest money in food items (as tradition from kunio and scott) to get buffs that will actually improve your odds above enemies. But shit is expensive in this game; you get hardly any money for how long it takes to beat guys. Instead, large cash sums are doled out after major events and bosses. You can't grind at your own pace; you have to wait until the game lets you empower yourself, undermining the point. Even Scott Pilgrim - a game that put grinding in a linear gameloop, - understood that leveling up in quantifiable chunks feels satisfying. And the money you get from these objectives is overkill too: Once you get a little past halfway, you have enough money to buy basically everything. Combat does become more fun with progression as your speed and movepool grows, but enemies also gain insane HP boosts as you go. The thrill of pulling off successful combo strings feels sorely diminished when end-game enemies tank 4 full volleys before dying, only to drop 3 bucks and negligible EXP.
And even though RCG is a better feeling game than Scott, it still has that ball-and-chain sense of weight dragging it down. Everyone stays knocked down for so long, enemies basically always beat out your priority on clashing attacks, while blocking out most incoming threats. At a certain point, I was mostly spamming dashing and jumping Heavies just so I could clear waves without risk of randomly getting pummeled - but it's not like there's much threat for dying anyway, since you spawn in the same area you left off with a little less money. It's just a matter of wasting time so you can avoid wasting marginally more time.
Bosses are a total embarrassment. Nintendo bosses don't belong in beat-em-ups. Even Scott had good bosses. End paragraph.
The one part that most of the internet dislikes - the normal ending, - felt lukewarm to me, because it's not like the plot leading up to its twist has anything going for it worth tarnishing. I was floored how much of the overarching conflict goes 'kyoko/misako look for kunio/riki -> kyoko/misako meets sex pest -> kyoko/misako demand info from sex pest -> sex pest demands task/fight before info -> sex pest admits they have no info'. There's no weight to this gamble, and none of the flavor text or dialogue spruces it up: It's 'lolawkward' quips and whedonisms for days. Honestly? I think the funniest bit this game's story has is that you spend the whole game beating up dumb incels, only to realize kyoko and Misako are equally dumb incels. (Guess more of this was scott pilgrim influenced than gameplay lmao). I think they should've kept that angle instead of retconning it through the secret ending and sequel.
I gotta be somewhat nice to RCG so I will say that the spritework here might be a top 10 for me, it's really fucking smooth. It's a flat, cel-shaded, blocky style of animation with cubical body frames and chunky appendages that feels totally perfect for belt-scroll knuckledusting. It's definitely too good to a fault tho, as all the expensive animation means the enemy roster is pitifully small and starts repeating as early as the main town areas. Alternate palette enemies don't even have many differences from each other, so it can't even fake variety the way footclan soldiers and yellow signals of old can. I'm stunned you could draw 500 whole frames for this one enemy type, but... did you need to? Do you see what a design inconvenience that can be?
Even though I got some fleeting dope highs from RCG, I felt totally exasperated by it in a way I hadn't felt in years. Where SP at least feels like a well-intentioned project that got caught up in unusual ambitions and clashing systems, RCG feels unambiguously corporate and petty: A surface-level understanding of beatemups and action titles, hidden by videogameisms and trend-chasing. SP was excusable in 2010 amidst a total drought of meaningfully-stylish projects, but RCG in 2019 released too close to SoR4 and several other action gigs; it feels like limp bait. It has passionate work put into it, but was clearly assembled and marketed with visions of golden geese.
It's a game meant to appeal to several terminally online crowds - some good, some bad. With exception to a few scenarios, I can't find fault in developers and creative leads building a project that min/maxes appeal while staying true to a consistent vibe and vision. Devs gotta eat: You can't let your comrades starve because making a desirable project is 'cringe' or 'weak' in the eyes of a nebulous, journalistic ego.
But it's bad and I don't like the ways it's bad so I get total dibs on being mean to it, tee hee!
