River City Ransom: Underground

 PC
User Score
7.3

Mixed or average reviews- based on 30 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 20 out of 30
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 30
  3. Negative: 7 out of 30

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  1. Iserlohn14
    Mar 25, 2017
    10
    Updating my earlier review to reflect more time with the game and the fact that the dev team has listened to feedback and aggressively patched some of the launch issues:

    GOOD - If you were looking for a fun, funny, and lovingly crafted update to the classic RCR, this is it. The art design, music, and dialogue are all superb and laden with affectionate nostalgia. In particular I love    Updating my earlier review to reflect more time with the game and the fact that the dev team has listened to feedback and aggressively patched some of the launch issues:

    GOOD
    - If you were looking for a fun, funny, and lovingly crafted update to the classic RCR, this is it. The art design, music, and dialogue are all superb and laden with affectionate nostalgia. In particular I love how the main character deadpans their way through so many wacky situations, but that's just one of the many touches that makes the game charming (1-on-1 showdown on the back of a Harrier jet, anyone?)
    - The core gameplay mechanic is combat, and good combat needs 3 things: 1) A fair, balanced level of difficulty, 2) To encourage tactical variety from both you and the enemies, and 3) To look cool. I could make minor quibbles here and there about some of the characters, but in the main RCRU achieves all 3 of these goals with flying colors. There are few things more satisfying than unleashing an epic juggle combo on a late-game enemy and feeling like the baddest dude in the park
    - Now that certain bugs have been fixed, local and online multiplayer work great and are tons of fun
    - The move/stat upgrade systems work reasonably well and give a real sense of progression, which you will definitely need as the enemies also get significantly tougher over time

    BAD
    - Hard to call this a true criticism, but I'm not sure I'd call this a casual game. Maybe they'll add an easier difficulty mode at some point, but as it stands it has a fair bit of challenge right off the bat, and seems pitched towards people who are not afraid of that. People who are just looking for a mindless beat-em-up that lets you spam one combo repeatedly and doesn't get hard until the last level may want to look elsewhere. That said, with the patches in the challenge doesn't really come from cheese, but rather legitimately tough and aggressive enemies.
    - I still don't love the fact that you can't see what the stuff you buy at the store will do for you until after you buy it. Seems obnoxious to withhold this information. Also it would be great to have an in-game screen clearly spelling out what each stat does.
    - Not a huge deal, but I don't love the police system. Too many times you accidentally bump into a pedestrian or parking meter and start getting swarmed with cops while you were trying to do something else. That said, it's pretty hilarious the way they run over gang members. It would be neat if they sometimes also attacked gang members too.
    - Turning off friendly fire is a necessity for co-op play, but the fact that flying enemy bodies can still knock you down means you still mess each other up a lot. Not a huge issue but occasionally gets annoying.    … Expand
  2. Spman2099
    Mar 4, 2017
    9
    Let's get to the good stuff quickly... The controls are tight and responsive, the combo system is intuitive and enjoyable. The graphic style is on point, and the animations are genuinely excellent. The soundtrack is strong, and there is a fair amount of variety in the game (a large roster of interesting, fun playable characters, is the highlight of this). There are many interesting placesLet's get to the good stuff quickly... The controls are tight and responsive, the combo system is intuitive and enjoyable. The graphic style is on point, and the animations are genuinely excellent. The soundtrack is strong, and there is a fair amount of variety in the game (a large roster of interesting, fun playable characters, is the highlight of this). There are many interesting places to go, and unique characters to fight. Lastly, the script works well, even if it is very simple; more specifically, the humor generally hits. This is a game that does an excellent job of following-up on the original.

    I wanted to give this game a perfect 10. I really did. On the whole, this is an excellent beat 'em up, maybe one of the best ever made, but it is, unfortunately, an unfinished excellent beat 'em up. If I am being honest, the experience is rough enough at times that it maybe should have gotten a score a little lower than the 9 I gave it. It sorta represents all the fiddling and troubleshooting that keeps me away from PC games. However, the developers are quickly addressing the issues and feel confident that it will be worth a higher score than that 9 in a month or so (so I am splitting the difference).

    A few more quibbles... the tutorial text is awfully implemented, you will likely accidentally skip it every time. Also, the explanation of some of the moves you purchase are unnecessarily vague.

