River Metropolis Ladies 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 attention-grabbing tackle acquainted genres. This fashionable sequel continues that pattern, although it’s not with out its points.
Followers of the primary River Metropolis Ladies title will likely be happy to see the return of major characters Misako and Kyoko. The motion picks up proper the place we left off, exhibiting us precisely what occurred to the villains after their defeat. Revenge is so as, to say the least. The anime-style narrative is an outstanding introduction to the violent world of River Metropolis. The colourful visuals and terrific voice performing work collectively to arrange the corrupt but humorous world earlier than we’re plunged again into it.
By the tip of the intro, Misako and Kyoko have been expelled from faculty because of a Yakuza takeover. They benefit from this terrible state of affairs by discovering the thrill of taking part in video video games on the sofa. Once they understand 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.
All the 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 means. As they work by way of the organized crime on the streets, additionally they meet NPCs to obtain facet 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 regionally at any level – helpful throughout boss fights.
The voice performing is on show all through the whole journey. The casting and writing are each terrific, with amusing dialogue between every attention-grabbing character. It really works nicely, bringing the anime fashion even additional to life.
The gameplay works nicely, 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 working 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 notably enjoyable and humorous to attempt, like swinging a bicycle at foes to take them down. It’s a tough and aggressive setting, however in a really cartoony means.
Sadly, there’s a major subject with River Metropolis Ladies 2 that stops it from reaching its true potential. There’s an inordinate quantity of ready to be achieved as you play, because of far too many loading screens. An preliminary loading display screen of nicely over 30 seconds greets you once you first begin taking part in. This may very well be excused as a one-off, however the whole 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 endurance whereas the subsequent scene hundreds. These screens could solely final between 5 and ten seconds, however it turns into a burden once you’re shifting by way of space after space in fast succession, notably when backtracking. And there’s loads of backtracking. It’s. Like. Studying. Like. This. We’re speaking a few loading display screen each couple of minutes; it’s an excessive amount of. It slows the motion, making a cumbersome expertise that mars the sport’s quick tempo.
Total, River Metropolis Ladies 2 nearly ticks all of the containers. The enjoyable gameplay mixes nicely 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 pleasurable title;, it’s only a disgrace it couldn’t have been higher optimized. This might have been the proper beat ‘em up.