RCG is a Scott Pilgrim clone. Scott Pilgrim - by way of beat-em-ups, - is reeeeally bad (mandatory reading). RCG is thankfully a better-feeling game than SP, and its RPG structure carried over from the main Kunio-kun games makes more sense for this style of combat and player growth. Except that RCG is still bad on a scenario and encounter design standpoint - and oddly, it blows as an RPG, too. Stats gained from leveling up are mostly worthless because enemies scale with your level, too. You have to invest money in food items (as tradition from kunio and scott) to get buffs that will actually improve your odds above enemies. But shit is expensive in this game; you get hardly any money for how long it takes to beat guys. Instead, large cash sums are doled out after major events and bosses. You can't grind at your own pace; you have to wait until the game lets you empower yourself, undermining the point. Even Scott Pilgrim - a game that put grinding in a linear gameloop, - understood that leveling up in quantifiable chunks feels satisfying. And the money you get from these objectives is overkill too: Once you get a little past halfway, you have enough money to buy basically everything. Combat does become more fun with progression as your speed and movepool grows, but enemies also gain insane HP boosts as you go. The thrill of pulling off successful combo strings feels sorely diminished when end-game enemies tank 4 full volleys before dying, only to drop 3 bucks and negligible EXP.
And even though RCG is a better feeling game than Scott, it still has that ball-and-chain sense of weight dragging it down. Everyone stays knocked down for so long, enemies basically always beat out your priority on clashing attacks, while blocking out most incoming threats. At a certain point, I was mostly spamming dashing and jumping Heavies just so I could clear waves without risk of randomly getting pummeled - but it's not like there's much threat for dying anyway, since you spawn in the same area you left off with a little less money. It's just a matter of wasting time so you can avoid wasting marginally more time.
Bosses are a total embarrassment. Nintendo bosses don't belong in beat-em-ups. Even Scott had good bosses. End paragraph.
The one part that most of the internet dislikes - the normal ending, - felt lukewarm to me, because it's not like the plot leading up to its twist has anything going for it worth tarnishing. I was floored how much of the overarching conflict goes 'kyoko/misako look for kunio/riki -> kyoko/misako meets sex pest -> kyoko/misako demand info from sex pest -> sex pest demands task/fight before info -> sex pest admits they have no info'. There's no weight to this gamble, and none of the flavor text or dialogue spruces it up: It's 'lolawkward' quips and whedonisms for days. Honestly? I think the funniest bit this game's story has is that you spend the whole game beating up dumb incels, only to realize kyoko and Misako are equally dumb incels. (Guess more of this was scott pilgrim influenced than gameplay lmao). I think they should've kept that angle instead of retconning it through the secret ending and sequel.
I gotta be somewhat nice to RCG so I will say that the spritework here might be a top 10 for me, it's really fucking smooth. It's a flat, cel-shaded, blocky style of animation with cubical body frames and chunky appendages that feels totally perfect for belt-scroll knuckledusting. It's definitely too good to a fault tho, as all the expensive animation means the enemy roster is pitifully small and starts repeating as early as the main town areas. Alternate palette enemies don't even have many differences from each other, so it can't even fake variety the way footclan soldiers and yellow signals of old can. I'm stunned you could draw 500 whole frames for this one enemy type, but... did you need to? Do you see what a design inconvenience that can be?
Even though I got some fleeting dope highs from RCG, I felt totally exasperated by it in a way I hadn't felt in years. Where SP at least feels like a well-intentioned project that got caught up in unusual ambitions and clashing systems, RCG feels unambiguously corporate and petty: A surface-level understanding of beatemups and action titles, hidden by videogameisms and trend-chasing. SP was excusable in 2010 amidst a total drought of meaningfully-stylish projects, but RCG in 2019 released too close to SoR4 and several other action gigs; it feels like limp bait. It has passionate work put into it, but was clearly assembled and marketed with visions of golden geese.
Youtuber game9
River City Girls is a cool-ass beat em up game. The gameplay is pretty easy to understand yet fun. I thoroughly enjoyed fighting through waves of enemies and trying out different combos. The main characters are both very funny too. The story is very simple, it's just about 2 girls looking for their boyfriends so it's nothing amazing but it'll give you a bit of a fun time with the funny dialogue and the characters each having their own unique traits. The soundtrack is very well crafted and the visuals are gorgeous. My only issues with the game is that the controls can be sometimes clunky and unresponsive as fuck, and they don't give the side characters enough attention as Misako and Kyōko but it's okay I guess. I would totally recommend this game, especially if you have a friend to play it with.
