River City Girls

 Xbox One
Metascore
80

Generally favorable reviews - based on 6 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4 out of 6
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 6
  3. Negative: 0 out of 6
  1. TheXboxHub
    Sep 5, 2019
    100
    Fantastic gameplay and consistently engaging game design aside, River City Girls is simply brimming with a type of charisma and sense of humour only very few video games have been able to achieve.
  2. Hobby Consolas
    Sep 3, 2019
    82
    Arc System Works and Wayforward found the perfect balance between nostalgic elements and new mechanics. River City Girls pays perfect homage to the brawler genre, incredibly fun to play (especially in couch co-op multiplayer).
  3. XBLA Fans
    Oct 15, 2019
    80
    I’ve been wanting River City Ransom to have some kind of re-release or remake for a very long time. While this isn’t it, it’s as close as we’re going to get. Everything I would want in a new River game has been delivered, and there are even some improvements. The only thing I didn’t care for was the way recruits were handled and not getting experience for beating enemies that appear after the initial fight.
  5. ZTGD
    Sep 23, 2019
    80
    The biggest compliment I can give is that since the Scott Pilgrim vs. The World game was delisted there has been cries for it to be put back on digital storefronts, and while that has not happened, this is an amazing replacement. It’s not necessarily what I want from a River City game, but it is definitely the direction I want to see beat ‘em ups go in. I would recommend this to anyone who has a friend to play with, but if not I would say boot up the 3DS and give the other River City games a shot (there’s three relatively new games on there). I hope WayForward gets to follow this game up so they can tweak their gameplay a bit and explore their take on the world of River City a bit more.
  6. DarkStation
    Sep 19, 2019
    70
    Before long, you will notice that the sweat you once poured trying to get through brawlers like Streets of Rage and Final Fight is absent here. Instead of hailing your co-op partner to keep the fight going, you’re more likely to ask for a break sometime soon. There’s only so much of the repetitive action, no matter how sugarcoated it is, you can endure in a one playing session. Still, Misako and Kyoko are lovely girls, if sometimes outright half-wits. Games featuring dual female protagonists are few and far between so River City Girls must be appreciated for that alone.
  7. GameSpew
    Sep 5, 2019
    70
    River City Girls‘ semi-open world does it no favours, and neither does the abundance of pointless items you can buy or its recruitment system. Even its RPG elements are unnecessary. If it was a simple side-scrolling beat ’em up with stages, I think I’d enjoy it a hell of a lot more. Regardless, there is a lot here to like despite some frustrations, so if you fancy walking some streets while pummelling goons, it’s certainly worth a look. Especially if you have someone at hand to play it with you.

User Reviews

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User Score
7.1

Mixed or average reviews- based on 34 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 22 out of 34
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 34
  3. Negative: 7 out of 34
  1. Xbox_Alive
    Sep 13, 2019
    9
    The beat ’em up style has always been something that I’m very fond of because you don’t need to think about things too much and instead allThe beat ’em up style has always been something that I’m very fond of because you don’t need to think about things too much and instead all you need to do is destroy environments and annihilate enemies in order to proceed and win. I was looking forward to River City Girls quite a lot then but unfortunately I didn’t know too much about the franchise before playing it. I say unfortunately because after doing a bit of digging it became quite clear that I would’ve really enjoyed the previous games that come before this game. Going back to the previous games then requires quite a lot of travelling in terms of years because their first game River City Ransom came out way back in 1989. It has quite a good following as well and I’m sure the followers of that will thoroughly enjoy what River City Girls brings to the table because it’s brilliant. You play as two girls called Kyoko and Misako and the name of the game is to batter everybody on the streets of River City. Sometimes it’s not easy though because your enemies put up quite a bit of a challenge but with a nice variety of moves and weapons for you to use against these enemies you never feel that it’s unfair and instead the beat ’em up action feels fresh, challenging and rewarding all at the same time. There’s a lot that makes this game stand out and you’re introduced to that immediately thanks to the retro art style and sound design which are both very charming to say the least. The gameplay is also pretty memorable as well because the combat has enough variety within it to keep things fun at all times and with the added bonus of some really great bosses it just makes you want to see and do everything multiple times. For me though the best thing this game gets right is the story. I’m not exaggerating when I say that the story had me laughing out loud a number of times and in a way the story does give River City Girls even more uniqueness, which is definitely impressive. Yes but it isn’t anything major and instead it probably just comes down to my own personal preferences. One of the things I think the game has missed out on is the lack of any online components because for me I think this game would’ve been perfect for that. My biggest gripe though is that you can’t level up both characters at the same time so as you progress it kinda makes the character you’re not playing as redundant due to them not levelling up at the same time because as you get further the charcater you’re not playing as won’t be able to defeat the more improved enemies. From start to finish then River City Girls never fails to deliver and even once you complete the decent amount of content the game has you’ll still be chomping at the bit to return back to it. As far as the beat ’em up genre goes then this game is up there with the very best in my opinion because it has a retro feel combined with a modern take on things and most important of all it’s fun and challenging at the same time with plenty of humour thrown into its brilliant story for good measure on the Xbox One.… Full Review »
  2. Nervuz
    Jan 16, 2021
    8
    River city girls es una gran juego dentro del genero, su gameplay, su música, y su ambiente en general me atraparon por completo, si bien noRiver city girls es una gran juego dentro del genero, su gameplay, su música, y su ambiente en general me atraparon por completo, si bien no todo es bastante bueno ya que tiene algunos puntos algo débiles o deficientes, así como su falta de multijugador online (solo tiene local). Pero en gran medida River city girls es una gran beat em up que merece ser probado, sin duda alguna bastante entretenido.… Full Review »
  3. Kira-to-zero
    Sep 9, 2020
    10
    One of the best best em ups I have played, even though Scott pilgrim... but still waiting for Scott pilgrim limited run games edition :,v
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