River City Ransom

River City Ransom

After playing a couple well known titles (Metroid and Zelda I), I was requested to check out River City Ransom. I had never heard of it, but found it easy enough (and made sure to check out the manual beforehand. Thanks to those of you who linked me to a place with all the NES manuals in PDF format). As I started it up, my first impression was that I was playing a simple side-scrolling brawler, just battling endless amounts of enemies until I reached the boss. As I progressed however, I realized that this game is much more than that. There are nine of different gangs, each with different fighting styles and drop different amounts of money. I definitely got the sense that the game tries to not take itself too seriously, such as your goofy animation when eating or the enemies yelling out "BARF!" Another thing that took me by surprise was how the game included RPG elements. I was expecting to just run around mashing A and B, but I found myself re-running areas so I could get some money to buy food and improve my stats. 

This is the first game where an enemy yelled "BARF" at me

What I Loved: I loved the combat,  even though there was only a limited amount of attack moves available. I also really enjoyed the whole RPG feel that accompanies the button-mashing brawler part of the game. I thought it would only be a huge distraction from the gameplay when I first found the attribute screen, but it really just makes it that much more enjoyable when your character gains +3 defense by obnoxiously eating some eggrolls. Talking about transitions, I liked the humor in this game. It was a nice break from the other side-scrolling brawlers that seem to take themselves way too seriously.

The food restores your health and boosts your stats. Also
it's funny how Alex acts in the diners after just killing
hundreds of guys.

What I Hated: I really don't have any significant problems with this game. It was difficult at times, but then you could just go buy some food and upgrade yourself to make it easier. I guess the only thing I could possibly dislike was the shortage of attack moves (until you upgrade), but again, I understand that there is only so much you can do with two buttons.

My General Impression: This game is awesome. I could easily see myself having a friend come over and spending hours on end beating up gang members to save the girl. The 50's look adds a great feel to the environment, and it's villain is very appropriately named "Slick." The subtle goofiness and RPG elements prevent any feelings of repetitiveness, which is very important to me. This game also felt very, very similar to the arcade game Scott Pilgrim vs. The World on X-Box Live and could see that the developers were very inspired by River City Ransom. They have similar combat mechanics and you buy upgrades from stores along the way from the money the baddies drop when you kill them.