Fun beat 'em up with an absolutely terrible ending. Found out later that there's a better secret ending you can get on a second playthrough but why bother. Just replace the main ending with the good one.
“Our boyfriends have been kidnapped!”
River City Girls is one of the first ever beat-‘em-up games I’ve ever played. I dabbled in the original River City game, but never really enjoyed it. However, after seeing that WayForward, the company that created River City Girls, was making a second game, I was interested. Some of my friends had told me how good the game was, but I thought I wouldn’t enjoy it. Well, I was wrong.
You can play as Misako or Kyoko, two girls who are on the hunt for their boyfriends after Kyoko is sent a picture of them presumably being kidnapped. The story is very simple in theory, but offers fun twists and funny dialogue. At the time of me writing this, I haven’t done a second playthrough, so the story could be different. For my first playthrough however, I personally played as Kyoko, simply because I preferred her design. But about halfway through, I found out the two girls have pretty different movesets from each other, with Kyoko’s attacks being faster while Misako’s are slower. I prefer the speediness of attacks, so I’m glad I picked Kyoko.
Now, of course, the gameplay is the most important. The game isn’t carried by its story, so the gameplay needs to be fun; and yes indeed it was. Pummeling the various amounts of enemies was enjoyable and trying new combos was even more fun. The shop system where you can buy items to replenish stamina, add extra damage or buying a new attack entirely was something I felt unique to the game. It gave me incentive to go out and get more money by beating up the enemies in the area so I could go buy a new way to attack and add it to a combo. It was a clever system that I hope is in the second game.
The characters were very well written and hearing some of my favorite voice actors was such a nice treat. Sure the game had a kind of lackluster story, but the characters make up for it big time. I found myself laughing at quite a few scenes. The art direction too was great and I loved seeing a sort of comic book feel in the game.
Overall, I give the game a solid four out of five stars. The only things weighing this game down are the lackluster story and how short the game is. However, River City Girls was certainly such a fun and witty experience that I hope to replay some time in the future.
River City Girls is one of the first ever beat-‘em-up games I’ve ever played. I dabbled in the original River City game, but never really enjoyed it. However, after seeing that WayForward, the company that created River City Girls, was making a second game, I was interested. Some of my friends had told me how good the game was, but I thought I wouldn’t enjoy it. Well, I was wrong.
You can play as Misako or Kyoko, two girls who are on the hunt for their boyfriends after Kyoko is sent a picture of them presumably being kidnapped. The story is very simple in theory, but offers fun twists and funny dialogue. At the time of me writing this, I haven’t done a second playthrough, so the story could be different. For my first playthrough however, I personally played as Kyoko, simply because I preferred her design. But about halfway through, I found out the two girls have pretty different movesets from each other, with Kyoko’s attacks being faster while Misako’s are slower. I prefer the speediness of attacks, so I’m glad I picked Kyoko.
Now, of course, the gameplay is the most important. The game isn’t carried by its story, so the gameplay needs to be fun; and yes indeed it was. Pummeling the various amounts of enemies was enjoyable and trying new combos was even more fun. The shop system where you can buy items to replenish stamina, add extra damage or buying a new attack entirely was something I felt unique to the game. It gave me incentive to go out and get more money by beating up the enemies in the area so I could go buy a new way to attack and add it to a combo. It was a clever system that I hope is in the second game.
The characters were very well written and hearing some of my favorite voice actors was such a nice treat. Sure the game had a kind of lackluster story, but the characters make up for it big time. I found myself laughing at quite a few scenes. The art direction too was great and I loved seeing a sort of comic book feel in the game.
Overall, I give the game a solid four out of five stars. The only things weighing this game down are the lackluster story and how short the game is. However, River City Girls was certainly such a fun and witty experience that I hope to replay some time in the future.
Had tons of fun with my pal. Just be sure to turn off friendly fire, it ruins the experience.
Beat em ups dont mix well with leveling up systems and status upgrades.
solid fun time. It's charm carries it above the poor difficulty balancing and any other negatives i cant think of
Highly enjoyed. Great combat with lots of moves bogged down somewhat by sluggish movement. I enjoyed the great characters brought to life through great vocal performances, fun boss fights, and stellar pixel art. If you're looking for a quick game to play, consider giving this a try
Cool writing, amazing soundtrack, absolutely georgeous pixelart.
