River City Girls 2 [Review]
A few years ago at 2019 Pax West, my colleague Rebecca and I got the privilege of conducting several interviews with developers about a huge variety of fantastic games. Out of all we played, none could come close to the awesomeness that was River City Girls. After playing and reviewing the game, I gave a perfect score, as my pure enjoyment completely overshadowed any potential hiccups it might have had. My experience was fantastic! Once news dropped about a sequel, I became giddy like a schoolgirl in anticipation.
Wayforward was once again kind enough to give me a chance to review the second game! Although a carbon copy of the first River City Girls, it was still exactly what I was looking for, and the added feature of 4-player co-op brought the whole game home for me. This new entry brings you 6 playable characters and twice the content from the first game. One of the few drawbacks is that the Switch version does suffer some frame rate issues from time to time during 4 player sessions. I played this game on PC and on Nintendo Switch for this review.
This game presents far more story than the previous River City Girls game. One thing I find odd, though, is player one and player two’s characters are the only ones to actually have voice lines unless another player dies. But other than that, the amount of fun, jokes, and call backs to the previous titles in the franchise is completely golden, and anyone who has played the others will absolutely adore the content presented here. Seeing as the game is a beat ‘em up, the combat is just about the same as the first game.
I’ve seen other publications complain about the game playing it safe and not making any notable changes, thus lowering the game’s review score, but to me this is rubbish. Everyone in the gaming community has excessively high and unbelievable standards for games nowadays, and I personally feel developers don’t need to reinvent the wheel every single time a game is released. More of the same is perfectly acceptable when you only have games 2 in the franchise. Since the game is a fantastic continuation of the River City Girls story, I definitely recommend the game to any arcade and beat ‘em up enthusiast. If I had more thumbs I'd have all of them up, and I honestly see this game as a 10/10, just like the first!
River City Girls 2 Trailer