“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.