Sadly, very middling combat. It starts out pretty laid back, so fighting feels smooth and arcadey first, but the more enemies pop up, the more annoying things become. Spent a good 6 hours on this game in coop with a friend now, I'm pretty sure we won't finish it.
I still like River City Girls for the pure fun it was the first maybe 3-4 hours.
Sadly, very middling combat. It starts out pretty laid back, so fighting feels smooth and arcadey first, but the more enemies pop up, the more annoying things become. Spent a good 6 hours on this game in coop with a friend now, I'm pretty sure we won't finish it.
I still like River City Girls for the pure fun it was the first maybe 3-4 hours.
Decent beat-em-up that's rough in some areas but is an overall okay time.
Solid enough beat 'em up with a few glaring issues. Has a cute artstyle and some nice spritework as well as satisfying attack animations. The soundtrack also has some bangers that fit the game's style to a T. The most prominent issue is the game's insistence on padding despite being in a genre that's better off being only a few hours long at most. This is only made more annoying by the petty story reasons which kind of lose their comedic appeal when it's actually impeding my experience. Speaking of the story, it's surprisingly plentiful but despite the high quality presentation, the dialogue is often just awkward. However it does end up coming across as sort of endearing in a way, maybe because the girls are cute or because it feels like the creators were just having a fun time making the game.
I liked it.
...Was that not enough of a review? Saying it’s a beat ‘em up and that I liked it covers the basics, and I think this meta part of the sentence earns some points for stylistic flair.
That's River City Girls. It includes everything you basically need, and it has a unique style that makes it stand out, but you’re left wishing that there was a little bit more substance, something particularly memorable, instead of being the video game equivalent of fireworks. Spectacular, but there’s a certain melancholy in the level of technical skill that goes into such a fleeting form of joy.
...Was that not enough of a review? Saying it’s a beat ‘em up and that I liked it covers the basics, and I think this meta part of the sentence earns some points for stylistic flair.
That's River City Girls. It includes everything you basically need, and it has a unique style that makes it stand out, but you’re left wishing that there was a little bit more substance, something particularly memorable, instead of being the video game equivalent of fireworks. Spectacular, but there’s a certain melancholy in the level of technical skill that goes into such a fleeting form of joy.
Жанр beat 'em up, к сожалению, находится в полумертвом состоянии. Подобные игры выходят не так часто (по понятным причинам), а потому на каждую из них обращаешь внимание. Тем не менее, хорошие отзывы под данным продуктом, под Street of Rage 4, под новыми TMNT: Shredder's Revenge дают понять, что нужда в подобном жанре у людей есть, а потому, надеюсь, будем чаще видеть возрождение какой-то очередной классики или же что-то совершенное новое.
Могу сразу сказать, что River City Girl - это очень крутая игра. Брать ее стоит однозначно. Все, за что вы любите beat 'em up тут есть и даже больше. Разработчики не только воплотили механики, присущие данному жанру, но и попытались осовременнить их, добавив несколько интересных элементов, но обо всем по порядку.
Сюжет в игре достаточно простой и нужен лишь как мотивация к действиям. Играем мы за двух девушек, парней которых кто-то похитил. Естественно дамы идут их спасать своими собственными силами, попутно набивая морду всем, кто встречается на их пути. При чем самим персонажам даже интересно почему в городе почти каждый встречный так любит драться, но ответа на это, конечно же, нет. Это просто нужно принять. Акцент в игре, по большей части, сделан не на глобальном сюжете, а на диалогах, которые происходят с нпс или боссами. Они достаточно забавные, содержат в себе кучу юмора и пробитие четвертой стены.
