I really wanted to enjoy Rico: London. I had a blast playing the first one with my friends and had been eagerly anticipating the sequel which seemed as though it would build and expand on the basic framework the first game introduced. Rico itself was not exactly a AAA title, but it delivered on its premise, kept things simple and was a great first effort that had so much potential to grow.

I am very confused by the direction in Rico: London, but before I even get to that, let me just list out the glitches I experienced consistently while playing this game:

1) When aiming down the sights the camera would randomly shoot all the way up or down. Tested with two different controllers as well as mouse and keyboard.

2) There's no map.

3) When playing with a controller you can neither see nor customize your controls.

4) I was unable to change any of the display/graphics settings. Not exactly a huge problem since my rig could more than handle this game, but still.

5) Randomly my entire clip would just lose all its bullets. I might have 10 rounds loaded and 40 on reserve, go to pull the trigger and suddenly have it show 0 bullets.

6) Sometimes when use the dive mechanic my character would just hop in place instead.

I honestly didn't stick with this game beyond the first level, which was hard to complete with the aiming glitch. From what I can tell and from other reviews on here, gone is the ability to pick loadouts which is a big disappointment and the campaign is very short offering nothing in the way of replay value. As it stands now, I don't mean to be mean but this game is absolutely not worth the asking price.

These issues can be addressed with patches fixing the glitches and adding additional content, but I ended up refunding the game and would not be willing to take another swing at it without a lot more content, confirmed bug fixes and a discounted price tag.

Regrettably, I can't recommend this title, but I do hope the studio addresses these issues. The Rico universe and gameplay engine offer a rich opportunity to create a unique and varied experience and hours of fun, London just wasn't up to the task.

I honestly do not know how to rate this game. Tl:dr the gameplay is good but idk if it's worth it rn

Rico: London has far superior gameplay in comparison to the first Rico. However, I fear the replay value is slim since once you finish the main campaign (Beat it in 1.8 hours on normal, which is the hardest difficulty) there isn't much else to do besides go back through and do it all over again. Sure there's daily mode but that really isn't much different from the story mode. It would be nice to have something else in the mix like survival mode from the original Rico or maybe something else like terrorist hunt from the r6 series but faster paced. The story itself is a very generic cop story, which isn't bad but the cut scenes are kinda cringe at times. Ik that isn't what people will buy the game for but just know it's nothing special in the story department.

Being able to pick up weapons is a very nice addition, however I feel like it's very useless at the same time. You are not able to create a loadout before going into the next area in the tower, which is kinda disappointing. Buying weapons from the store between levels is also useless because you barely get any 'medals' to afford a 'new' weapon and something else. You're best off just picking up weapons off the ground and using the 'medals' on perks. You also do not have a choice in what attachments you have on your weapons, which is also very disappointing. ADS is also kind of useless as well, most guns are able to just laser enemies without having to ADS, which made the game extremely easy. Bosses also are extremely tanky and the final boss seems to eat bullets for breakfast. Tbh I never really noticed when there was a boss battle cause they all just kinda look like everyone else.

From a graphics and performance standpoint the game runs way smoother and looks better in comparison to Rico. I like the UI and the notifications on when you kill an enemy.

Edit: I do enjoy that there are no more side objectives but man I can see this getting too repetitive due to the samey look of the floors. 'Medals' are based off score but when you barely have any ammo going room to room since the pouches are not auto pick up anymore, you tend to miss a lot of ammo and health.

Edit #2: After going back and playing the original Rico, Rico: London feels like a joke. In the original Rico, if you died, you could continue the case but you'd lose your equipment, kinda forcing you to take an alternate route back at the beginning to finish the case. In Rico: London (even on normal difficulty), when you die, you can continue the campaign exactly where you were and with all the weapons and perks you had when you died. There needs to be some massive overhauls to this game or maybe they should've continued updating the original rico cause imo Rico: London is not good in its current state.