    I don't want to leave this review on a down note, so I wanted to mention, once again, that the meat of the experience is pretty close to perfect. A great purchase if you love the genre.    … Expand
  3. MAGA_Man
    Apr 12, 2017
    10
    As a huge fan of the original, I loved it, especially once the devs got some issues patched in the first few weeks. I do want to list a few things that might be helpful to know for people who are new to this game:

    - It's more "action RPG" than "beat em up". Building stats and unlocking new moves are extremely important, and frankly some of the characters are quite hard to play until    As a huge fan of the original, I loved it, especially once the devs got some issues patched in the first few weeks. I do want to list a few things that might be helpful to know for people who are new to this game:

    - It's more "action RPG" than "beat em up". Building stats and unlocking new moves are extremely important, and frankly some of the characters are quite hard to play until you've bought a few key moves for them. Don't expect to casually pick this up from the beginning and be wrecking huge numbers of enemies instantly (that comes later, but it definitely does come)
    - As in other RPG's, don't be afraid to run away from fights. There are infinite enemies and they respawn regularly, so pick your battles and get used to the fact that sometimes you just want to run to your destination.
    - Some characters are much easier to play than others. Striking-focused characters like Glen and Ryan are quite easy. Rudy and Bruno less so. It's not that the latter are bad, it just takes a bit more skill (and unlocked moves) to use them to their full potential. The upside here is that there's huge gameplay variety between the characters, and lots of scope for fun PvP fighting.
    - You'll want to do some grinding for money/XP/moves early on to get your character off and running. Look up an online guide for how to do this, it will save you a lot of headaches. I also recommend referring to a guide to figure out what stats the different foods give you, it saves a ton of time.
    - Multiplayer is most fun once all the players have access to characters with a decent baseline set of moves. Ironically it's best to do some solo grinding to achieve that before you set out as a group.
    - Once you've done a bit of grinding and have gotten used to your character's moveset, this game really sings. Definitely worth the effort to get to that point so you can make your way through the hilarious storyline, beautiful retro graphics/music, and impressively deep combat system.    … Expand
  4. KingMob4313
    Feb 28, 2017
    9
    A beyond solid beat-em-up experience with an attention to detail and humor fitting of this legendary series, and this is coming from a superfan of the series (I wrote multiple rom hacks for the original NES game)
  5. diegorago
    Mar 23, 2017
    10
    If you like beat em ups and level up, this game is for you. The gameplay is really fun and the animation and pixel art grafics are outstanding. Just grab some friends and play this game now!
  6. somedude14
    Mar 27, 2017
    1
    Starts off entertaining, but I think that's mostly due to nostalgia. Multiplayer is lag free, pixel art is nice and the soundtrack is accurate, but the game is too obnoxious to enjoy:

    - even with friendly fire off, enemies or weapons thrown by players can hit you and hurt you. If you're doing 4 player multiplayer, this is way too chaotic to be fun. - attacking some items that can    Starts off entertaining, but I think that's mostly due to nostalgia. Multiplayer is lag free, pixel art is nice and the soundtrack is accurate, but the game is too obnoxious to enjoy:

    - even with friendly fire off, enemies or weapons thrown by players can hit you and hurt you. If you're doing 4 player multiplayer, this is way too chaotic to be fun.

    - attacking some items that can be used as weapons (ie. boxes) can cause them to bounce off walls then come back and hit you. In a game where you're button mashing, expect to have this happen frequently. In multiplayer sessions, expect it to happen even more frequently.

    - has a "wanted" system like GTA, where police will show up if you vandalize things and you have to ditch them by finding a place to hide. Since it's a button masher, expect to have police show up regularly because you'll accidentally vandalize things while attacking enemies or knocking items (ie. boxes) around from button mashing. Expect to have them show up even more frequently if you're in a multiplayer game.

    - leveling up doesn't increase your stats, it increases the max potential for your stats. You still need to find a place to get food and such to get the stats. Which is OK, except it still keeps the clunky mechanic from the original RCR where it doesn't tell you what stats the items apply until you purchase and consume the item. And if other text appears on the screen while it's telling you what stat is being buffed (common, especially in multiplayer games), you won't even know what the item you just consumed did.

    - you lose half your money on death, which makes the grind even more grindy, and this wouldn't be an issue if it were a skill-based game. Instead it's a button masher where you'll be taking a lot of damage from flying enemies, weapons, police showing up, the multiplayer issues I've already addressed. Expect to die and lose progress frequently due to things that are entirely beyond your control.

