Kick, kick, punch, punch… kick.
The River City franchise is one of those I’m less familiar with, but always admired. The latest release seems to be sporting new armor and adding some light RPG elements to spice up the franchise. River City Saga: Three Kingdoms is a side-scrolling side-scrolling action, the latest installment in the River City Ransom (Kuniokun) franchise. But this time, the protagonists aren’t roaming the streets of modern times bashing street gangs. Instead, they are thrown into the last years of the Eastern Han Dynasty and live one of his greatest Chinese novelizations in the “Romance of the Three Kingdoms” fairly heavily used in games.
Three Kingdoms feels almost unique in its look and design. The visuals offer a slightly polished version of the original River City Ransom game, with 8-bit character models popping out against the faded backgrounds. The backgrounds themselves are more modern his 2.5D, allowing you to move your character up and down to add depth to the screen with classic side-scrolling side-scrolling action. Characters in dialogue are much more detailed and full of life, emotion and color. These are expertly drawn, giving the flat 2D model of kick, punch, kick a charm and character.
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I don’t have a lot of brawler experience and was curious to see how fun the controls and gameplay would be. The side-scrolling action is chaotic, with his button-heavy mash, dropping four enemies at once with his kick, and waves in sight. My expectations were met…partially. River City Saga is chaotic, but the chaos isn’t fun, especially when the screen is flooded with enemies to kill. This is mainly because the model just sits on the screen like a paper clipping, so the controls are very awkward and the depth of field he finds almost impossible to get 100% accurate. It’s the cause. The repeated button mashing style is also very annoying, and if you want to take your time and focus on a few enemies, moving around them and attacking them in a “clean way” will usually kill them. , I went back to just spamming the attack button and almost mindlessly running around, kicking and punching anything that fell in my path.
The control scheme and gameplay look pretty much the same when compared to past installments of this franchise. There’s a new feature called “Nekketsu Dance” that makes character moves more powerful and impactful, and temporarily throws in more unique moves. I’m sure you’re very familiar with how Kingdoms is played, but new players like me will take some getting used to.
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Side-scrolling action tends to be pretty chaotic and violent. In other words, the genre is “fighting game”! This is why Sangokushi Monogatari serves as a great setting for this style of game. Lots of fights involving bandits, armies, etc. to hold back, perfect for non-stop brawls. Within the River City Saga, Kunio, the protagonist of many games in the series, takes on the role of her Guan Yu, the protagonist of this story. Given that Kunio’s name is still in parentheses, it makes the whole story look like a play, or as if the River City crew were all dressed up and doing his LARPing. It could have been a fun and interesting twist, keeping the more serious elements of the story lighter and more fun.
The gameplay becomes very difficult once you start your adventure as Guan Yu. However, once you unlock more moves, i.e. drop kicks, the fight becomes much easier. The leveling system is so nice to you that you will find yourself overleveled and outrunning most people. they just drop right off. Outside of the minute-by-minute flight, you’ll find some very frustrating platformer sections, plus purchase items to help you craft scraps, explore towns, and complete side his missions. I can do it. These platforming sections can be stifling at times, as the aforementioned shallow depth of field means this game has to be jump-perfect for which it wasn’t designed. , can be frustrating.
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River City Saga: Three Kingdoms feels like an incredibly nostalgia-driven game aimed at those who have classic fighting games, especially the River City games, close to their hearts. And I think that viewers will be very happy with what the River City Saga has to offer. For someone like me, who has less nostalgia for the franchise, you might have trouble understanding the repetitive nature and overall appeal of River City Saga: Three Kingdoms.