It’s only been three years since Kyoko and Misako jumped into a revitalized brawler scene, smashing skulls and defeating River City’s interim yakuza boss Sabko, before finding her boyfriends Kunio and Riki. I can’t believe it. We’re back with a game that’s bigger and better than its predecessor, while still taking the key elements of River City Girls Zero. I wasn’t interested in RCGZ per se, but you may remember being delighted to see RCGZ characters playing a big role in RCG2. It’s exactly what it says on the tin with some new features and quality of life improvements that we’ve dug into.
The game begins with a reminder that at the end of the first River City Girls, the heroines Kyoko and Misako punt the katana-wielding Subko (daughter of imprisoned River City crime boss Sabu) through a window. She is soon spotted by her adoptive brother, Ken, who may be remembered from RCGZ, and the two visit her father Sabu. Meanwhile, Misako and Kyoko’s school is taken over by Ken and his friends, who forcibly banish gals who end up playing video games on Kyoko’s mom’s couch for six months.
You can choose to play as the four characters available at the end of the final game. Kyoko is secretly my favorite. Misako, who is the best brawler (IMHO), or Kunio and Ricky, who are their boyfriends. I never played as a boy in the first game. Because boys were not available until the story was cleared. After playing with them here for a bit, I found that both are fun characters with as many beautiful and unique animations as the famous girls.
The first difference you’ll notice in RCG2 is that River City itself has been greatly expanded. I think it’s expanded too much. The town is divided into several sections (crosstown, downtown, uptown, etc.) and each of these sections is divided into 10 or so single areas. As in the first game, your gang is regularly targeted by troublemaking mooks. Most of them are recognized from the first game. You can either run away or beat the tar. Occasionally, usually associated with completing a mission, a chain will appear around the border of the screen, cleaning a set number of clocks before proceeding, or until the scenery breaks (or miraculously). until fixed) must be beaten. ) while fending off villains.
Each of the four (eventually six) characters has an overwhelming number of melee attacks at their disposal, but most environments also include numerous weapons and a range of tools There are amazing things. We have everything from yo-yos to wrenches to giant fish to old sofas. Each weapon has a certain number of uses before breaking and flashes red before breaking. Now he has enough time to throw in one mook, Breath of the Wildstyle. Some characters are better than others, but crowd control is a challenge in RCG2. You can make friends together. Convenient in case of emergency!
Provie and Marian are heavily touted in the game’s PR, but both are unlockable characters tied to specific quests and must be defeated in rather difficult battles to earn their trust. (Brazil!) is a brawler and is actually a stowaway from the PC game River City Ransom: Underground. She’s almost unrecognizable here, with white hair and muscles that would put Billy and Jimmy to shame, and an aggressive heavy-hitting fighting style.
As in the previous game, Kyoko and Misako are given numerous side quests in between main story missions. This includes running around a very large map, talking to characters, beating mooks, finding and breaking things, and playing fun mini-games. has become outdated. Despite the presence of bus stops (fast travel points), he ends up doing a lot of running from place to place, and next he has three things to worry about.
1. Since there is no mini-map, I often go to the map screen. 2. The map layout is not always intuitive, as if there is more screen in a given area than he can realistically fit in one area. 3. The loading time between screens is unusually long.
The last point is the real killer. From 5 to he takes 10 seconds loading time every time I go from one screen to another. This is also my main complaint with Shantae and the Seven Sirens, and I wonder if this loading problem exists on other consoles. Since you will be walking around, you will find them everywhere.
Minigames are new to RCG2, and in almost every instance, a nice diversion from the main curb-stepping gameplay. In one of the early mini-games, he plays dodgeball against the opponent’s entire team (sometimes the bigger the number, the easier it is to win). Later minigames have a fun version of Dance Dance Revolution. In either case, it’s over quickly and not enough.
Yo’girls will continue to level up, but as before, stat increases can be purchased in various shops. River City is home to numerous restaurants, street vendors, boutiques and specialty stores, all selling items that can be eaten, stored for later or worn as accessories. Whenever you visit a new food-centric store, if you have greens, you have to sample everything on the menu. Eating food first gives the character a stat boost. Food can be eaten on the spot or saved for later use. My strategy was to eat everything quickly and then buy seconds for the boss fight.
Each character needs to boost their stats individually, but money is not hard to find in River City. Spending even a small amount of time crushing villains will give you a surplus of money. Generates certain buffs, he can wear two at a time. Some are defensive, some are aggressive, some are balancing, and some are ridiculously specific (e.g. more damage per rescued cat, etc.). A huge number of accessories allows you to find any combination to suit your playstyle.
RCG2 looks gorgeous with the same 16-bit aesthetic as its predecessor, but now with more characters, more diverse locations and environments, there’s a lot more to feast your eyes on. You should also pay attention – one quest asks you to rescue a bunch of cats, and those little rogues enter the strangest places. Environments are now more vertical and well-paced It’s a change. It’s not platforming, but I’ve always appreciated being able to explore environments in a video game. The effort usually pays off.
One of the big changes from RCG is the multiplayer option. Up to 4 players can jump locally or 2 players online. One of the reasons this review wasn’t up on launch day was because I wanted to try online play. Hosting is easy. Start playing as normal and seamlessly appear when someone joins. I didn’t really understand the rules for entering and leaving the store, but online play didn’t slow me down. Surprisingly, it was his local multiplayer that caused the performance hit. In the couch co-op experiment, he was only allowed two other people in the room. So when everyone started punching something, the framerate dropped. It wasn’t dramatic (see Samurai Maiden), but it was definitely noticeable.
I can’t help but mention the still hilarious writing and the very good voice acting. In my review of the first game (and her RCGZ), I praised her for Megan McDuffee’s transcendental soundtrack. When RCG2 was announced and McDuffee was announced to be returning, I found myself expecting more of her new songs than any other of her RCG components. Folks, the new tracks are great and stand alongside those from the first game. If RCG2’s theme is “more RCG,” that extends to the soundtrack as well, and I couldn’t be happier.
So, to use old video game magazine review terms, River City Girls fans will rejoice! If you liked River City Girls, you’ll love River City Girls 2. The new characters are fun, the city is bigger, the quests are more, and the story is higher stakes. The minigames are new additions, the boss fights are tough but fun, and oh, that soundtrack.
