Game of the Year: River City Girls 2

 Tons of awesome video games came out this year. And I barely touched or even played many of the heavy hitters. But December included the release of the one of the best games to come out as well sequels to date. That game is River City Girls 2. An anticipated release for many fans of the River City games and beat'em ups in general. River City Girls 2 managed to build off an already amazing predecessor and take the series to new heights.

There were many great quality of life to come out of this game such as; combo strings that flowed better, easier money accumulation and being able to keep it long enough to use it, and moves that allow you to pick grounded enemies up and continue combo strings. This game on the surface was ticking a bunch of boxes that truly made it better than the first one. While many weapons took a hit in this game, it didn't matter. There were ten-plus hit combo strings that would delete characters and negate the dependency on some of the more overpowered weapons. Running through River City again felt insanely good as you launch someone into a wall and pick up the bounce into special move ender. Truly one of the best games I have played in a long time where repetition in combat didn't feel like a chore.

Even the storyline of bringing back Sabu was done really well as the updates to the series allowed for interesting characters like Blair and Tsuiko to make their way into the fold and feel like natural additions. All the characters and shops from the first game make an appearance in some capacity, some with new ownership or jobs. The lead-up to the Sabu fight was well-earned and never makes the player feel like they need to grind extensively. The only gripe I had narratively was that much of the dialogue was copy-pasted for specific instances with unique character dialogue being more rare. This is not the biggest deal, but it leaves much to be desired when new characters Marian and Provie say the same things as Kyoko, Misako, Riki, and Kunio. Regardless, the writing is much more of what made River City Girls so refreshing in a genre about meaty, manly men whaling on each other in a fight of good versus evil. 

I cannot recommend this game enough, River City Girls 2 is one of the best games to come out this year and has a fantastic one hundred percent completion for people into that stuff. Go pick up all of the River City Girls games, you won't be disappointed. These are extremely well-made gems in a genre that doesn't get much traffic. The teams are making magic and I want this series to continue. Go out there and stomp some heads in (in-game).