Personally I feel like Rico: London would've been the first game in the Rico series and Rico was the second if I was a new player. The game currently is at a $35 price tag (I got it on sale at $30) and it is definitely not worth it in it's current state. The lack of content and player choice is gone and it's extremely sad because I loved the gameplay, I just don't know how many more times I'll be able to go through the story mode. I was really excited for this but I think I'm going to have to refund until there's more content within the game. In my honest opinion, I think Rico is a better buy than Rico: London.

Definitely do not recommend this game - the gameplay loop sounds fun for paper until you realize that there is not much else to offer besides the same 3 rooms for about 20 minutes until you get to the next stage where it is another 3 same rooms after that.
Maybe the game is better with a friend, but don't expect to get more out of it than a single gaming session.

Rico 2 is a sequel to the first Rico that not a lot of people played, but the ones who did, did mostly enjoy. The game for me was and still is pretty fun for what it is and i do recommend it, despite a few problems that it carries.

In terms of story, it's just like the first game (which means: SKIP). I like the art style, i think that real XIII style graphics (Cell shaded) are not used enough and i find it charming in this game, which also has a bigger verity of environments and a bigger attention to detail. sound design is nothing special, does what it needs to but nothing memorable.

The gameplay due is the thing that makes people conflicted about it. the game goes for a more linear design, you start from the parking place up the tower and each floor has it's own settings unlike the previous game that gave a bit more choice to how the player would approach a run. I know it might turn people off (mainly because the lack of a map with multiple points of entrance to a room kills COOP play) but i find that this change of direction makes the game fluent much more, especially when there are less loading screens and you can go a whole floor in one go.

I LOVE the combat in the game. except for F.E.A.R from 2005 or the Max Payne franchise, I can't think of many games that based there combat on slow motion and it's why i love RICO and RICO london. every time you breach a door the player will get a few seconds of slow motion and if you think that it makes the game easy, you are wrong, but it is a way to give the player a sense of "Power Fantasy".

i had multiple runs in which i would burst into a room sliding, gun down two guys and end by diving towards the third and killing him too. when those situations happen, it makes the game insanely fun.

the only real negative for me, is that the game lacks a bit of polish (like the original RICO). there are some times bugs, glitches but nothing that hurt the experience except an occasional frame drop (which i hope the developer would fix in a few patches).

another point i would like to add, is that i noticed that some people claim that the game has a set campaign which i find wrong. from my experience so far, every time that player restart a run (instead of doing continue) the levels and enemy locations would be swapped (that's why i also mainly recommend to play on normal difficulty with no extra life).

in conclusion, I enjoyed this game as much as the previous title and recommend it.

This game is terrible. I thought I was doing something wrong as you keep going through endless similar rooms. I thought that this must be the longest warehouse in London. Ridiculous.

Very boring game. You keep doing samething and keep going in the same building opening doors and going through same areas.

RICO 2: London has an amazing art style, a classic rogue cop premise and good voice acting. All of that is weighed down to its death by a boring loop system, the same soundtrack played over and over and over again, a needlessly complicated weapon system and enemies who are laughably bullet spongey for zero reason.

Don't buy this game.

What a downgrade, they made the game prettier in terms of graphics, but royally screwed up everything else, gunplay is terrible(enemies without masks take multiple headshots?! to die), level generation is also ruined by way too little variation, the rooms repeat over and over and for far too long per level. No character choices, no unlockable skills and bosses are now even worse in terms of sponginess. If you enjoyed the original, just skip this.

$35 is an appalling price tag

Not worth a long review: not a fun game even in co-op. Repetitive door-to-door shooter. Clear one room, proceed to the other. Repeat. If your buddy dies, there's little to no chance of helping him - he can just stare at you clearing the same room a dozen times until you reach a random corridor where he will respawn. Me and my friend played quake 1 in co-op the same weekend - that game was designed for 1 player, but it was much more fun than this one.