River City Warriors
The story as usual in beat em ups is a simple comic book like story line where your ordinary high school student Alex who is a good guy with a great girlfriend Cyndi but unfortunately the gangs that rule the city kidnap your girlfriend for ransom. Not exactly sure what these gangs would gain from this act, unless Alex was a rich kid, or may'be Cyndi is the mayor, police, or mob bosses daughter it's never explained. Whatever the case (which is anyones guess for all I care), there is only one way to save Cyndi, and that's to beat the tar out of each and every street gang in the city along with your best friend Ryan. That's it.
Storyline isn't entirely important (even though it does develop as you progress), it's never really a big thing in most beat em ups what really matters is it's game play and design.
The graphics are actually pritty good I really like the varity in background as well as detail in them which really adds a vast element because your not just stuck in one background all the time when you progress you go to something else even though it's the same level this adds some varity and unpredictability. Or the length of that background which widens the battlefield . The characters are cartoonish looking I'll admit but that's part of the charm this game doesn't take itself too seriously, which gives this game sort of a humorous comic book atmosphere. And the game does have a lot of humor in some places where I couldn't help but laugh, from the fact that you can throw people at other people and dialogue most notably the use of the word BARF which occurs when you injury certain eneimies they for some reason puke out coins.
There are of course a varity of weapons at your disposal like pipes, tires, trash cans you name it weapons in beat em up are always your best friend.
There are of course a creative varity of enimies, like with the film
"The Warriors" (which was a slight inspiration to this game) all of the gangs along with bosses and sub bosses are varied in strength and abilities and the different clothing to go with it but most notable some of them have the daftess gang names ever The Squids, Frat Boys, and a few others I don't want to give away that's part of the humor.
However what made this beat em up really stand out is it's RPG element. From the use of shops which can increase your health or even purchasing a power move two most notably the lighting kick and rock punch. But depending on your progress your strength does increase and you do gain a few new moves as time goes on which makes the combo system not shallow. And of course as I said the story progress as you move on, but depending on the storyline there are certain things it asks you to do which means going to certain other locations away from your objective for a while to complete a subobjective which makes this beat em up a little non liner but that just makes it all the more interesting and never have one dull moment.
This is one of the finest beat em ups ever that I honestly would love to see a revival for. The fun of this game is just like a river, it contiously flows never stops.