RIVE: Ultimate Edition

 Switch
User Score
7.8

Generally favorable reviews- based on 40 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 28 out of 40
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 40
  3. Negative: 7 out of 40
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  1. TheFlannelFox
    Nov 29, 2017
    6
    Did Michael Bay make a twin stick shooter?

    Rive is a 2d platformer twin stick shmup, developed by dutch game company Two Tribes. Originally released in 2016, Rive has now hacked it’s way onto the Nintendo Switch. In Rive you play as a hacker controlling an abandoned ship, which handles and looks amazing. Switching from an asteroid like flying ship moving in full 360 degrees, to    Did Michael Bay make a twin stick shooter?

    Rive is a 2d platformer twin stick shmup, developed by dutch game company Two Tribes. Originally released in 2016, Rive has now hacked it’s way onto the Nintendo Switch.

    In Rive you play as a hacker controlling an abandoned ship, which handles and looks amazing. Switching from an asteroid like flying ship moving in full 360 degrees, to platforming in your spider ship creating two very different gameplay experiences. Controlling your movement with the left joystick, aiming and shooting with the right, and special attack with you right trigger. All handles like you typical twin stick shooter with the exception of a jump, when in platforming mode, that is mapped to your left trigger. Unfortunately not being able to remap these buttons, after years of jumping with one of the right thumb buttons, it does not feel intuitive by any means. When put in an action packed slew of robotic enemies, scrambling that second then reaching for that left trigger can, at certain moments, mean the difference between life and death.

    Button mapping aside the gameplay experience is a robotic bullet barrage that is only manageable by the extremely responsive and well executed mechanics. Every moment of gameplay must be intentional in order to complete a mission, because these missions are as tough as rivets. With a normal and a hard mode, that should be labeled hard and insane! Rive still allows you to progress through the game steadily due to the multiple check points. Even in a tense and challenging boss fight, if you make it half way through and die, you will be sent back to a midway point of battle, allowing you to blast that force field, and shoot off those fireworks.

    One of the featured mechanics in Rive is the ability to hack your enemies, not all, but some are able to be hacked to make them an ally. This ability in my opinion felt more like a chore than a bonus, normally when being careful enough not to damage an enemy or getting close enough to hack, you sustain damage. Which can quickly snowball into a cheeky phrased death sentence. The most useful were the health bots, that follow behind you refill your health until it runs out of juice, buuuuut a health pickup would suffice.

    Only on the Switch version is a co-op mode where one person controls the movement of the spider ship and the other controls the weapons. Fun for a bit, but in a game this challenging, it feels better as a one man show.

    While throughout Rive you have multiple special weapons that you can purchase along with upgrades to your armor and ship. Although the health increase is a nice to have, overall the upgrades don’t provide any real feeling of progression. A feeling that is echoed in the environments. Rive is a very action packed game, however this can sometimes leave you feeling that the level you just played through was sort of a blur. There were moments when playing that I died, then respawned and didn’t realize it was a checkpoint because everything was feeling so similar. Breaking down the challenges into such tiny explosive experiences, left me with a fatigue that made it hard to find the urge to complete a level. Move through this crawl space, shoot a boss, move through this crawl space, shoot another boss, then the mission is complete? Huh? You honestly don’t need to know what the mission is in order to complete it, you just keep shooting enemies. Which is fine if an arcadey room to room massacre is what you're looking for, but it was hard to find linear feeling of completion.

    Rive is an action packed, challenging twin stick shooter experience with fun platforming elements. Which at times, truly rung a high note setup and execution. However, I quickly was lost in the blur of exploding, respawning, exploding, then somehow beating the level.

    Check out my video review on YouTube channel TheFlannelFox    … Expand
  2. sergio123456
    Jan 10, 2021
    7
    Un juego muy entretenido estilo shoot em up, que combina también elementos de plataformeo y mejora de habilidades, me sorprendió gratamente debido al bajo precio que tiene, su duración es de unas 5 horas, los diálogos de los dos personajes principales son muy entretenidos.

Awards & Rankings

33
#33 Best Switch Game of 2017
90
#90 Most Discussed Switch Game of 2017

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
82

Generally favorable reviews - based on 12 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 11 out of 12
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 12
  3. Negative: 0 out of 12
  1. FNintendo
    Jan 28, 2018
    90
    A very fluid and addictive game that grabs the players' attention from the beginning to the end and which should be played by everyone, RIVE features an exquisite audiovisual component, challenging gameplay and a difficulty level that will demand the players to invest their best efforts to succeed.
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  2. Worth Playing
    Jan 2, 2018
    90
    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.
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  3. Vooks
    Jan 2, 2018
    60
    If you’re a sucker for side-scrolling shooters with a penchant for a difficulty level that fluctuates between clever and fun to sadistically relying on twitch control and memorisation, Rive: Ultimate Edition might be a game to keep you busy for the 6-8 hours it provides.
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