    - overpriced simply because it's a licensed title, should be $10 tops and frankly the game should have an Early Access flag with how beefy the post-launch bug fix patches have been, and how many more they have to do. The game is nowhere near finished.    … Expand
  7. DSLevantine
    Oct 15, 2017
    0
    Irritating hit box reading AI
    Irritating run away AI
    Irritating chase mission
    Irritating milk mission
    Irritating weak MC

    There you go, 0 points for you.
    Shame on you for screwing up RCR. Tokyo Rumble is 1000 times better than this crap
  8. Lucif3r
    Jan 3, 2021
    3
    Pretty bad to be honest when the free to play game Little Fighter 2 is more enjoyable as an "Fighter" than this game then you know you effed up. The core mechanics are simply not enjoyable as an beat em up. In the original game the ai was enjoyable cause it actually let you enjoy pressing buttons. Two buttons while the game had auto block here you need 4 different buttons. 2 Buttons it letPretty bad to be honest when the free to play game Little Fighter 2 is more enjoyable as an "Fighter" than this game then you know you effed up. The core mechanics are simply not enjoyable as an beat em up. In the original game the ai was enjoyable cause it actually let you enjoy pressing buttons. Two buttons while the game had auto block here you need 4 different buttons. 2 Buttons it let you do everything. Speaking about the Ai. Here it always runs away and when you get the chance to hit it the other guy just simply attacks you behind. Simple attacks are put behind combos which honestly sucks. The map layout itself is also very terrible. Takes ages to get out from the school and i had literally need to watch an playthrough to discover you only advance when going inside the nerd arcade thus passing inside there. Its an nostalgia cash crab without understanding what made the first game popular. Overthought fighting mechanics which arent enjoyable compared to simplistic mechanics. Dissapointment when you are looking for an simple beat em up game.

    Also that Riki and Kunio cant simply use fast punch fast kick really shows how the devs had no understanding about what made the game fun in the first place. You get an stamina bar which tottally destroys the meaning of an beat em up but rather puts annoying rpg mechanics that the majority dont even care about. Noone played River City for the story we played it cause we wanted an good aracde beat em up not an RPG for the NES.    … Expand
  9. wspark
    Jul 15, 2018
    6
    There is a lot to like about the game - modern take on the retro graphics and sound is great, the whacky humor is still there, and in all, I appreciate a "modern-retro" update on this classic.

    However, I wasn't a big fan of the fighting controls. The combo system - even when done right, just doesn't have the satisfying feel of the original stone hands/dragon feet's rapid-"pop-pop-pop"    There is a lot to like about the game - modern take on the retro graphics and sound is great, the whacky humor is still there, and in all, I appreciate a "modern-retro" update on this classic.

    However, I wasn't a big fan of the fighting controls. The combo system - even when done right, just doesn't have the satisfying feel of the original stone hands/dragon feet's rapid-"pop-pop-pop" combo hits. This original system was simple, yet effective, and VERY satisfying to beat down your characters while going through the upgrades on your character stats. The new combo system, even with all the modern, flash, just never replicates this devastating 1-2-3 combo feel of the original. After a while, going through the motion just becomes a grind, and it seems the developers tried a bit too hard to give the fighting system some modern pizzazz, but it falls a bit short in my opinion.

    Also, most crucial max stats can only be raised by grinding rather than finding the right items for munching down, so it's just a matter of continuing to beat down your opponents, and as mentioned above, I didn't enjoy the fighting system as much as the original so this became a negative point.

    Still, I think most will find it worth their time, and it's a better than average game, but I don't think it'll reach cult-classic status of the original RCR.    … Expand
  10. PinkFura
    Sep 6, 2019
    10
    Far better now than before, waiting for a switch version. Recommended for all Kunio-kun fans.

Critic Reviews

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No score yet - based on 3 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2 out of 3
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 3
  3. Negative: 0 out of 3
  1. The Overpowered Noobs
    Mar 23, 2017
    70
    River City Ransom: Underground is fantastic in how it truly captures the feel of retro games, and it’s clear from the experience that Conatus Creative provides the desire and requisite talent. On top of the original beat-em-up feel, additional features round out the title quite nicely, such as RPG leveling aspects and a fighting engine that packs a punch. The art style, sound, and humor capture the look, feel, and nostalgia of the franchise. Though River City may not have enough to warrant many hours on the game, it’s worth a playthrough, and all but guarantees enjoyment to newcomers and fond memories to franchise veterans.
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  2. Vandal
    Mar 4, 2017
    80
    A really good entry for the beat 'em up franchise, and a great choice for both newcomers and old fans.
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  3. Destructoid
    Feb 27, 2017
    85
    River City Ransom: Underground was worth the wait, and hopefully we don't have to wait nearly three decades for the next one. The look, feel, and humor of the original is here with a new in-depth fighting system that feels fresh yet familiar while being deeper than basically every other game in the genre. I can't say for sure that Underground is the best beat 'em up of all time, but it deserves its place at the table with RCR, Golden Axe, Final Fight, and Scott Pilgrim vs. The World.
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