RC2 is definitely one of those same game but more sequels. There are a couple of new areas but mostly you'll be walking through the same maps as the 1st game but with some minor updates. The games a bit more of an open world take on the game meaning there's gonna be some back tracking and taking on side quests. I think this change makes sense for this series but I wish there was a bit more variety on the kinds of objectives we were given. Either way this ultimately means the average campaign is going to be longer then RC1. I can see this being a pro or con when compared to the 1st game for a lot of people but for me it ended up as somewhere in between.
The combat is where this game really shines. There's quite a bit more moves. Most notably having air combos which were so much fun to use. A minor nitpick here is I wish there was an aerial recovery, the ability to cancel combos into block, and maybe an air dash for good measure. The air combos are activating the Marvel vs. Capcom lobe of my brain and I'd like the game to facilitate me here is what I'm saying.
I will mention I wasn't huge on the 1st's games story but this one is just plain worse thanks to how impersonal the stakes were for the two characters and how aimless it felt at a lot of points. The dialogue really doubled down on the meta humor too. Not the biggest deal in a beat em up but having something I could gravitate towards here would've been nice.
Also, fuck the helicopter fight.

A great improvement over the first game for virtue of having functioning online co-op. Combat feels great, characters are fun, and the soundtrack slaps too. The plot is structured better too in a way where exploration is more encouraged and most collectibles aren't too unreasonable. The developers seem to have gone the Yakuza route of retaining mostly the same maps to focus on adding other new elements.

I think the only area where this game has lost points with me is that it commits the cardinal sin of co-op games: only the host retains main story/collectible progress. I understand that this is can be a tricky issue to address due to having to factor in players at different stages of the story playing with each other, but having played start to finish with my friend, it is a bummer that I have to start from scratch sans my level/item/move purchases. I suppose it will at least go faster when I replay it.

Still, despite my misgiving about the co-op implementation RCG2 is a direct upgrade to the first game in every way and i daresay you could even skip it if you wanted. Definitely worth playing this if you love beat 'em ups.

По сути, это первая часть на стероидах, но сделать хорошо получилось далеко не все.

У меня уже есть обзор, который поясняет что вообще из себя представляет River City Girl, а потому я просто пробегусь по моментам, которые стали лучше/хуже со времен первой части.

Стало лучше:
- Добавили несколько приемов, включая те, которые позволяют запускать врага в воздух, а потому комбинации стали более комплексные. Даже у новичка будет получаться что-то более зрелищное, чем в первой части.
- Музыка все еще очень крутая. Но половина саундтрека - это треки из первой части игры. По сути обосновано, ибо вы частенько заходите на старые участки карты, хоть и переработанные, но все равно чувствуется небольшая халтура. С другой стороны музыка от этого хуже не стала, зато теперь ее больше. В общем, насладиться точно можно.
- Продолжительность игры выросла в разы.
- Слегка доработали систему оружия. Появились такие предметы, которым можно бить прямо по лежащему врагу. Раньше приходилось ждать, пока он встанет, а потом снова наносить всего один удар. В итоге сражение затягивалось, ты психовал, и решал, что проще уж воспользоваться кулаками. Теперь есть баланс.
- Немного прокачали систему наемников. Мало того, что теперь их можно красиво вписать в ваше комбо, так теперь появились еще и их элитные версии. Некоторые боссы первой части игры или же клево нарисованные новые персонажи теперь могут помочь вам в битве. Пользы от таких персонажей гораздо больше, но и нанимаются они уже за деньги.
- Слегка оживили локации. Почти все, что встречается на уровне, можно разбить. Тут даже вода вытекает из пластиковых стаканчиков, хотя игра, блин, пиксельная!
- Теперь персонажей можно менять в специальных зонах. А это значит, что не нужно начинать игру заново, чтобы просто попробовать кого-то нового. Более того, найденные аксессуары доступны сразу для всех. Раньше они были индивидуальными.
- Спавн врагов никуда не пропал, но теперь, когда ты зачищаешь всю локацию, то новые враги приходят с некоторой паузой, а значит есть время поизучать окрестности и поискать секретки.
- Персонажей теперь 6.

