I can’t consider it’s solely been three years since Kyoko & Misako burst onto the reinvigorated brawler scene, cracking skulls and taking down River Metropolis’s interim Yakuza boss, Sabuko, earlier than discovering their boyfriends, Kunio and Riki. Now they’re again, in a recreation that’s greater and higher than its predecessor whereas incorporating key components of River Metropolis Women Zero, which I appreciated. You may recall that I didn’t look after RCGZ itself, however was delighted to see that characters from RCGZ have large roles in RCG2. For essentially the most half, RCG2 is strictly what it says on the tin with some new options and high quality of life enhancements that I actually dug.
The sport begins by reminding us that on the finish of the primary River Metropolis Women, heroines Kyoko & Misako punted katana-wielding Sabuko–daughter of imprisoned River Metropolis crime boss Sabu–out a window. She is quickly found by her adopted brother, Ken, who chances are you’ll bear in mind from RCGZ, and the 2 go to their father, Sabu, who promptly punches a gap in his jail wall and says he’s going to handle issues himself. In the meantime, Misako & Kyoko’s college is taken over by Ken and his goons, and so they forcefully expel the gals, who wind up enjoying video video games on Kyoko’s mother’s sofa for six months.
You may select to play because the 4 characters obtainable on the finish of the final recreation: Kyoko, who’s secretly my favourite; Misako, who’s one of the best brawler (IMHO), or their boyfriends, Kunio and Rikki. I by no means bothered to play because the boys within the first recreation, as they didn’t turn out to be obtainable till beating the story. After enjoying a bit with them right here, I discovered each to be enjoyable characters with simply as many lovely, distinctive animations because the titular women, however I caught with Kyoko & Misako out of familiarity…but additionally it’s their recreation.
The primary distinction you’ll discover in RCG2 is that River Metropolis itself is vastly expanded. Perhaps too expanded. The city is split into a number of sections (Crosstown, Downtown, Uptown, and so on.), and every of those sections is damaged up right into a dozen or so single areas–what we known as “screens” again in my day. As within the first recreation, your troupe might be repeatedly focused by troublemaking mooks, most of whom you’ll acknowledge from the primary recreation, and you’ll both simply run away or beat the tar out of them. In some circumstances–normally tied to finishing missions–a sequence will seem across the display screen’s border, and also you’ll have to wash a set variety of clocks earlier than shifting on, or beat up a bit of surroundings till it breaks (or is miraculously mounted) whereas heading off goons.
Whereas every of the 4–ultimately six–characters has an amazing variety of melee assaults at their disposal, most environments additionally include loads of weapons, and the sheer breadth of implements stays astounding. You’ve bought all the things from yo-yos to wrenches to huge fish, outdated couches, and all the things in between. Every weapon has a sure variety of makes use of earlier than it breaks, and it’ll flash purple earlier than it does–simply sufficient time to toss it at yet another mook, Breath of the Wild-style. Crowd management is a problem in RCG2, although some characters are higher at it than others. And as earlier than, you possibly can recruit a few of these baddies to your trigger, summoning them with a faucet of the L2/R2 buttons. They’re helpful in a pinch!
Provie & Marian have been closely touted within the recreation’s PR, however are each unlockable characters tied to particular quests, and you need to beat them in somewhat tough battles with the intention to achieve their confidence. Provie, a Capoeria-centric (Brazil!) brawler who’s enjoyable to play as, is definitely a stowaway from the PC recreation River Metropolis Ransom: Underground, however chances are you’ll acknowledge iron-fisted Marian because the oft-kidnapped girlfriend of the Double Dragon dudes. She’s barely recognizable right here, with white hair and muscle tissue that might put Billy & Jimmy to disgrace, and has an aggressive heavy-hitting combating fashion.
As within the earlier recreation, Kyoko & Misako are given a lot of subquests in between foremost story missions which frequently contain working across the overly-large map, speaking to characters, beating up mooks, discovering or smashing issues, and enjoying entertaining minigames. I have to admit that working across the huge map did get outdated. Regardless of the presence of bus stops (quick journey factors), you’ll be doing a variety of working from place to put, and three issues make this a trouble:
1. There isn’t any minimap, so that you’ll be going into the map display screen so much.
2. The map’s structure isn’t at all times intuitive, as if there are extra screens in a given space than might realistically match onto a single space of the map.
