{"id":99655,"date":"2019-09-04T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-09-04T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/reviews\/switch-eshop\/river_city_girls"},"modified":"2019-09-04T13:00:00","modified_gmt":"2019-09-04T13:00:00","slug":"review-river-city-girls-streets-of-rage-4-has-some-real-competition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/2019\/09\/04\/review-river-city-girls-streets-of-rage-4-has-some-real-competition\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: River City Girls &#8211; Streets Of Rage 4 Has Some Real Competition"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"media_block\"><a href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/reviews\/switch-eshop\/river_city_girls\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/reviews\/switch-eshop\/river_city_girls\/small.jpg\" class=\"media_thumbnail\"><\/a><\/div>\n<aside class=\"picture embed\"><a title=\"River City Girls Review - Screenshot 1 of 8\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/98889\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/98889\/900x.jpg\" alt=\"River City Girls Review - Screenshot 1 of 8\"><\/a><\/aside>\n<p>The <strong>Kunio-kun<\/strong> series has been around for more than three decades in Japan, delivering a steady stream of quality titles mostly featuring its trademark art style: chunky characters with big heads. Some of the games made it to the west under various guises \u2013 <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/nes\/renegade\">Renegade<\/a><\/strong>, <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/nes\/super_dodge_ball\">Super Dodge Ball<\/a><\/strong>, <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/nes\/crash_n_the_boys_street_challenge\">Crash \u2018n The Boys<\/a><\/strong>, <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/nes\/nintendo_world_cup\">Nintendo World Cup<\/a><\/strong> and the like \u2013 but arguably the most notable entry made it to our shores as <strong>Street Gangs<\/strong> in Europe, and <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/nes\/river_city_ransom\">River City Ransom<\/a><\/strong> in North America. As the name suggests, <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/switch-eshop\/river_city_girls\">River City Girls<\/a><\/strong> is a spin-off of that game, and it\u2019s absolutely superb.<\/p>\n<p>Actually, it\u2019s more a spin-off of the Japan-only Super Famicom entry <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/snes\/shin_nekketsu_kha_kunio-tachi_no_banka\">Shin Nekketsu K\u014dha: Kunio-tachi no Banka<\/a><\/strong>, because that was a fighting game that let you play as the two protagonists here. But nobody likes a show-off \u2013 especially one who spouts out Japanese game names as if they didn\u2019t copy and paste them off the internet to get the spelling right \u2013 so let\u2019s not focus too much on that. The point is that River City Girls stars Misako and Kyoko, the girlfriends of River City Ransom\u2019s heroes Kunio and Riki.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"picture embed\"><a title=\"River City Girls Review - Screenshot 2 of 8\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/98885\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/98885\/900x.jpg\" alt=\"River City Girls Review - Screenshot 2 of 8\"><\/a><\/aside>\n<p>The chaps have been kidnapped, so it\u2019s up to their partners \u2013 who are no strangers to a scrap themselves \u2013 to cut class and explore River City to try and find out more about what happened to them. Naturally, there are plenty of people in River City looking for a fight (including a bunch of your own fellow schoolmates, thanks to an angry principal demanding they stop you from leaving the school grounds), so punching seven shades of sherbert out of pixelated punks is the order of the day here.<\/p>\n<p>Combat is similar to those in earlier games, though it\u2019s now notably more complex. You\u2019re initially armed with a quick attack, a strong attack, a single jumping attack and a single running attack, which should be enough to get you by at first but gets old fast. Thankfully, before you know it, you\u2019ve levelled-up and unlocked your first new move, which it soon turns out is the first of many. The game uses a fairly straightforward RPG-style experience system whereby defeating enemies and beating certain tasks will award you with XP. Each time you level up you\u2019re awarded a new move, some stat boosts and, sometimes, a notification that even more moves are available in the town\u2019s dojo.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"picture embed\"><a title=\"River City Girls Review - Screenshot 3 of 8\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/98886\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/98886\/900x.jpg\" alt=\"River City Girls Review - Screenshot 3 of 8\"><\/a><\/aside>\n<p>The dojo is one of many shops littered around River City\u2019s reasonably-sized map. As well as granting you XP, defeated enemies will also drop cash that you can spend in the majority of these stores. Most of them \u2013 the dojo aside \u2013 sell four different items and it\u2019s not immediately clear what their benefits are until you buy them for the first time. Some have one-off effects: this mostly means they restore your health to some degree, but some also give you some stat boosts the first time you buy them.