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2016’s Best Shooter No One is Talkin’ About

2016’s Best Shooter No One is Talkin’ About

I’d like to take a moment to talk about one of the best shooters I’ve played all year because otherwise, I’m afraid you might miss out on it. RIVE is a twin-stick shooter / platformer from Dutch developer Two Tribes. It came out on September 19 on PS4 and PC, and has since earned overwhelmingly positive feeback and reviews. It is, hands down, the perfect twin-stick shooter. I don’t say that lightly, as I’m a guy who loves his twin-stick shooters and shmups (shoot ’em ups).

Two Tribes really hit a sweet spot, and RIVE exists in this middle ground where novelty, humor, tried-and-true mechanics, and difficulty all meet. It never tries to be anything other than what it is: a goofy, white-knuckle pew-pew-fest from beginning to end. There’s absolutely nothing to get in between you and the finely-tuned gameplay as you run, float, jump, and boost through each stage, hacking and blasting everything in sight. There’s little to no exposition to wade through, and within seconds of starting up a new game, you’re out in space shooting crap. Before long, you’ll be getting the crap shot out of you.

So much of RIVE ‘s appeal is in its gut-punching difficulty. This seems to have been a point of division among a few reviewers. Some people think that the game is arbitrarily difficult; sadistically so. To be honest, I can totally see where they’re coming from. Most of the boss fights mid-game and onward are overwhelming and brutal. There are too many enemies on-screen to keep track of, projectiles are flying all over the place, and you’ll be dancing between environmental hazards as you attempt to take out hulking machines that could have provided a suitable challenge on their own in an empty room.

On top of that, RIVE is full of platforming sequences that require perfect timing. In some games, players will run certain platforming sequences dozens of times in order to get the highest score or fastest time. In RIVE , you’ll run through certain sequences dozens of times simply because the game demands that you not make a single mistake or hesitate for a moment if you’re to survive. It is absolutely brutal – there’s no other word for it – and at times you’ll want to reach through the screen and smack the developers in the face.

2016’s Best Shooter No One is Talkin’ About

That kind of challenge isn’t for everyone, but I guarantee you it was intentional. Everything in this game feels very lovingly and carefully designed. RIVE is basically Two Tribes’ going away gift to fans. They stated that RIVE would be their last game, and you can tell that so much heart and soul were poured into this one. The game is very aware of itself, and there are several smart jokes made on a meta level that long-time gamers will find quite hilarious. Throughout the campaign, the characters will make clever (or blatant) references to video games and video game cliches, and there’s even a really great musical and platforming dedication to Tetris that I found particularly endearing.

The controls are simple and tuned to perfection, which is why I think this game ended up pissing off a few of the reviewers. The controls are so wonderfully tight; when you die, you know it was your fault. Every time you fall off of a platform or run into an electric beam of energy you know exactly how you could have avoided. Every time an enemy rams into you and smashes you to bits you curse yourself for not using your special weapon even though you had the ammunition. Because you always feel completely in control, dying always feels like it is totally your fault.

The wonderful controls and balls-to-the-wall action were also what kept me coming back for more. If someone is going to accuse the developers of being sadists, they might as well call me a masochist, because there were stretches of play where I’d attempt the same boss fight or escape sequence 10, 15, or 20 times in a row. With every death I’d become increasingly irritated but I just couldn’t stop because, even overcome with rage, I was still having fun, dammit.

RIVE is an incredible, punishing love letter to video games, and you need to play it. It’s $15 on PS4 or PC, and it’s one of the best games you’ll play all year. Check it out, and thank me later.

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