It’s just too bad that navigating through River City can often be very tedious, especially for missions that often demand backtracking to previous locations. There are also many new and redesigned highly aesthetic, highly vibrant, and detailed locations like Downtown, Uptown, and more which are all uniquely designed and have their own enemies. While some boss fights have frustrating features, I had fun fighting and defeating each one. It also sports several new well-designed bosses in both appearance and gameplay. The game also sports new enemies that are as amusing as they are challenging and include kids with costumes, Arnold Schwarzenegger rip-offs, Dragon Ball Z references, and many more. I also appreciate that using these items is simple and quick, especially in the midst of combat. Additionally, purchasing consumable items from shops is always fun as each shop provides a nice illustration and offers unique and useful items. Thankfully, the simple plug-and-use system that allows for amusing and useful tools makes up for it. However, there’s also the accessory system returning from the previous games, which admittedly does require the player to set and replace every accessory with each new addition.
I appreciate how the combat system rewards players for playing and improving their skills without needing them to pause and rearrange their move list or special moves every other hour, like in many other games. These can include using enemies as weapons and grapple moves, among many others. Then there are new moves that unlock naturally as you level up through combat. Basic attacks are light but quick, and special attacks like Kyoko’s dab, Kunio’s headbutt, Riki’s multi-attack move, Provie’s radio blast, and many more do damage that creates distance between multiple enemies. Heavy attacks can deal more damage to singular opponents. While most moves are the same for the returning characters, there are still several new moves that have a wide variety of uses, and the new characters that are incredibly fun to use. The combat has also significantly improved. The first and most noticeable difference is the visuals, which, while designed similarly, are more crisp, dynamic, and colorful. Other than that, River City Girls is perhaps better than the previous game in almost every way.
The story isn’t exactly what you’d call a narrative masterpiece as it opts to keep things simple and fun, which while I appreciate, some players won’t. So it’s up to the girls, their boyfriends Kunio and Riki, and a few new playable friends Provie and Marian, to stop them. After defeating a Yakuza Boss’s daughter from the previous game, he decides to get revenge by sending out his goons and other family members to seek out our main protagonists, Misako and Kyoko, rampaging across River City in the process. River City Girls 2 has a similar simplistic story structure as the last game. After playing the sequel three years later, I’m glad that despite its issues, it successfully lives up to its predecessor. As such, the game has a special place in my heart, and it is one of the best beat ’em up games I’ve played as it sports amazing features like fun gameplay, great art direction, and more. The first River City Girls game launched in September 2019 and was one of the first games I reviewed.
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