Стало хуже:
- Выросшая продолжительность принесла и ряд проблем. Появилось больше дополнительных миссий, больше видов собираемых предметов. В итоге, по одним и тем же локациям приходится ходить раз по 5-6 в лучшем случае. То котов найти, то карты таро, то селфи сделай, то собери что-то по дополнительному квесту. Бегать просто устаешь.
- Куда-то пропал секретный босс. Раньше, выполняя все задачи в игре, ты открывал секретную концовку и целого босса. А теперь тебя просто награждают предметом и все.
- Пропали ролики перед боссами. Теперь акцент почему-то только на их разговорах.
- Если кто-то сменит персонажа, то в диалогах голос тоже поменяется, вот только фразы совсем не меняются. Ощущение, что характер одной из девушек тупо вешают на того героя, которым вы ее заменили. Теряется какая-то индивидуальность.
- Новых видов врагов очень мало. Почти все они пришли просто из первой части.
- Боссы, к сожалению, теперь запоминаются больше своим видом, чем своими механиками.
- Никуда не делся прикол с одной клавишей, которая используется и для удара, и для подбора предмета, и для перехода на другую локацию. Снова ждем quality of life мод.

Хоть разработчики и проделали огромную работу, но игра ощущается слишком вторичной. Тут добрая половина состоит из того, что мы уже видели в первой части. WayFoward как будто попытались сделать ультимативную версию своего продукта, но не получилось. Он нам как бы говорят: “Зачем вам играть в первую часть, если здесь есть все, что было там, только теперь и с новым контентом”? Вот только первая часть западала в душу гораздо сильнее. Там каждый миллиметр был сделан с любовью. River City Girl 2 все еще очень хорошая игра, в которую однозначно стоит поиграть, но если ставить какую-то оценку, то она явно будет на 1-2 балла ниже. Если в будущем нас ждет еще и третья часть данного продукта, то хотелось бы увидеть что-то уже совершенно новое.

River City Girls 2 is the kinda of sequal that really isn't innovative but what it does give is just more and more of what you liked about the first game and not really addressing any of the issues you may have had from the first game. It's really a 1.5 kinda upgrade but honestly that's kinda want I want from a RCG2. I just want some quality of life improvements and more of what the first game offered. There are two new characters to play as, more enemies and a much larger world to explore. If you liked the first game there is no reason why the second game would let you down. There are a lot of reused things from the first RCG game such as enemies, characters, music and backdrops but I didn't mind so much because we got just as much new stuff that the package just feels bigger.

Lots of improvments to combat and minor fixes make the game feel so much better. Enemies are easier to combo and combat feels just a bit more fluid. It's fun trying to create some crazy combos and link everything togather. The story is about on par of the first one. Although I think the ending of this one is rather dull compared to the first. A lot safer of an ending, but a minor nit pick.

One major note that I was hyped for was the OST. I think the first RCG's game had one amazing soundtrack and I can safely say that this game delivers majorly in that regard. A lot of songs from one pop up in this one but it doesn't feel as rehased as it sounds and there is quite a lot of new tracks, so there is definitly no skimping here. RCG2 might just have one of the best OST in gaming right now, it's that damn good. A definite top ten competitor IMO.

The game is semi open world as all the locations can be traveled from back and forth at will, but there is set paths one must go. Side quests and other things can be tackled in any order and there is a lot to collect if going for a 100% run. Also added in online co op for those who like that, but for me this feels like it works better solo or local just because the way it is designed, but I know people do love that option so it is there. Other than that there really isn't much more to say about the game. It really does feel like a super extention to one. I do like the option of picking which characters appear in the cutscene and voice the story lines. I just wish that they would cater more to the who was voicing the line. It's always from the perspective of the main characters even if they aren't the ones voicing the lines. Kinda hard to explain with out seeing it.

As for minor complaints as of this review the game runs at 30 FPS which is a step down from the first game and is immeaditly noticable coming from it. However I easily adapted to it and didn't bother me too much but I'd be lying if i said it wasn't a step down. Thankfully a patch is one the way to get it back up to 60 FPS but it really should have been there day one. No reason a game like this should run like that. Also my other minor gripe is just like the first game the game is way way too easy. Accessories and stat improving RPG mechanics make you way to powerful. I get that this franchise was born from RPG mechanics and that's cool but mid game I should not be so dominant. Especially adding two more difficulties is worthless when it barely changes anything. I would have loved to see a more hardcore no item, limited health items mode that made the beat um up elements stand out more. It really hurts replayability IMO. Plus it would be cool if the game would have given up more of an incentive to trying other characters but it really rewards just mastering one.

In the end though RIver City Girls 2 was one of my favorite games of the year and one I can surely see myself going back to thanks to it's colorful, fun story and dialog with a dose of feel good brawler mechanics. It's the sequal that I wanted and I crave more.

Platinum # 172

(My Steam Review)

TL;DR: Play River City Girls 1 before this. It's the better game. If you really enjoy part 1, maybe part 2 is something for you. It's just the same.

