River City Ransom EX

"Welcome back to the RC"

With Capcom, Midway, Nintendo, Sega, and Square-Enix all releasing their own re-makes/ports, it seems that classics are destined to be reborn (where's my Battle of Olympus?!). That's a very good thing to those of us who grew up on them, those of us who fondly remember them, and those who are experiencing them for the first time.

I first played the original River City Ransom ages ago, so I will try and take the perspective of one who has mainly played this one since I can't remember the exact specifics of the original, just that it was fun. I can gladly say, so is this game.

Choosing from one or two characters (Alex and Ryan), or both, you embark on mission to save a girl from a gang leader named Slick and overthrow him. You have to make your way through the mean streets of River City that's filled with various gangs such as the Mob, Generics, and Plague, to name a few. However, these guys are more hilarious than menacing (in their sayings and appearance), as they're dressed in dark and pastel colors, sport bugged out eyes and slicked back hair, have names like 6paq, Snoop, Dawg, Dre and Fiddy, and when when beaten to a pulp, they cry out phrases like "Barf!" "MOMMY!" and "I'm a leftover."

At your disposal to dish out the hurt are the basic kick and punch, but they can be enhanced by levelling-up your character RPG style to help make it deeper into the heart of your adventure. By stopping in at stores in various malls you can purchase: food, medicine, clothing, books, magazines, music, and games. These items can enhance your stats like: agility, speed, toughness, even lengthen your health bar (stamina), with money you collect from downed enemies. Even stopping in for a a bare-ass sauna can help you out. The main thing to know about the items is that they don't tell you what they enhance until after you buy them. This can add to some fun mystery, but it can also be rather wasteful since you may buy something for a stat you can't level up anymore.

Some expensive books give you new moves (techniques) that can help you battle tougher foes, such as a devastating jumping kick that has your character ram his foot into an enemy and take him across the screen with you until you land. You can have up to twelve techniques, so that should be plenty. If not, you can discard the ones you don't want to make room for the ones you do, and there is an item that can let you customize your moves to your liking.

Also along to help you are various weapons. Your enemies bring them to beat you with, but you can kick their ass and take them yourself. Bars, whips, rocks, brass knuckles, trash cans, even ladders make it into the fray. You can either bash your enemies with them, or throw them for a long range attack.

Battling is fun and very frantic, so much so that you can sometimes be overwhelmed with enemies, especially if they have weapons; the whip being the cheapest in the game. However, this is where your levelling-up comes in. Eventually you can get to the point where you can perform advance moves, kill in one hit, and sustain minimal injury. This can be a bad thing if you don't like being challenged. There are options, though, to decrease or increase damage, and you can even lower gravity for more high-flying fun. If this isn't enough, you can just start over again and try building the other character.

Also possible is having up to four other members join you in battling; this is accomplished by reputation. Depending on how honorable you are at fighting, you can amass a posse to join you for battling. Many great ways to battle are to be found, but unfortunately the possible greatest was left out: forget what you have read, multiplayer is out--no taking a real life buddy with you. I can't understand why this was left out, I mean, beat-'em-ups should always have the option for two-players, especially old-school ones. Imagine Double Dragon or Streets of Rage with only one player--inconceivable! I would have settled for a, perhaps, Game Boy Player only two-player enhancement, but nope--not here. In its place is a trading feature that lets you transfer your character to a buddy's GBA, or vice versa. So...you are playing with a friend?--"Barf!" You can't go home again, I suppose. Well, unless you play the original.

At least everything else has, mostly, improved for the better, including a save feature instead of using passwords. Also, the graphics have been improved in excellent 2-D quality, with nice multi-scrolling backdrops and crisp colors in the new mix. The game is presented in a wide-screen format so you can see your health at the top of the screen and the hilarious comments of your enemies at the bottom. There is even little detail like when you buy some items, like a hamburger, they actually look like that item--nice.

The audio is quite nice as well. The music is catchy and the sounds are smack-tastic. Beat an opponent with your fist or weapons and you'll be awarded with a nice "smacking" sound. I would have liked for there to be more though, such as moans for yourself or enemies when beat down.

As for the control, with only A and B used to perform moves it can be a bit of an effort to pull of some moves, and I wish the game did a better job at telling you how. Hit "B" one move description says, but it neglects to tell you you have to grab a downed opponent first, then press the button. It can get a bit confusing pulling off moves, especially if you have moves that use the same commands; you must constantly practice. Thankfully, as I stated above, there is an item that can let you customize your moves to the buttons that are most comfortable. The menus can be bit problematic to maneuver through as well. You'll be pressing left and right a lot, probably mixing them up with up and down too many times for your liking. This can get annoying if you just want to select something and get the hell out of there.

All in all, though, I still had a blast with this enhanced game from the past. As a one-player beat-'em-up, it's wonderfully addictive. It is short--you can probably beat it in no time--but the fun lies in replay. Going through the game over and over again can be great fun, as you keep your stats, moves and money, so long as you save.

With its outrageous humor in sayings and characters, along with the addictive battling, levelling, and added customization, I can highly recommend this as a worthwhile, beat-'em-up purchase. Now, go beat the crap out of those greasers.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 06/07/04, Updated 07/09/07