River City Girls 2 Review: The Weight Of Expectations

Trying to follow up on an unexpected hit can be challenging. The first time around, everyone is just excited that a game they hadn’t given much thought to is good. The follow-up, though, is saddled with expectations it has to live up to. River City Girls 2 is, in most ways, a better game than its predecessor, but the ways it struggles to live up to the first game in the series are hard to ignore. Despite offering a lot of fun, this is a follow-up that may have needed more time to come together.

Dealing With The Consequences

Kyoko and Misako are back, this time without the total gender flip of having to rescue their boyfriends. In fact, those boyfriends are along for the ride, though this is clearly still the girls’ game. Instead of rescuing the guys again, this time, they’re dealing with the consequences of their last adventure. While taking down the acting head of the local mafia may have saved the day, it also led to the rest of the crew fighting for leadership and getting the true boss of the organization involved. Soon the mafia is running the whole town, even taking over the girls’ school and getting them kicked out. This leads to one of my favorite excuses ever for a game to reset the power level of its characters in a sequel.

Soon though, the girls can’t sit around on the couch anymore, and they’re pushed back into the world where they find a lot of people needing their help. You’ll have to fight your way through the city, taking down the mafia, and once again save the day.

Building On The Formula

Like most of the Kunio-Kun series, River City Girls 2 combines a beat ‘em up with RPG elements. As your chosen character, or characters when playing co-op, you’ll navigate the city taking on missions, leveling up, getting into mini-games, and beating the stuffing out of anyone who gets in your way. Which turns out to be a lot of people, it seems at least half the people on the streets want nothing more than to attack you on sight.

That’s okay, though, as the game’s combat system is a blast with tons of combos and abilities you can combine to fight however works best for you. One of my favorite options is the ability to recruit defeated enemies to fight for you. You can then summon them for assist attacks on the fly. Your opponents aren’t the only ones with a crew behind them.

As you beat enemies, you’ll be able to earn money which you can then spend to get healing items, accessories which enhance your abilities, and various power-ups. Don’t think you won’t need them either, as even on the default difficulty, this is a relatively challenging game, though you can restart from the last checkpoint when needed or return to your hideout upon defeat.

I loved the level of variety throughout the game, as different characters have a variety of mini-games and challenges to throw at you. Whether it’s playing dodgeball in a nod to the series’ past or fighting for control of a local court while a break dancer provides a challenge to be avoided, there’s always something new, even if a lot of it still comes down to combat.

Trouble In River City

While at its best, River City Girls 2 is incredibly exciting, there are also problems that consistently show up throughout your adventure. Right from the start, it’s hard not to notice that the game is only running at 30 frames per second, but it isn’t a smooth 30 frames per second. Frame drops are common, especially when a lot of enemies show up on the screen, and it can make timing many attacks really difficult.

Most of the time, with solid planning, I could handle this, but it made certain boss encounters incredibly frustrating, and that’s before getting to the ones that want to make you perform platforming stunts which simply don’t work well with the game’s control scheme. This is a huge shame because, other than that, these encounters are super creative and really well done, but these issues consistently pop up to bring the experience down. Stock up on plenty of healing items before going into them. That’s before even getting into the game’s regular bugs. I dealt with everything from characters vanishing to bosses getting stuck in the environment and glitching out so badly that I had to close the game, forcing me back to my hideout. These issues get old quickly and are far too common.

At least the presentation here is a high point. The city of River City Girls 2 is improved from the first game and filled with personality. Character portraits are a delight, and the whole vibe is wonderful. That’s before even accounting for the soundtrack, which may be my favorite of 2022. The music here is unbelievably good, and several songs will be fixtures on my playlists going forward.

Conclusion

River City Girls 2 does a lot right. With fantastic presentation, an incredibly exciting soundtrack, and tons of creativity and variety, all of the elements are here for a classic beat ‘em up. Poor performance, though, really brings the experience down, being an almost constant thorn in your side. It’s by no means unplayable, and I still had a fair amount of fun along the way, but this feels like a game that wasn’t ready to release yet. Hopefully, after a few patches, we’ll be talking about it being the great game it could be, but for now, know what you’re getting yourself into.

Final Verdict: 3/5

Available on: Switch (Reviewed), PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PC; Publisher: WayForward; Developer: WayForward; Players: 4; Released: December 15th, 2022; ESRB: E10+ for Everyone 10+; MSRP: $39.99

Full disclosure: This review is based on a copy of River City Girls 2 provided by the publisher.