I love RCG 1. I speedrun it for quite a while and was super excited about the second installment of the series. I'm not completely disappointed in what we got, but this games has some serious quality issues and lacks some attention to details.

But the good things first:
- This game is what most people want, the same as part 1, but more.
- I enjoyed returning to River City, the overall reinterpretation of the city is nice.
- The soundtrack is very good again (I love the basketball theme)
- New characters, new move sets, fine-tuned fighting system. Everything perfect.
- New enemies are ok.
- Some minigames are fun.
- Online Multiplayer (although not tested yet) is a nice addition.
- Even more Crossover references to Double Dragon made me lough so hard.
- I played on PC and Steamdeck and everything just works.

--

Here are the issues I have with the game. (Let's not talk about the FPS thing, because this will be fixed in the future):

- The story started well, but fell flat at the end. I couldn't care less for the story and the ending at some point in the game.

- Most of the side quest are just boring. Collect some 22 fluffy whatever here, collect 22 whatever there. Make some selfies.

- All Boss Fights (except maybe the first one) are boring as hell (In really enjoyed the boss fights in RCG 1, as they are more creative and challenging) as in RCG 2). Here the fights aren't balanced at all, the enemies are missing funny or surprising attacks or any nice details. Except for "more bullets and faster" there isn't any real difference in the different phases during the fights. What also bothers me: The "opening VERSUS screens" are just a cheap quick and dirty work and missing the attention to detail which we got in part 1. This makes me just sad.

- The lack of attention to detail in present all over the game. Of course, we get a hell lot of reused sprites in this game. I'm fine with it. But man, I really don't enjoy some of the super stupid color pallets some enemies have.

- Revisiting the city is nice, but some changes to the city layout are strange. While exiting the Aquarium in Part 1 results in entering the hotel, now you end up on the beach at the weightlifting area? Why? Again, just some details got wrong.

- Hell: The credits and the credit sequence are a complete mess. Ugly as hell, what even is the art style here? What are those fonts, why is everything so fast. You should celebrate yourself at this point.

- I hate some of the new voices of existing characters. I'm too used to the original voices of part 1. (Sorry to you folks, still love you)

- White subtitles during a black-and-white comic sequence are not readable! ;-)

- Please fix those loading times. A game like this shouldn't have so many loading zones. This has to be improved. And man... these loading screen this the super huge text are just ugly. Please fix this (although I enjoy the loading-fighting-sprite thing)

- The German localization is all over the place. At some places, the text just runs off the screen.

In the end, for me, this game fells rushed for a release. Just one or two more rounds of QA and this game would be so much better. Most of my issues are solvable, but at this point I strongly recommend new player to start playing RCG1, if they have never played the game. Part 2 is just more of it, but in questionable quality.

To those who love Part 1, enjoy part 2.

That's right, we're back again! Last time was not the end!

I love it. You can stop reading now.

Although I said I love it, there are still some point I find frustrating.
The soundtrack department is still producing great bangers, but half of the OST here are tracks taken from first game. Surely they are still amazing, but I feel like I was cheated. For some reason minigames are not suited for two players, making one of you slaving for another. Why did I had to beat the dance record and pull weights on my own while my buddy was chilling out sipping soda on the background? Bring him with me to the thunderdome so I could laugh at his pathetic attempts at dancing! Backtracking is kind of bullshit. You have to find the cats, find the cards and find the selfies in addition to finding other scattered stuff and bringing it back to the start of an area. Speaking of selfies, why didn't you made unique art poses for each of them? There's like eight in total. I don't believe it was too expensive to draw a couple more pictures, you're just lazy.

Lets get to the good stuff now. Fuck god of war and his super mature game design and avant garde explanation of why did Kratos lose his powers again. We have the most relatable reason right here. Our girls were playing videogames for half a year non-stop and turned into couch potatoes. THAT'S game design. Yes, the story is bullshit, yes, the characters are absolutely retarded. But that's exactly what I expected and wanted to see. And I thank wayforward for this. Fuck your drama. Fuck your le arte. Cringe writing and voice acting all the way! Overall the art is still amazing, the movelist is expanded and in a good way too, my girl Kyoko is still dabbing, the black-haired-girl-with-the-heart-backpack is still doing what she was doing before I guess, the gameplay itself is as solid as my cock. I eagerly await what will we see in the future. Hey, wayforward, I want to see a moving arenas next time.

This game also has best designed Jam.

