R.I.C.O. (Nintendo Switch)

Product Information

Those doorways also hamper one of RICO London‘s much-lauded features: co-op. Both split-screen and online co-op are available, but it’s not a great deal of fun when one player hardly has a view of enemies in a room after breaching. With rooms and corridors being so small, it’s also very easy to get in each other’s way in general. I’ve always believed that a game should theoretically be completable on the first attempt even if highly unlikely. I can’t say if this is possible in this game but I find rogue-lites usually aren’t and I never complete the few I bought as I got bored of the repetitiveness before I levelled up enough to be able to. This review of RICO London is based on the Switch version, with a code provided by the game’s publisher. It’s available on Switch and PC, with PlayStation and Xbox versions coming later.

High Calibre. The three magazines of 9mm you brought with you were never going to get you past the first floor. Chop and change from your ever-expanding arsenal to suit the task at hand as you defeat enemies along the way.There were also a lot of issues with desync while I was playing online. It sounds like a bad excuse from a dirty cop, but there were a lot of times where I shot a bad guy cleanly, only to notice that someone – sometimes a stray hostage, but more often my fellow officer – had been hit instead, improbably. Tough choices for a tough game. It's a steep curve for new players but a choice of difficult levels widens the appeal. And as you gain experience you'll see how you can make tactical decisions to improve your play. Steredenn: Binary Stars - Crazy shootemup action but maybe a shame you share the same pool of lives.

READ MORE: Peter McConnell takes us through the process of composing the mental worlds of ‘Psychonauts 2’ I’d say that glitches have been the source of most of my enjoyment when playing RICO London, actually. Some enemies appear to breakdance after they’ve died, flinging themselves around the room in an entertaining fashion until they simply disappear. Others nod their hands or swing their arms rhythmically, as if they’re grooving on their way to the bright light at the end of the tunnel. I’ve even seen some miscreants get flexible and do the splits. And to be sure, Rico: London is a pretty easy game. I spent a fair bit of time in both the campaign and the roguelike mode, and the only particularly difficult part is the very last room in the game. Players will likely be divided over whether the relaxed difficulty suits this game, but I felt much more badass clearing a building full of criminals without restarting every ten seconds. That very late spike in difficulty is disgusting – the last room is a real bastard – but for the overwhelming majority of the game, I kind of preferred not having a huge challenge. Complete a floor, and you’ll find that the next offers nothing new other than some fresh scenery. The only excitement you’ll encounter is when you come up against a particularly troublesome foe who puts up more of a fight. The rest are either easily taken out during slo-mo, or can be baited into entering the doorway you’ve just breached for an easy kill.First thing is the depth of this game is about as deep the blowup pool you had as a kid and you really need the mind of a kid to keep playing this game after you have completed each mode. In addition to blasting faces and gathering evidence, you can also steal cash assets too – adding extra XP to your total in the process.

Two cops, one case and only 24 hours to take them down... can you score the bust of a lifetime? Take the role of a loose cannon police detective and face off against criminal gangs in an exciting procedurally-generated action movie FPS. Join forces with a friend, online or locally, and take down those crooks in true buddy-cop style! Clipping is common and you'll notice occasional hitches in the framerate. The real killer, though, is the time it takes to generate those random levels. Thirty-second waits between bursts of play is annoying compared with most modern titles.

Cons

For all the Switch's library of weird and wonderful games, there are two big holes. First is a fast, ultra-violent shooter. Second, more surprisingly, is a split-screen FPS. RICO aims to fill both those gaps with its broad shoulders. Thrilling as it is in short doses, the standard game formula does begin to wear thin after a while. This is where the extra novelty of split-screen play should earn RICO a space in your collection. It's co-op only, you'll need two full controllers and it only works when hitched to a TV but it's glorious entertainment for all that.

High-Rise, Higher Stakes. Ascend the dangerous gang infested tower, taking on tougher goons as you advance. The higher you get the higher the stakes. It may sound reductive, but that’s a formula that absolutely works for me – those first seconds of slow-mo slaughter in each room are a hell of a drug. There’s a satisfying arcade feel to dodging bullets and dropping gaggles of gangsters with carefully placed headshots, especially when each cold and efficient kill comes with a colourful splash of point multipliers. Procedurally-generated cases mean no two games are ever the same - you'll never know what's waiting for you. The whole thing coasts along on its simple formula of fast, frantic fun. Of course, it throws in a bunch of extra spice to keep you interested. Some of it is the stuff you'd expect.There's also problems with rendering in which some rooms don't render and the render distance is sometimes abysmal.