Some of my earliest gaming memories came from the Sega Genesis, spending countless hours playing games such as Gunstar Heroes. Through titles like Gunstar Heroes or Contra, I find myself easily gravitating to the run-and-gun style of video games. With that said, I also find some of these video games extremely tough and unforgiving, so when I was given the chance to try out Rive by the development team Two Tribes, I was prepared for a fun, but potentially excruciating tough gameplay.
Instead, Rive proved that a platform shoot ‘em up can be tough, but incredibly forgiving. I won’t spend too much on the story because it’s rather simple and straight to the point. Gamers take the character role of Roughshot, a space scavenger who stumbles upon a mysterious starship. Armed in his little metal spacecraft, it’s clear that someone has spent plenty of time crafting up dangerous robotics and traps to sway lurkers away. Deciding that the loot within the ship is too good to pass up, players will progress on and fight against the swarms of enemies that will flood your direction.
There are a few elements to be expected from Rive. Players can upgrade their arsenal and control the character with one analog stick while the other analog will fire your basic weapon. As you progress through the game, new weaponry is added in allowing additional buttons to become useful during those chaotic battles where your screen is filled with enemy robots, missiles, explosions, molten lava, and more. Luckily, the mechanics of it all have been rather straightforward and clearly marked on the screen to further help players recognize what weapon has ammo and ready to be fired through the press of a button.
Weapons are not the only aspect that will keep players alive in the tense battles. A series of hacks can be learned and used against the enemy such as hacking a healing bot or a secondary floating weapon. Through the variety of tools and abilities you’ve learned along the way, Two Tribes really tests players to use these abilities in order to progress a boss battle or a nasty wave of enemies.
This is one aspect that I assumed would be a struggle to continue gameplay right after dying multiple times. During boss battles and waves, you’ll hit this key point that separates the battle into sections. For instance, let’s say a particular boss battle may have six sections to it, each becoming more difficult than the last. If you make it to the fourth main section of the battle and die, the game allows players to continue right from that section with full health. Though some gamers may seek out a hard challenge, Rive really becomes forgiving for players like myself which ultimately means hitting continue more often rather than shutting the game down for a break.
I can’t say that I found any issues when it came to the visuals and audio for Rive. Visually, the game was appealing, the bright neon and particle effects were engaging to watch during battles and the music to back up the gameplay seemed on point.
I can easily see myself playing through Rive going forward. This is a perfect shoot ‘em up game for players who are not seeking a strictly challenging title that will punish players for dying.
Disclosure: A review copy of the game was supplied by the publishers.
