River City Girls

River City Girls is an atmospheric Beat’em up arcade game for NSW, PS4, Xbox One, and PC platforms, that spins off the iconic Kunio-Kun franchise. The game encourages you to join the familiar characters on their dangerous quest through the streets of River City.

Graphics 5/5

The game is a pleasurable and refreshing mix of old school 16 bit-style colorful graphics and 3D anime cutscenes, which together create a powerful nostalgic vibe, bringing back a lot of fond memories. This visual richness is further facilitated by striking music, which is both dramatic and lyrical.

Gameplay 5/5

The game offers its players an entertaining, yet pretty much straightforward storyline: two impetuous high school besties, Misako and Kyoko, set out on a mission to rescue their boyfriends who have been kidnapped and are now kept captive somewhere in the city. As they push their way through the streets of River City, the two girls adopt new skills and master awesome fighting move combos, learn to use different objects as weapons, take on yakuza bosses, and earn bonuses via completing lots of side quests that allow them to unlock a whole range of new kicks, punches, and special attacks. The more advanced their skills get, the more fast-paced and dynamic the gameplay becomes. At the end of the day, we witness a thrilling transition of frail female characters into badass street fighters who are dangerous to mess with.

Controls 4/5

There have been quite a few complaints about the confusing PC control scheme where the same button can be in charge of throwing a punch and leaving the room. This can make the fighting part a total mess, especially since there is no keyboard remap option. Console controllers are supported, though, and can partially make up for this under-development.

Replay Value 4/5

The replay value of the game is moderately high, given there are no additional modes beyond its main campaign. The lasting appeal of the game is primarily defined by the player’s ambitions to perfect and polish their skills set within the existing premise.

The Bottom Line

Although initially many fans were not big on the concept of female characters taking the lead in this one, the role reversal experiment turned out to be a tremendous success for the River City franchise, dismissing the idea that girls are weak and need rescuing and boys do all the fighting. Overall, this is an exciting and stimulating game you will not regret trying.

• Graphics 5
• Gameplay 5
• Controls 4
• Replay Value 4

Pros

Boss fights are challenging and extremely fun;
The voiceover, musical themes, and soundtracks are impressive.

Cons

The gameplay quickly feels repetitive;
No online coop play mode.