River City Girls 2 Reviews
River City Girls 2 is an awesome way to close out 2022, which has been a very good year for beat ’em up games. Alongside June’s brilliant Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge, this is proof that the genre still has plenty of punch left when dedicated and passionate developers such as DotEmu and WayForward have any say in regards to the matter. If you have even an inkling of enjoying brawlers, you’ll definitely won’t want to miss River City Girls 2.
Small changes here and there keep the game looking fresh and engaging. Exploring so much may not appeal to everyone, but for others, it is pure pixel-art enjoyment.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
If you're a fan of beat em up games and the first River City game you'll most likely enjoy River City Girls 2 and all if not, you will still enjoy the game if you can ignore its few annoyances.
River City Girls 2 is more River City Girls, feeling less like a full-fledged sequel and more like a RCG 1.5. Switch-related performance issues aside, it was still a great time to return to River City thanks to its phenomenal music and voice acting, sharp writing, gorgeous sprite work, fun new characters, and satisfying combo-based gameplay, but at launch it feels a patch or two away from greatness. If you loved the original as we did, you're bound to like this follow-up, and we hope the team at Wayforward gets more time and money to really expand the series for a third entry.
River City Girls 2 is pretty much everything you'd expect from a sequel: more enemies, more allies, more moves, more areas to explore, and more everything. It doesn't veer too far away from any of the original's design choices, and the result is a comfortable, if safe, sequel. The boss fights feel a little less tightly designed than they did in the first game, but it's a small complaint at best, and there's still plenty to enjoy here. If you enjoy quirky comedy with a fighting game twist, River City Girls 2 has a lot to enjoy. It's also way too cool to body-slam folks as a muscular, super-cool version of one of gaming's most famous damsels in distress.
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.
It’s safe to say that if you were a fan of River City Girls, you’re going to love River City Girls 2. But with that, there’s nothing here that is likely to draw in new fans. It’s very much an incremental improvement and expansion of the first. There are more characters, more moves, more locations, more… everything. And with the series’ typically strong presentation, those who get absorbed in the adventure on offer here will have an absolute blast whether they play alone or in co-op.
River City Girls 2 beefs up its decades-old beat-'em-up formula with RPG elements, witty humor, and dense combat options.
[...] River City Girls 2 adds more positive changes and upgrades to make it the de facto 2D RPG beat 'em up that's fun with more people in tow. With some small-but-noteworthy 2D combat tweaks, a slew of minigames, and new fun characters to play as alongside new Megan McDuffee bangers, you'll be glad to spend 10+ hours in your River City holiday tour beating the crap out of everything and everyone.
River City Girls 2 expands on the solid foundations of the previous game to deliver a broad, rollicking feast of an brawler-RPG.
River City Girls 2 does everything that I wanted it to and a little bit more. Needless to say, if you enjoyed the original then you'll love this as well so those looking for more silly beat 'em up fun will have a blast with Misako and Kyoko in their latest wacky adventure.
It’s a little disappointing, and really quite surprising, that River City Girls 2 shows very little impetus to improve on its promising predecessor. The girls have still definitely ‘got it,’ and still make this colourful and characterful journey worth it through some rough patches, but there’s a little too much reliance on the assets of the original to make it feel worth the rather steep asking price. The original game made a fan of me, while the sequel just about manages to sustain my loyalty, though that will definitely be affected by how WayForward deal with its woeful frame rate issue in the coming weeks.
The girls are back with some new friends, new moves, and new challenges for beat-em-up fans
River City Girls 2 is a fun and hilarious brawler that I enjoyed in both single-player and local co-op. However, it is more of the same and doesn’t feel like much has been really added to make it a stand-out sequel. The game still has an excellent mix of humour, vibrant graphics and fantastic music. If you loved the first game, then this makes for an easy recommendation. If you’re new to the series or just love brawlers, I would probably say this is slightly better than the first title, although you may be a little lost by the plot at the start of the experience. This game probably had me smiling more than the vast majority of titles I played this year, and that alone makes it a solid recommendation from me.
River City Girls 2 is a solid beat ’em up on account of both its aesthetic and its gameplay. While it’s hampered by some elements of its combat not being as clear or precise as I’d hoped, the overall atmosphere and experience of playing the game are quite fun.
A much more modern and enjoyable beat 'em up than its predecessor, River City Girls 2 does almost everything right. Despite that, its performance issues get in the way of the fun.
River City Girls 2 features a solid beat'em up experience that will be just perfect for fans of the series.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
More of the same, River City Girls 2 offers an expansion for the price of a sequel. More time was needed in the oven, either to offer more novelty or to break the mold and bring something completely new.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
From the second I launched the game to my current second playthrough of the title, I cannot get enough of this game. I had a feeling this would be a special sequel with how unexpected the original was, but I wasn’t ready for just how good this title would be. I’ve often mentioned the fact to anyone who would listen to how much I love River City Girls from its unique style to its addictive and smooth combat. With this follow-up, WayForward has decided to completely dethrone the first title. This is frankly the perfect sequel. It adds enough while still retaining what I adored about the original. Funky performance and loading issues aside, I can’t find any faults with the girl's latest outing and anyone who may have been burned by the release that was River City Girls Zero should ignore that and join the girls and their cast for what is frankly my personal game of the year, a contender for best in the genre, and just an outright bombastic and fun adventure. Pack your bag River City Girls, you’re getting evicted by the River City Girls (too).
It's mostly the same thing, just way more of it. The new characters are fun, the city is much larger, there are way more quests, and the story has higher stakes. The minigames are a great new addition, boss fights are tough but fun, and oh man, that soundtrack.