River Metropolis Women 2 is the follow-up to the extremely praised beat ‘em up of 2019. It comes from the famend builders at WayForward, identified for his or her fascinating tackle acquainted genres. This trendy sequel continues that development, although it’s not with out its points.
Followers of the primary River Metropolis Women title shall be happy to see the return of predominant characters Misako and Kyoko. The motion picks up proper the place we left off, displaying us precisely what occurred to the villains after their defeat. Revenge is so as, to say the least. The anime-style narrative is an excellent introduction to the violent world of River Metropolis. The colourful visuals and terrific voice appearing work collectively to arrange the corrupt but humorous world earlier than we’re plunged again into it.
By the top of the intro, Misako and Kyoko have been expelled from college because of a Yakuza takeover. They take advantage of this terrible state of affairs by discovering the thrill of enjoying video video games on the sofa. After they notice a brand new entry has been launched of their favourite sequence, it’s off to the mall we go. That is the place the preventing begins.
The whole metropolis is overrun by baddies, who appear to relish blocking our heroine’s path. Fortunately, the pair has some depraved strikes to go toe to toe with anybody who dares to face of their manner. As they work by means of the organized crime on the streets, in addition they meet NPCs to obtain aspect quests and different missions, including longevity to the sport. Multiplayer can be an asset, with drop-in, drop-out mechanics permitting anybody to leap in domestically at any level – useful throughout boss fights.
The voice appearing is on show all through the complete journey. The casting and writing are each terrific, with amusing dialogue between every fascinating character. It really works properly, bringing the anime model even additional to life.
The gameplay works properly, too. It is a basic side-scrolling beat ‘em up, full with powerful enemies coming at you from all sides. Kicking and punching everybody in sight is as satisfying as ever. I loved the setup of finishing numerous missions whereas uncovering the nefarious plans of the crime lord operating town. I additionally appreciated the sheer quantity of destructible objects to wreak havoc as you wander the city; many additionally double as makeshift weapons. These are significantly enjoyable and humorous to strive, like swinging a bicycle at foes to take them down. It’s a tough and aggressive setting, however in a really cartoony manner.
Sadly, there’s a major subject with River Metropolis Women 2 that stops it from reaching its true potential. There’s an inordinate quantity of ready to be executed as you play, because of far too many loading screens. An preliminary loading display screen of properly over 30 seconds greets you once you first begin enjoying. This might be excused as a one-off, however the complete sport is riddled with these placeholder frames that ask you to “please wait”.
Every degree is split into many smaller areas. Shifting between every space initiates the identical black display screen with these dreaded phrases begging to your persistence whereas the following scene masses. These screens could solely final between 5 and ten seconds, but it surely turns into a burden once you’re shifting by means of space after space in fast succession, significantly when backtracking. And there’s plenty of backtracking. It’s. Like. Studying. Like. This. We’re speaking a few loading display screen each jiffy; it’s an excessive amount of. It slows the motion, making a cumbersome expertise that mars the sport’s quick tempo.
General, River Metropolis Women 2 nearly ticks all of the containers. The enjoyable gameplay mixes properly with the anime-style aesthetics and humorous story. The one draw back is the jarring loading screens between every playable space, which annoyingly slows the pacing. It’s nonetheless an pleasant title;, it’s only a disgrace it couldn’t have been higher optimized. This might have been the right beat ‘em up.