<\/p>\n<p>Others are permanently placed in your inventory and give various boosts. The mall\u2019s fashion store Wardrobe, for example, lets you buy a \u2018Bomb Bra\u2019 and \u2018Bomb Bottoms\u2019 \u2013 the former gives you a 1% chance of killing any enemy with one hit, while the latter prevents you taking damage from 5% of attacks. These purchases come with some caveats, though. Firstly, while you can collect as many of these items as possible, you can only have two of them active at any time (just to prevent you becoming some sort of invincible gimmick fiend). Secondly, items that <em>sound<\/em> like they should make a cosmetic difference don\u2019t: your character wears the same outfit regardless of what you apply. Shame on you for buying a bra for that reason, anyway.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"picture embed\"><a title=\"River City Girls Review - Screenshot 4 of 8\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/98888\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/98888\/900x.jpg\" alt=\"River City Girls Review - Screenshot 4 of 8\"><\/a><\/aside>\n<p>The meat of the game is spent exploring River City itself and its various nooks and crannies. Although this is a beat \u2018em up in the style of games like <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/nes\/double_dragon\">Double Dragon<\/a><\/strong>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/snes\/final_fight\"><strong>Final Fight<\/strong><\/a> and the immortal <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/megadrive\/streets_of_rage_2\">Streets of Rage 2<\/a><\/strong>, this isn\u2019t a linear adventure. River City is made up of a number of areas connected by various exits, and you can call up your phone with the + button and explore the map at any point to figure out where you\u2019re going next. Some paths are blocked off until later in the game, but for the most part, you\u2019re free to roam wherever you like.<\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019re worried that this will result in the game\u2019s back-half consisting of running back and forth through empty streets completing tasks, fret not. Enemies auto-generate to make sure that backtracking (which you will need to do at times) isn\u2019t a case of strolling past areas you\u2019ve already cleared of danger. On occasion, the game will also stop scrolling and lock the screen \u2013 literally, with a padlock and chains appearing as a border \u2013 and insist that you defeat a few waves of enemies before you can progress. This may seem like it could be annoying but if anything it promotes efficient exploration: rather than randomly running around from screen to screen you\u2019re more likely to stop, look at the map and figure out where to go next in order to minimise the number of encounters.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"picture embed\"><a title=\"River City Girls Review - Screenshot 5 of 8\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/98887\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/98887\/900x.jpg\" alt=\"River City Girls Review - Screenshot 5 of 8\"><\/a><\/aside>\n<p>A lot of this \u2013 the open-world exploration, the ability to unlock new moves, the various shops selling boosts \u2013 may be feeling very familiar to fans of River City Ransom and its ilk (alternatively, those familiar with the <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.pushsquare.com\/games\/ps3\/scott_pilgrim_vs_the_world_the_game\" class=\"external\">Scott Pilgrim<\/a><\/strong> game, which itself was inspired by River City Ransom, may be getting the picture too). This is deliberate: although it\u2019s a 2019 game, River City Girls still feels very much like a modern part of the Kunio-kun series. There are even a bunch of references dotted throughout, from the dodgeballs lying around that can be used as weapons to the fact that every enemy shouts something silly when they\u2019re defeated (from \u201cmy ligaments!\u201d to the classic \u201cBARF!\u201d). As with the best references and in-jokes, these don\u2019t negatively affect the experience for newcomers, they just enhance it for veterans.<\/p>\n<p>The entire game is a little on the short side, but some mechanics have been put in place to try and expand its lifespan a touch. Occasionally the last remaining enemy in a group will drop to their knees and beg for mercy. If you grab hold of them and press the L button you\u2019ll recruit them as an assist character who you can call to jump in and fight briefly alongside you when you\u2019re struggling. Your phone has a Recruits menu that you can use to keep track of which characters you\u2019ve shown mercy to in the past: with 12 main character types and 63 in total when you take colour variations into account, it gives the game a mild \u2018gotta catch \u2018em all\u2019 vibe and gives completists something to do.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"picture embed\"><a title=\"River City Girls Review - Screenshot 6 of 8\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/98891\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/98891\/900x.jpg\" alt=\"River City Girls Review - Screenshot 6 of 8\"><\/a><\/aside>\n<p>Misako and Kyoko each have their own separate levels too, and each has an entirely unique set of moves. This means if you want to see everything the game has to offer you\u2019re going to have to fully level up each of them and unlock each of their full move sets (which isn\u2019t a chore). That\u2019s before taking the New Game+ mode into account, but we\u2019re getting into spoiler territory at that point so let\u2019s just say it extends the game\u2019s lifespan further.