River City Girls 2 review – IGN
The Kunio-kun series is so old and spans so many consoles that you might have stumbled upon one of their games without realizing that they are part of a connected universe of hits. The most famous of them – Super Dodge Ball, Double Dragon and River City Ransom – are all separate stories that revolve around the lack of face-to-punch deficit in River City. River City Girls 2 is both the sequel to the smash hit 2019 game and the definitive form of the action RPG that River City Ransom pioneered in the late 1980s. It differs only marginally from its predecessor, choosing to improve systems and expand in size rather than overhaul how anything works. But when you kicked a lot of ass the first time, why did you change your approach?
The details of how and why the yakuza that Kyoko and Misako thought they kicked out of town in the previous game are back shaky, but they and their flying faces have taken over the school and all the local hangouts. That’s reason enough to start their crusade to get them off the streets, cracked skull or broken rib every time. While the story itself is light and easy to ignore, the writing is sharp and funny. I constantly laughed at the one-to-one rhetoric and banter between the various heroes, enemies, and side characters they encountered.
You can get straight into the fray pretty quickly, as all four returning characters – our two leading ladies and their friends, River City Ransom heroes Kunio and Ricky – can be played out of the gate in single-player mode or co-op with up to four players. Although leveling up and acquiring new technologies organically or through purchase at the dojo turns the combat system into a solid canvas for violent self-expression after a few hours, the early game can feel particularly shallow. With so few techniques available to you, the annoying button nature of this genre couldn’t seem more obvious. However, this is a stark contrast to what a great hitting game can be: Once you get further down the mixed rabbit hole, the offensive options look amazing.
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There are plenty of moves to learn in River City Girls 2, but the ease of input – just direction plus light, heavy or special attacks – means it’s easy to roll them into your game plan. The characters also fit easily identifiable archetypes that make each of them unique from each other in important ways: while Misako and Kyoko are both all-rounders, the former has much better aerial play while the latter can seal off the area around her with her Chun-Li-inspired kicks, or Block it with the most powerful kicks in the world.
As the best friends feel like two sides of a similar coin, so do their friends and new characters, Provie and Marian. Ricky and Brophy are speedsters who move quickly and knock opponents out with blind blows, but breakdancing tricks are better for groups of enemies versus closing Ricky’s single target. Besides being a complete unit, Marian is also a practical wrestler who complements Kunio’s feisty instincts. This ultimately means that there is more than just one option for anyone who falls into a particular style of play. You might still want to hunt down and stick with one character, though, since inactive characters level up much slower than characters on the field, meaning you set yourself back several levels each time you switch. re not all flattened equally.
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Gang victims come in an impressive array of shapes and sizes, many of them references to Kunio-kun’s history, hits as a genre, or pop culture in general. They can be very stubborn, and until you get better crowd control the way they surround you simply to get away from you can be enough to get frustrated. Fortunately, most of those tough fights can be avoided by simply running to the exit, with relatively few scenes locking you into combat before you can progress.
As with the first game, enemies you take down will sometimes succumb and beg to join your crew, allowing them to be used as helper characters in tag-based fighting games. River City Girls 2 goes a bit further, providing a selection of NPCs who can join you without having to beat them into submission first – another great way to unnecessarily circumvent competitors. I wish there was a similar resolution for the final hour – near the end it was particularly boring, when you’re steered through a gauntlet of locked screens avoiding wave after wave of baddies in a climax that felt more like a jam-packed action and then an end test.
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I wasn’t just a street fighter the entire eight hour adventure. Soon after embarking on a quest to save the town, I occasionally found myself taking on odd jobs like catching ghosts, robbing a Yakuza-owned bank, and training locals in the lost art of deflection. The weirder the distraction, the more I missed it when it was gone. It was these much appreciated meanders that helped break up the drunken monotony.
Equipment purchased from shops located throughout the seven districts of the city helps even the fighting odds. Items that give me a health shield when I’m down or add elemental properties to my heavy attacks are the ones I personally use, but there are also options that change almost every way you interact with River City Girls 2. Want to move faster? There is an appendix for that. If you only want to hit male (or female) enemies harder for some reason, there’s one for that, too. Food items, though disposable consumables, can be stored for when they are needed and give characters a constant baseline factor the first time they eat. So if you choose to grind, there will be plenty of places to spend all that hard-earned money.
The River City map is huge in River City Girls 2, and it’s much bigger than the previous game version. My first time kicking ass lately at locations like the vibrant fish markets in Ocean Heights or the elegant offices of the Technos complex was fun because they are so well drawn and coloured. However, the size of the city meant that even with the fast-travel system in place, I had to spend a great deal of time backtracking through parts of the city ticking boxes to make progress on the main mission. Also, many screens feature various obstacles and architecture that can become platforming challenges or add more tactical thinking to the battles you choose, but I found that I was often slipping off ledges or accidentally stopping movement. something up front.
But again, the scene deserves attention. Character models and backgrounds feature a chunky pixel style that blends with silky smooth animation, capturing a style and expression worthy of standing alongside beautiful retro contemporaries like Streets of Rage 4 and TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge. That goes for the music, too: Megan McDuffie’s killer soundtrack with toe-tapping instrumentals. Occasionally, you’ll walk into a room and hear some fun attempt at parodying local radio stations in the background. In some of the more notable areas, the songs contain lyrics from the punks that make fun of you on your journey to them. There is so much energy in the music that it’s hard not to be excited about kicking every face in the room.
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