RIVE: Ultimate Edition

Rive: Ultimate Edition is a fantastic addition to any action-loving Switch owner's library. The action is almost non-stop, and the difficulty feels well-balanced between putting you at the edge of death while still giving you the means to overcome it. The game length feels just right thanks to this challenge, and the many different modes amplify the high score chase that becomes the impetus to keep playing. For a studio's final game, this is the best possible way to leave a lasting impression.

RIVE is a fantastic addition to the Switch eShop and stands as an amazing twin-stick shooter. Incredible presentation, tight gameplay, high difficulty, and lots of replayability combine for an unforgettable experience that we would highly recommend you check out. Two Tribes has outdone itself with its final game and although the company will be sadly missed, it couldn’t have gone out with more of a bang.

Offering intense twin stick action from beginning to end, RIVE: Ultimate Edition can easily fit into the so hard it's good category, along with the likes of Sine Mora EX, also on Nintendo Switch. With plenty of modes ensuring excellent replay value, it's hard to find a better offering in that category on Switch right now. Excellent art, and a level of performance that even exceeds that of the PS4 version, plus Sonic Picnic's excellent soundtrack, coupled to the most complete version yet that can be enjoyed anywhere, make this the best version of what was already a truly great experience before... making it even more painful to think that Two Tribes is now no more.

The best version of this game comes to Nintendo Switch with lots of new gameplay mechanics and having the same essence as the original versions. Great game for the fans of the genre.

Fans of twin-stick shooters will find a great deal to love with Rime: Ultimate Edition thanks to its solid mechanics and fun platform sections. Its difficulty skirts on the edge of sadism, but persevere and you'll keep coming back for more.

Rive is demanding, but it pushes the kind of near-thoughtless play that shoot-em-ups strive to achieve. When faced with an onslaught of enemies and environmental hazards, you'll have to think fast or die. Rive also doesn't run all that long, but what's here is excellent, top-notch action, and the game delivers some of the most memorable moments in a shoot-em-up in years.

Is demanding but RIVE also knows how to reward your effort. Brutal and intensive in its action, this is a remarkable shoot'em up with the essence of the classics.

This devilishly challenging game dishes up intense moments among a sea of bullets that will test the mettle of even the most seasoned players and that’s all before even scratching the hard difficulty setting. There are instances where spikes in the difficulty can be a little off putting, but the package as a whole makes it easily worth a little headache here and there.

Basically, Rive is pure 16-bit action from back when console games were still balanced between the arcade and more modern-style adventures. While it’s much prettier than anything the Genesis could do, it would have been right at home with the best of that console’s library. Run, gun, blow stuff up real good and there’s even plenty of fun banter between Roughshot and the unnamed robot antagonist. The game moves at a solid 60FPS at all times, the backgrounds and settings all look fantastic, and anything that gets shot goes down hard. Rive: Ulimate Edition has a few extra bits for the Switch, such as co-op where two players can use a Joy-Con apiece to work together controlling the tank, one on shooting and the other on movement, and it loads faster and has a few tweaks to the levels, but other than that it’s the same great shooter that came out on the other consoles and PC last year. It was a lot of fun then and it’s a perfect match with the Switch, letting you get in a bite-sized round of shooting or going for a multi-hour play session depending on available time. That’s what classic action shooters do best, and despite the occasional misfired encounter, Rive pulls it off with style and an ending that leaves the player hoping that, just maybe, there might somehow end up being a Rive 2 after all.

Rive is one of those hectic games that leaves you exhilarated. The problem is that it will just end too soon because of the overabundance of checkpoints, no matter the difficulty. Either way, go for it if you want a cool arcade with a spider-tank protagonist that masterfully blends Twin Stick and Run´n Gun.