<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s one final thing we haven\u2019t touched on, which is odd because it\u2019s also the most immediately obvious: <em>this game is absolutely gorgeous<\/em>. WayForward has been a specialist in creating stunning 2D games on modern hardware for well over a decade now \u2013 <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/wii\/a_boy_and_his_blob\">A Boy and His Blob<\/a><\/strong>, <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/dsiware\/mighty_flip_champs\">Mighty Flip Champs<\/a><\/strong>, <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/ds\/aliens_infestation\">Aliens: Infestation<\/a><\/strong>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/wiiu-eshop\/ducktales_remastered\"><strong>DuckTales: Remastered<\/strong><\/a>, the <strong>Shantae<\/strong> games, you name it \u2013 but it\u2019s really outdone itself this time. Character animations are smooth and packed with\u2026 well, <em>character<\/em>. Backgrounds are beautifully drawn and filled with little details (the mall area, in particular, is an absolute treat for the eyes), and the anime cut-scenes \u2013 especially the fantastic intro \u2013 are absolutely flawless.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"picture embed\"><a title=\"River City Girls Review - Screenshot 7 of 8\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/98890\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/98890\/900x.jpg\" alt=\"River City Girls Review - Screenshot 7 of 8\"><\/a><\/aside>\n<p>It sounds great too: we\u2019ve heard our fair share of chiptune scores by this point, which is why it\u2019s refreshing to hear a distinctly non-retro helping of music this time around. You do get the odd bleeps and bloops here and there, but for the most part, the soundtrack here is delightfully fresh; assuming it ends up on Spotify once the game officially launches, we\u2019re happily adding it to our library. Voice acting during cut-scenes is also of a generally high quality, complementing the genuinely entertaining dialogue well.<\/p>\n<p>It isn\u2019t flawless, however. As we\u2019ve already touched on, there is a bit of backtracking to be found, and while you can prepare your route in advance to minimise how much of it you need to do, there\u2019s still no getting around the fact that you\u2019ll often be finding yourself in locked down scraps against waves of enemies just to get back to an area you\u2019ve been before. It\u2019s obviously been done to extend the game\u2019s life a little but it can be frustrating at times.<\/p>\n<p>This also contributes to the fact that the game can get a <em>tiny<\/em> bit repetitive depending on your play style. If you just want to defeat enemies in an effective and efficient manner you\u2019ll eventually decide on the moves that work best for you, and presumably just use those for the most part. The most fun is to be had experimenting with your ever-growing arsenal of moves and trying to string together crazy combos, but this obviously comes with its own risks and you\u2019re likely to die a few times while you learn each move\u2019s limitations.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"picture embed\"><a title=\"River City Girls Review - Screenshot 8 of 8\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/98892\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/98892\/900x.jpg\" alt=\"River City Girls Review - Screenshot 8 of 8\"><\/a><\/aside>\n<p>If you\u2019re more interested in simply getting to the end without such tomfoolery then you\u2019re going to be performing the same moves a hell of a lot of times against countless enemies and it\u2019s going to feel like a bit of a drag. Again, that\u2019s on you to an extent, but it\u2019s still a valid way of playing and so there perhaps should have been some measures put in place to keep things a bit fresher when you\u2019re taking on your umpteenth schoolgirl, police officer or man in a wrestling mask.<\/p>\n<p>The only other niggles are minor ones. The Y button is used for quick attacks but it\u2019s also used to trigger an exit and travel to a new area, which can lead to issues on occasion. Sometimes you\u2019ll enter a new screen and immediately be attacked, which may cause you to start instinctively hitting the Y button; this can result in you travelling back to the area you came from previously, which can be annoying (rare though it is). There are also some slight performance issues at times, especially when running through areas when backtracking, but these really aren\u2019t worth losing sleep about.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Kunio-kun series has been around for more than three decades in Japan, delivering a steady stream of quality titles mostly featuring its trademark art style: chunky characters with big heads. Some of the games made it to the west under various guises \u2013 Renegade, Super Dodge Ball, Crash \u2018n The Boys, Nintendo World Cup [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-99655","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nintendo-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99655","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=99655"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99655\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99655"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99655"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99655"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}