С боевкой здесь все, более-менее, стандартно. Присутствует обычный удар, сильный удар и захват. Со временем выясняется, что с получением нового уровня открываются новые приемы. Так же, часть из них можно будет изучить в специальном “магазине”. В итоге получается, что набор приемов в River City Girl со времнем становится достаточно обширным. Однако выполнять какие-то невероятные комбо у меня все равно не получалось. Вставить 2-3 приема в комбинацию - легко, но вот дальше с этим были сложности. Однако для beat 'em up это вполне нормальная схема. Плюс большая вариативность самих приемов не заставит вас скучать уж точно. Помимо всего это в игре есть блок. Учитывая насколько агрессивны здесь бывают враги, то им придется пользоваться достаточно часто. Если затаймить блок и поставить его в момент удара, то получится парирование, и враг будет стоять ошеломленный на месте некоторое время. Последнего оставшегося противника на локации можно пощадить, и тогда он будет помогать вам в бою по нажатию специальной кнопки.
Присутствует так же возможность подбирать оружие и предметы прямо на уровне (что-то вроде того, как это реализовано в Street of Rage), а так же вставлять аксессуары, которые немного облегчают жизнь. Они выдаются после победы над боссами, но, помимо этого, их можно купить и в специальных магазинах. Покупать можно и еду, которая не только хилит персонажа, но и увеличивает его статы навсегда.
Боссы в игре достаточно разнообразные. Они харизматичные и очень круто нарисованы. Но вот часть из них не требуют особой тактики, просто подходи и бей, а часть из них представляет собой решение головоломки, а не сражение. Такое может понравится не всем.
Есть еще один пункт, который является достаточно спорным. В плане структуры уровней - это не совсем обычный beat 'em up. Тут присутствуют то ли элементы метроидвании, то ли просто открытый мир, но между “комнатами” в локации можно свободно ходить, некоторые из которых изначально закрыты. Иногда можно даже проигнорировать сражение и убежать в конец локации, чтобы перейти на следующую. Если вы зачистите локацию, а потом снова вернетесь на нее, то враги снова заспавняться. Более того, они появляются и без этих переходов. Т.е. по сути волны врагов бегут без остановки, а драться с ними снова и снова особого смысла нет. Может быть это фишка всей серии River City, я не знаю, но решение достаточно странное, ведь это убивает процесс эксплоринга. А, учитывая количество пасахалок и отсылок на уровнях, это может быть проблемой. Да и выполняя очередное дополнительное задание, вам часто придется возвращаться туда, где вы уже были. И вот в такие моменты хочется просто пробегать уровень до конца, игнорируя всех противников.
А вот чем River City Girl действительно кладет других на лопатки - это визуальный стиль и музыка. Игра очень круто нарисована и очень приятно анимирована. То, как она выглядит, и заставило меня ее купить. У персонажей куча эмоций, которые они показывают, все локации достаточно сильно заполнены разными деталями, на фоне всегда стоят какие-то люди, которые заняты своими делами. Помимо крутых пикселей, нас достаточно часто встречают ролики, стилизованные под аниме, а иногда и вставки, вырванные словно из манги. Музыка приятная и драйвовая, а в специальных локациях появляются и треки с вокалом, которые исполняет один из персонажей игры. (треки с вокалом достаточно попсовые, а потому могут зайти не всем)
Но есть действительно важный косяк, который я не могу не упомянуть. Удар, подбор оружия и выход с локации - на все это назначена одна и та же клавиша. Очень часто происходит такое, что ты случайно подбираешь оружие в очень важный момент, а потому пропускаешь пару ударов от противника. Благо для игры уже существует quality of life мод, который исправляет в том числе и это.
Да, я понимаю, что у игры есть проблемы, но она каким-то образом попала мне прямо в самое сердце. Мне нравится River City Girl, я прошел ее раза 4. Как мне кажется, плюсов у игры все равно больше, а потому, любителям данного жанра, она точно зайдет!
Могу сразу сказать, что River City Girl - это очень крутая игра. Брать ее стоит однозначно. Все, за что вы любите beat 'em up тут есть и даже больше. Разработчики не только воплотили механики, присущие данному жанру, но и попытались осовременнить их, добавив несколько интересных элементов, но обо всем по порядку.
Сюжет в игре достаточно простой и нужен лишь как мотивация к действиям. Играем мы за двух девушек, парней которых кто-то похитил. Естественно дамы идут их спасать своими собственными силами, попутно набивая морду всем, кто встречается на их пути. При чем самим персонажам даже интересно почему в городе почти каждый встречный так любит драться, но ответа на это, конечно же, нет. Это просто нужно принять. Акцент в игре, по большей части, сделан не на глобальном сюжете, а на диалогах, которые происходят с нпс или боссами. Они достаточно забавные, содержат в себе кучу юмора и пробитие четвертой стены.