3. There are weirdly-long load instances in between each display screen.
That final level is the actual killer–we’re speaking five-ten seconds of loading time each time you progress from one display screen to a different. This was my foremost grievance about Shantae and the Seven Sirens, too, and I ponder if this loading challenge is current on the opposite consoles. Not game-breaking by any means, however given that you just’ll be traipsing round each nook of the map a number of instances, it is omnipresent.
Minigames are new to RCG2, and in just about all cases are implausible diversions from the principle curb-stomping gameplay. One early minigame has you enjoying dodgeball towards an entire crew of opponents (which can be simpler to win with extra individuals). A later minigame has a enjoyable model of Dance Dance Revolution. In all circumstances, they’re over too rapidly and there aren’t sufficient of them.
Yo’ women nonetheless stage up, however as earlier than, stat will increase are bought in numerous retailers. River Metropolis has a wholesome variety of eating places, road distributors, boutiques, and specialty shops, all of which promote gadgets that you could both eat, retailer for later, or put on as an adjunct. Any time you go to a brand new food-centric retailer, when you’ve bought the inexperienced, you must pattern all the things on the menu–the primary time you eat any dish, that character will get a stat enhance. Oddly sufficient, books and video video games may also be consumed on this manner. You may eat the meals proper there or retailer it for later use. My technique was to eat all the things instantly, then purchase seconds for boss fights.
Every character should enhance their stats individually, however cash is just not laborious to seek out in River Metropolis, and spending even a modest period of time grinding goons will produce a surplus of casheesh. Equipment haven’t modified both: they produce sure buffs and two could be worn at a time. Some are defensive, some are offensive, some steadiness out, and others are ridiculously particular (for instance, do extra injury per cat rescued). The sheer variety of equipment will can help you discover nearly any mixture to fit your playstyle.
RCG2 seems to be attractive, with the identical 16-bit aesthetic that its predecessor had, however there’s simply extra of it now: extra characters, extra different areas, and plenty of eye sweet to ogle within the environments. You’ll need to concentrate, too–one quest asks you to rescue a bunch of cats, and people little rascals get into the strangest locations. The environments have extra verticality now which is a pleasant change of tempo. It’s not fairly platforming, however I at all times respect environmental exploration in video video games and also you’re normally rewarded in your effort.
One large change from RCG is the multiplayer choices: as much as 4 gamers can leap on regionally, or two gamers on-line. One of many causes this overview isn’t up on launch day is that I needed to check out on-line play, and I wound up fairly impressed. Internet hosting is straightforward–you can begin enjoying as regular and when any person joins, they seamlessly seem. I didn’t expertise any slowdown throughout on-line play, though I wasn’t precisely certain what the principles had been for getting into/exiting retailers. Surprisingly, it was native multiplayer that prompted a efficiency hit. I used to be solely in a position to get two different individuals within the room for my sofa co-op experiment, and that prompted a framerate dip when everyone began punching issues. It wasn’t dramatic (see: Samurai Maiden) however undoubtedly noticeable.
I can’t allow you to all go with out mentioning the writing, which stays hilarious, and the voice-acting, which is extraordinarily good. In my overview of the primary recreation (and RCGZ), I heaped reward upon Megan McDuffee’s transcendent soundtrack. When RCG2 was introduced and that McDuffee can be returning, I discovered myself anticipating her new tunes greater than another RCG part. Properly people, the brand new tracks are wonderful and exist aspect by aspect with tracks from the primary recreation. If the theme of RCG2 is “extra RCG,” that additionally extends to the soundtrack, and I couldn’t be happier with it.
So, to make use of some outdated online game journal overview lingo, River Metropolis Women followers rejoice! For those who appreciated River Metropolis Women, you’ll in all probability like River Metropolis Women 2. It’s principally the identical factor, simply far more of it. The brand new characters are enjoyable, town is way bigger, there are far more quests, and the story has larger stakes. The minigames are a fantastic new addition, boss fights are robust however enjoyable, and oh man, that soundtrack.