I played the original River City Girls around it's launch date, and while I know it's not a great game, I still found that some enjoyment could be wrung from it (playing with a friend most definitely helped). Everything is better with a friend. The sprite work is gorgeous and I liked a few bits of the soundtrack. The combat felt fine! Not bad, not great, just fine! This is due to enemies being complete damage sponges. That's about it, though. I remember a few things about the game, but its mostly faded from my puny monkey brain. Now onto River City Girls 2.

It's pretty much the same thing, huh? No, really, I have the same exact praises as I did for the first game. Except now that this is still somewhat fresh in my mind, I can mention a few things I didn't like! The writing is groan-worthy. I hope I'm not alone with wanting to roll my eyes when I hear a character in a game utter the word doggo or the phrase "bye Felicia".

Do you like going across the map to collect a macguffin then slowly bring it back to its destination, all the while tanky enemies bum-rush you from both sides? Do you like repeating this process for six to nine hours? Despite reaching the max level and nearly maxing out my attack stat (two points off) enemies still felt like they took a bit too much damage to fully take down. If my fading memory serves me right, a lot of the enemies that are present here are completely carried over from the first game. Even the map mostly feels the same!

I dunno, I think the game is just fine. I played this with the same friend that played RCG1 with me and we both agreed that it felt very samey. I can't help but think this games existence feels unnecessary. Like, sure, this game might be an overall better experience than the first game, but I don't care! Why was this made (aside from the obvious)? It felt like the same exact shit just longer. Besides the pixel art, I don't think it does anything inherently good or bad. It just kind of exists. Going forward, this might be my go-to example of a 5/10 game. Truly the worst fate any piece of art could succumb to, being completely forgettable.

I'm not sure how to feel about River City Girls 2 at the moment. I can see my opinion of it rising with time and patches, but currently I rate it slightly lower than the first game. But it's still very good!

For pros, I much appreciate the new characters and expanded starting roster, giving you many more options out the gate. Online Co-op is a huge get obviously, and it runs well in any version of the game, save some connectivity issues on Switch at times. The recruit system has been overhauled and it much more useful, allowing you to have two at once and pull any recruit you've gotten from the hideouts in the game. The new combat moves are fun to use and open up a bunch of new options for stringing attacks together, and the greater enemy variety encourages exploring more effective kill options.

On the downside, there's quite a few recycled areas in this game. The game is longer and more content packed, which is good and bad, as the game has noticeably worse pacing than the first game. Additionally, many objectives revolve around back tracking through areas, which is annoying since it's repetitive and plays badly with the game's longer loading times. Bosses are more unique and varied, but also have slower attack patterns that you have to wait out until you can whale on them again, which I'm not a fan of. Finally, the game also has some noticeable bugs, but this will probably lessen with time and patches so I don't hold it too much against the game.

Ultimately, it's kind of the opposite of what you'd expect. I'd imagine someone who never played the first game would enjoy this a lot more as it would come across as much fresher. I still had great fun with it though, and I plan to fully complete it and do New Game+ playthroughs so it certainly did enough right. I'd especially recommend it if you have friends to play with as co op is very fun.

NOTE: I played this on the PC version, which currently has a Beta patch correcting the game's frame rate problems. I'd highly recommend this version if it's viable for you, deduct half a star off this review for the console versions until the patch goes live.

This game is just the right amount of cringe (the OST leans into this for sure).

It's fun but it gets repetitive despite there being six playable characters. They used every area from the first game again, and added two new ones, and since they like to make you backtrack it can get tedious at times.

I like the characters though, especially Kyoko and Misako, they have a fun back and forth going on.

This one's probably better if you never played the first game or if you just really want more of the same.

Resumo de tudo: River City Girls 2 é meu GOTY de 2022.

O primeiro River City Girls já era um dos meus jogos favoritos, o segundo chegou reutilizando muitas coisas, mas acima disso, trazendo a versão DEFINITIVA de River City Girls, literalmente todos os aspectos de combate foram melhorados, assim como uma boa quantia de quality of life em seu game design também, além de um aumento significativo de tempo de jogo e conteúdo.

A compositora Megan Mcduffe já havia produzido uma das minhas OSTs favoritas no primeiro jogo, mas aqui parece que ela foi ainda além, alguns dos principais vilões do jogo são mercenários de personalidades e histórias bastante distintas, que receberam temas cantados com letras que falam sobre suas histórias (Deus, como eu amo quando fazem isso em jogos), e que músicas empolgantes, diga-se de passagem.

Eu já havia jogado bastante a versão asiática do jogo no Nintendo Switch, e agora vou jogar MUITO mais na Steam com um input lag mínimo e fazer 100% das conquistas.