С боевкой здесь все, более-менее, стандартно. Присутствует обычный удар, сильный удар и захват. Со временем выясняется, что с получением нового уровня открываются новые приемы. Так же, часть из них можно будет изучить в специальном “магазине”. В итоге получается, что набор приемов в River City Girl со времнем становится достаточно обширным. Однако выполнять какие-то невероятные комбо у меня все равно не получалось. Вставить 2-3 приема в комбинацию - легко, но вот дальше с этим были сложности. Однако для beat 'em up это вполне нормальная схема. Плюс большая вариативность самих приемов не заставит вас скучать уж точно. Помимо всего это в игре есть блок. Учитывая насколько агрессивны здесь бывают враги, то им придется пользоваться достаточно часто. Если затаймить блок и поставить его в момент удара, то получится парирование, и враг будет стоять ошеломленный на месте некоторое время. Последнего оставшегося противника на локации можно пощадить, и тогда он будет помогать вам в бою по нажатию специальной кнопки.
Присутствует так же возможность подбирать оружие и предметы прямо на уровне (что-то вроде того, как это реализовано в Street of Rage), а так же вставлять аксессуары, которые немного облегчают жизнь. Они выдаются после победы над боссами, но, помимо этого, их можно купить и в специальных магазинах. Покупать можно и еду, которая не только хилит персонажа, но и увеличивает его статы навсегда.
Боссы в игре достаточно разнообразные. Они харизматичные и очень круто нарисованы. Но вот часть из них не требуют особой тактики, просто подходи и бей, а часть из них представляет собой решение головоломки, а не сражение. Такое может понравится не всем.
Есть еще один пункт, который является достаточно спорным. В плане структуры уровней - это не совсем обычный beat 'em up. Тут присутствуют то ли элементы метроидвании, то ли просто открытый мир, но между “комнатами” в локации можно свободно ходить, некоторые из которых изначально закрыты. Иногда можно даже проигнорировать сражение и убежать в конец локации, чтобы перейти на следующую. Если вы зачистите локацию, а потом снова вернетесь на нее, то враги снова заспавняться. Более того, они появляются и без этих переходов. Т.е. по сути волны врагов бегут без остановки, а драться с ними снова и снова особого смысла нет. Может быть это фишка всей серии River City, я не знаю, но решение достаточно странное, ведь это убивает процесс эксплоринга. А, учитывая количество пасахалок и отсылок на уровнях, это может быть проблемой. Да и выполняя очередное дополнительное задание, вам часто придется возвращаться туда, где вы уже были. И вот в такие моменты хочется просто пробегать уровень до конца, игнорируя всех противников.
А вот чем River City Girl действительно кладет других на лопатки - это визуальный стиль и музыка. Игра очень круто нарисована и очень приятно анимирована. То, как она выглядит, и заставило меня ее купить. У персонажей куча эмоций, которые они показывают, все локации достаточно сильно заполнены разными деталями, на фоне всегда стоят какие-то люди, которые заняты своими делами. Помимо крутых пикселей, нас достаточно часто встречают ролики, стилизованные под аниме, а иногда и вставки, вырванные словно из манги. Музыка приятная и драйвовая, а в специальных локациях появляются и треки с вокалом, которые исполняет один из персонажей игры. (треки с вокалом достаточно попсовые, а потому могут зайти не всем)
Но есть действительно важный косяк, который я не могу не упомянуть. Удар, подбор оружия и выход с локации - на все это назначена одна и та же клавиша. Очень часто происходит такое, что ты случайно подбираешь оружие в очень важный момент, а потому пропускаешь пару ударов от противника. Благо для игры уже существует quality of life мод, который исправляет в том числе и это.
Да, я понимаю, что у игры есть проблемы, но она каким-то образом попала мне прямо в самое сердце. Мне нравится River City Girl, я прошел ее раза 4. Как мне кажется, плюсов у игры все равно больше, а потому, любителям данного жанра, она точно зайдет!
Presentation is really nice, but gameplay becomes repetitive.